Thursday, October 26, 2006

Oh Say an You ee?

Please friends, file this entry under "Don't Try This at Home." For the past several days, my spae bar has not been working; even though I would hit it at the appropriate plaes, allthewordswouldruntogether. Well, this has happened to me one before, so I thought I would try the same fix.

My omputer is overed by Apple and I should have just taken it into the store whih they reently opened at the mall near me. Not neesssary, I thought. So I shut down the system, turned my laptop upside down and gently tapped it to dislodge whatever was under the keyboard. Well, that didn't work. So I shut it down again and got the vauum out. Remember, I have done this before.

So I took the leaning tool of the vauum and vauumed the keyboard. Just like last time. All of a sudden, I see a key missing. Uh oh. Uh oh BIG time. I grabbed a pair of latex gloves from my studio and emptied the vauum bag onto some sheets of newspaper. I then had to break apart and squeeze all the dust and dirt in the vauum bag. Dust and dirt that I never thought I'd ever have to see again, having vauumed it one already. I finally found the key after feeling my way through three quarters of the ontents of the vauum bag.

So my spae bar works well now and I hanged the vauum bag, whih really needed it. But I still have to go to the Apple store tomorrow. In ase you haven't notied, I'm missing the key between x and v.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Winter Color

This past week I've been on hiatus enjoying the company of my favorite freshman, home from college. I've also been coordinating a blood drive which will take place today (public service announcement - please donate blood if you can - there's a desperate shortage!)

In between everything else I have been impatiently checking the trees every day. They are mostly still green. It has just started to get a little chilly around here, so I imagine they will soon begin their last hurrah of brilliant colors before winter sets in. Desperate for a color fix, I revisited photos I took while visiting The Gates last year, in Central Park.

The Gates was an art installation by the husband and wife team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The artists first conceived the idea for The Gates in 1979 and asked the City of New York for permission to install the work. Permission denied. Denied, denied, denied. They finally got permission from the new Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in 2002.

We went to see the installation on a beautiful February day in 2005, after a new snowfall. We started off by going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we enjoyed a rooftop view of The Gates crisscrossing through 23 miles of trails in Central Park. What was astonishing was how crowded the park was! So many people strolling the park, enjoying the day and the artwork in the middle of the winter.

We spent the afternoon walking The Gates. Everyone in the park was smiling, friendly and in awe of this magnificent project - it felt like a party. I think NYC sorely needed a project like this - it brought a little fun and wonder to a city that had been grieving since 9/11. I think the art did not consist solely of The Gates - I think there was a synergistic effect of the installation and the visitors. It was not like a museum, where visitors go to look at artwork. I think in this case, the visitors were an integral part of the artwork. I think the ephemeral nature of the installation also added to this feeling of excitement - it was not something you could go back to. There was only a two week window for this exhibit. We were very fortunate to experience The Gates.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, go - and don't forget to post photos for the rest of us!






Monday, October 09, 2006

Smarter Than the Average Bear

Today I read an article about animal intelligence - is Flipper REALLY as intelligent as a human, or is that big brain just due to fat cells that keep the dolphin brain warm? What with the recent posts about dogs from Velvet Sacks and Ordinary Life I started thinking about our Tasha. She was a golden/labbie mix and passed on 4 years ago at the ripe, old age of 16.

Tasha was not the brightest dog; definitely not Lassie or Rin Tin Tin material. She never learned to play fetch - she played her own version, which we called "keep away" - she would run after a ball, but would not bring it back. She wanted us to chase her to get the ball back. She never did catch on to the fact that she had to bring the ball back if she wanted us to keep playing. Tasha also liked to watch TV - she would always bark at other dogs on TV - especially the cartoon ones. She was a funny girl, stupid, but we loved her anyway.

One incident comes to mind, though, when Tasha was about 3 and my son was about 1 1/2. We had just gotten back from vacation and I had picked Tasha up from the kennel. The kennel people had given us a biscuit to give her, but since she was prone to carsickness, I waited until we got home to give it to her. I plopped my son down on the couch, gave him the biscuit and told him to "Give it to Tasha," who was sitting next to him. I then stepped into the adjoining laundry room to get a load started.

All of a sudden I heard Tasha whimpering, so I went to see what was going on. My son had put his little arm, all the way up to his elbow, down poor Tasha's throat to try and get the biscuit back! Tasha was doing her best not to bite down or in any way hurt him. I extricated my son's arm - which did not have any teeth marks or other damage on it - and he immediately started crying "Tasha bit me!" For several weeks after, he would hold up an arm and say "Tasha bit me" to try and get some sympathy from various friends - most of the time we would say "Wrong arm, kiddo! and he would immediately hold up his other arm and continue "Tasha bit me" . He was too funny.

So, Tasha was maybe not the smartest dog that ever lived but she came through when it was important - she always knew to be gentle with children, even when provoked. A lot of humans could stand to be as wise as my Tasha was.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

For My Guests. . .via Dr. John

Well, although I can't get through to the list to verify, rumor has it that I'm on Dr. John's Marathon List. If this is true, Dr. John, I am not worthy, but I thank you for your kindness.

I hope this isn't "cheating," Dr. John, but I would ask guests to indulge me by reading a difficult post I wrote, Blood Done Sign My Name It is about a phenomenal book, written by Timothy Tyson. Although the subject matter is heavy, the book was wonderful and enlightening to read. Which is more than I can say for my blog review, LOL, but I hope you read it anyway.

Of course, if you are interested in "lighter fare," my last post, Do They Still Call It a Facial? should do the trick! It boggles the mind what people with too much money will do to relieve themselves of the excess.

Thanks so much for visiting and sorry, I didn't have time to come up with something new for today - we helped my mom celebrate her 75th birthday yesterday - and my freshman son is home from college for the week! All good things :-)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Do They Still Call It a Facial?

Today I was flipping through the paper when I came upon an article on facials. As I read the article, I realized it was about "facials" for those OTHER cheeks. You know, the ones between your lower back and upper thighs.

I was amazed and continued to read how people part with $120 and up (way up!) for each session of various treatments including cleansing, detoxification, microcurrent therapy, microdermabrasion, massage and exfoliation of the old gluteus maximus. Who knew?

Many of the women interviewed said they do it to pamper themselves and feel good about themselves. I started thinking about what I would do with the "facial" money, that would make me feel good.

1. Buy myself a huge bouquet of flowers, or maybe two. Preferably sunflowers.
2. Splurge on an expensive technical book on metalsmithing that I've had my eye on.
3. Take an adult ed class and learn something new.
4. Donate the money to breast cancer research, in memory of a dear friend who died of the disease.
5. Send my daughter a ticket to fly home from college for the weekend - or just give her the equivalent in clothing/shoe store gift cards.
6. Send a box of goodies to our soldiers in Iraq, through a friend who is a retired Army nurse.
7. Take my husband out for a fabulous dinner.
8. Donate the money to our local food bank.
9. Buy my son a Mets team jersey.
10. Take a few great friends out to breakfast.

Hmmm, buffing my buns didn't seem to make the list. What would be on your list?