Saturday, September 27, 2008

Overslept....

I'm having a hard time getting it together today. I'm still half asleep. I have to scoop the cat boxes, feed everybody, get cleaned up and dressed, and then hit the road. There are a couple of "book lover's paradise" yard sales today and I wanted to get their early, but, man, is my ass dragging.

I need something to perk it up, like....I don't know...Green Day doing Ramones covers...



Got to Blitzkrieg Bop on! See you in a bit.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Dark Bailout

I've been working with families in foreclosure long enough now that our whole economic situation has too many names and faces for me. I am extremely skeptical of the plan put forth by Bush, which seems to act to safeguard the investments and assets of the people who created the mess in the first place.


Thursday, September 25, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

WE HAVE POWER!

And all of a sudden I feel a lot less like running up and down the streets with an axe chasing elderly nuns and sweet woodland creatures.

I'm starting to think that there may be something to that whole "amount of available light has an impact on your mood" thing.

I also afraid I may have to become a monk, if I really do want to hold up my end of that light-deprived bargain I made with the powers (get it?) that be.

Oh well, just call me Brother Edward the Commenter!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Good Morning from McD's!

Still in the dark. I have a dentist appt in an hour, so I'm taking advantage of the time and WiFi connection.

The worst part about being without power is not the boredom. It's the oppressive feeling. I've been in the most foul mood ever since this started. Sitting around in the dark every evening doesn't help. Waking up is really hard in the morning. I never realized how much turning on the light was a part of the starting the day ritual.

And don't get me started on the lack of coffee....

Kosh isn't dealing well with the darkness. He has his freaked out face on most of the time. Since we have a shotgun house, in a 'hood full of shotgun houses set very close together, there aren't any windows on the west side of the house, which means that the place is already getting dark in the middle of the afternoon.

At work, we're up to our armpits in emergency food distribution for folks who lost everything when the power went out. We've been eating out all week, which is making me feel sluggish and out of sorts, which is adding to my bad mood.

I told Keith the other night that they had more light than we have right now on Little House on the Prairie! Ma could always sew at night. I can't even read. I miss reading, much more than I do TV or the internets.

Almost 300,000 homes lost power when Ike blew through. (Keith said that he read that the winds were severe enough to say we had a class-1 hurricane come through. I don't know how accurate that really is, but it certainly feels right.) Nearly half of them still don't have power. Lots of businesses are still closed. There are trees down everywhere and roads that are still blocked. And many intersections without functioning traffic lights.

And I know that there are athousand ways this could be worse and hat there are a thousands of people worse off right now in other parts of the country. And, honestly, I'm sorry for all that, but I'm also damn sick and tired of sitting in the fucking dark.

Yes, I'm a lousy disaster victim.

Off the Grid

I'm posting this from a coffee shop, since we've been without power since the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through on Sunday. We're all okay and we didn't have any wind damage to the house but I'm getting tired of sitting around in the dark.

More at some point when the light returns....

Friday, September 12, 2008

This is for Keith

A few weeks ago, Keith was feeling a little blue, so he decided to check out my little blog for some cheerful thoughts. However, what he found was this post. So much for cheerful thoughts. I am glad I did all those disclaimers! (And despite all that, his comment to me was: "Honey do we need to talk?" The perils of blogging!)

Anyway, I've decided to do a semi-regular post just for him to make up for it. (But you can read it too.)

Most likely, it'll be a video, since that seems to be what I do best. Here's a new one from Keith's favorite singer-songwriter Todd Snider, who has a new CD out in a few weeks! (I don't think Keith knows about it, so it will be good news for him!)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Album of the Week: David Ford

This was an impulse buy after trying the CD out at a listening station in a store. I'm glad I didn't judge this one by the cover, because the cover definitely said "WARNING: Mopey Singer-Songwriter Guy!"

For my money MS-SG is the only thing worse than Mopey Singer-Songwriter Girl--cliche ridden, stuffed with tortured metaphors, anguished lyrics and melodies that all sound the same. It's enough to make me want to either put the singer out of his/her misery or put me out of mine! Honestly, it's the kind of stuff that gives acoustic music, singer-songwriters, and folk music a bad rap.

