Sunidesus Speaks

I was listening to NPR "Talk of the Nation" on the way to work today and they were talking about what books influenced you. It got me thinking... don't worry, I'm being careful :)

The first "real" book I read was "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, I don't remember which. But I thnk one that influenced me quite a bit was "Catcher in the Rye" by I don't remember who. And it didn't influence me in the way you're probably thinking. It was required reading for my 10th grade English class and I remember disliking it very strongly. It seemed like the whole book was about glorifying this bratty, arrogant, self-absorbed, kid. I really didn't like the thing, but my teacher thought it was wonderful. So, the influence was more in what happened arround the book than the book itself. It was the first time that I realized that my teachers really didn't know everything. That it was OK for me to disagree with them.

So, that was my deep thought for the day. I have to go run errands now, but when I get back I'm going to try to post about at least what happened on Friday at the convention. There may or may not be pictures right away, but there will definatley be more posted when I get home tonight. It's a pain to upload pictures from work (where I am right now) so it'll probably wait untill I get home where it's much easier.

I was just listening to the local public radio station again (the same place I heard the book talk in my previous post) and heard a really interesting, thought provoking essay about the Gulf War/Terrorism/current Gulf issues. It was written by a Gulf War vet and you should all go and read it. Here is the direct link to the article. Read it all the way through it's very good.

So apparently I'm old fashioned, ah well.

I have a problem and I'm hoping someone out there knows the answer...

The other day my smoke alarm started making the "I need a new battery" noise. So, I went and bought it a new battery. But, now when I try to put the new battery in it just starts screaching as soon as the little contacts touch each other. Am I doing something wrong? How do I make it shut up? And I already put out all the fires, so I know that isn't it :)

Is there someone that has an idea what to do?

Thanx in Advance!

Well, we thought Hannah would be able to come home this weekend. Unfortunately she seems to have developed pneumonia so she had to go back on a vent and has at least another 2 weeks in the N-ICU left! She is more than 7 pounds though and that is VERY good. So... everyone send prayers her way and help her get better fast!

I'm bored, so I decided to do a Friday Five. It's about shoes which isn't something I'm really into. I prefer bare feet! But I shall do it anyway, 'cuz it's fun.

1. What size shoe do you wear? If the width is right then I wear a 5 or a 5 and a half. However, since most shoes don't come in widths anymore... I end up wearing shoes that are too big so that my VERY wide feet will fit in them. So, I usually end up in a size 6, sometimes up to a 7.

2. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Ummm.... sandals, sneakers, dress shoes... six or seven I think?

3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)? None. I prefer bare feet or stocking feet. But if I have to have something on my feet, then probably sandals or very comfortable sneakers.

4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite? They're blue denim-y canvas. With white bubbly bottoms. They fit my feet perfectly. I like that they let my feet move wherever.

5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes? 20 bucks I think. I'm not really into shoes, I tend to buy the $10 canvas things at Target.

I'm thinking These people missed the point of anti-racism.

I just finished a big bowl of popcorn. Yum! Dolce always asks for some of it and then when I'm finished he likes to chew on the "old maids." Just now I was sitting here and heard a crash. He had been perched on the edge of the bowl, reached in too far, and slipped! He was scrabbling around in the bottom of the bowl. It's big and metal so... lots of noise. He finally remembered that he can fly and took off. After a circle around the room he came in for a landing.

On my head.

What Eyes Do You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

This is an interesting article about how John Edwards et. al. "communicate" with dead relatives. Whenever I watch any of those people it always amazes me that people fall for it. I saw one of those 2 minute commercial things where the "psychic" said... "I'm getting a name with an H" and the person then immediately says "Oh! My aunt Helen. She died..." and then the psychic interupts with, "she's gone now right?" Yes she's gone! Your mark just told you that! THe psychic pet lady bugs me too. These poor owners will be sitting their with their beloved pet and say "Oh, he had surgery on his leg last year" and the pet psychic lady says "oh yes, he's telling me that." If he was telling you that you would have said something BEFORE the owners!

OK, rant over.

I just finished a collosal redesign on my Photo Album. I separated it out into categories so it isn't quite as overwhelming all on one page. Lots of fun with clip art involved. Go check it out if you feel so inclined!

This is an interesting idea. I once folded a thousand cranes all by myself. Using all of my spare time (and dead minutes at work) I managed around 20 to 40 a day. It still took me quite a few weeks to finish them all. But it was very cool when it was all done!

I forgot to put this! I just added a bunch of Cirque pictures to my Photo Album. I don't have all of the big pictures uploaded yet, but the thumbnails are there!

OK, maybe you should wait until I finish the big pictures and captions. It'll be much cooler then.

I found This Here. I saw them on Ripley's a few weeks ago and they look like tons of fun.

The ladybugs are decending! Just today I started noticing them in my apartment. I saw one near my air conditioner, and then looked above my window and there were four more. Some along the bottom of the window... it's starting! At least they're cute bugs and I'm not being invaded by spiders or something equally icky.

I have a new game I'm hopelessly addicted to. I've got the 10 day evaluation deal right now, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to buy it 'cuz I'm having so much fun playing it.

I have now posted pictures of the ladybug invasion. They're in my PhotoBlog. There's also some pictures of drunk college kids too. Drunk people amuse me and since it's homecoming weekend at the local college I figured I'd go take a look. A short drive down the street later... and behold the stupid drunk people!

yes I know I spelled it wrong
I may just be a sucker for baby animals, but this guy is awfully darn cute.

And.... Wil is on The Outer Limits right now! Go Uncle Willy Go!

This is a really good, easy to understand article. It lays out many reasons why Christianity never should have made it off the ground. Given the Roman society at the time, there are over a dozen major things that should have derailed Christianity. But they didn't. Perhaps because it is truth!

It amazes me how parents can be this stupid.

I've always had the urge to take Dolce to one of these. Although if a cat that big was there I'd be scared it'd eat Dolce! I'm not sure what about it appeals to me. Maybe it's just that it shows how important I think my boy is.

if you're this guy. Not to mention a sleezebag.

I was listening to NPR on my way to work again today and Talk of the Nation had another really interesting segment on. It was about words, how they're started, ones that people just make up, what their original meaning was.

So, now I'm thinking about words. Which makes me think of Hamlet... But back to the point. There's