Thankfully, this wasn't the case with Ford. He takes all the MS-SG cliches and turns them on their collective head. He can be witty, acerbic, scathing, political, bitter, ironic, and even a little sentimental, but never sappy and certainly never sound-alike dull. This one was definitely the musical discovery of the year for me.

From Music for the Road:




"Go to Hell" the album opener.



"Requiem" wherein Ford channels Dylan without coming off as derivative.



"Song for the Road" where he gets tender and emotional without going overboard with the sentimental nonsense. Next time I make a CD for Keith, I'm including this one.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

Monday Morning Already?

I start leading a class for some of our clients tonight, so I'll be working over. I've never quite figured out how a couple extra hours work on Monday makes me so tired the rest of the week, but it does.

We had contractors in last week to look at the kitchen ceiling where it's falling in, but haven't gotten any estimates that we like yet.

Keith went camping over the weekend, but I stayed home. Kosh was a velcro kitty all weekend as a result. Could not get more than two steps away from him. He came to us from a home where he had been left behind and even now, nearly five years later, he still gets a little freaky when someone goes away.

Keith took the car, so I did yard sales by bike, which is always interesting. There weren't too many going on for some reason. I picked up some really cruddy looking issues of Groo at one. Mostly everything was pretty lame.

God, but my life is really boring when you type it out. Sigh!

And now....

My favorite cheesy Latin pop song:



"Tu" by Noelia

Friday, September 05, 2008

These two are for Keith

Well, and for me too.



John Prine and Emmylou Harris "Angel from Montgomery"



John Prine and Emmylou Harris "In Spite of Ourselves" (I cannot believe she sang the line about the big brass monkey!)

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Album of the Week: Ditty Bops!

I missed this one when it came out last year, so I'm making up for lost time. This is one of those that I have to listen to at work, because the Ditties get on Keith's nerves. I love their mixture of vaudeville stage show and modern "take no shit" attitude. So enjoy "Angel with an Attitude" from the Moon Over the Freeway CD.



And here's my favorite song from their first CD:

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Happy Tues-Monday!

The only thing I don't like about the three day weekend is the Tuesday that feels like Monday all day. It's like having a weird jetlag or something.

I'm trying to go into work early, so I'm going to just babble about some stuff and then go in, I guess. None of this is going to make a lot of sense or even be that relevant.

Went to the state flea market on Sunday. Was really surprised not to see any comics dealers. Well, there was one, but he wasn't there. It was just his empty booth. I didn't think he'd be there because he's also a pastor, which means other obligations on Sunday. I always like to shop at his booth because he's got great selection and great prices. Oh well.

I did get some cool old religious statues though, including two St Christophers!

You know, I've been going to that flea market for over twenty years.

We've been doing a lot of cleaning and rearranging around here of late. Still have a lot to go unfortunately. Our junk room overfloweth! I'm in the midst of the great graphic novel purge of 2008. We got some cast-off bookshelves to put in our living room, only to find they're like two inches too large. So now they've become an item on the to do list. Sigh!

We kind of let the flowers and veggies get away from us this summer, which makes me a little sad. Oh well, there's always next year.

I'm determined to get back in shape. I cannot believe how heavy I am given how much I ride my bike. I'm trying to think of a way to work walking back into my routine again. I'm also heading back to my exercise class for the first time in ages. I am heavier than I've been since the year before my dad died.

I found an old textbook from my undergrad days at a yard sale recently and I'm now re-reading it. Is that strange? How about if I tell you that I never took a class that required that book? I just bought it at the bookstore one year and read it because I thought it was interesting. Now I'm doing it again!

And that's all there is from the sad, strange life of Eddie Mitchell!

Sometimes, I just need a little Hedwig....

Because going back to work after a three day weekind is difficult, and my boss doesn't like it when I hit my co-workers...



Happy day after everyone!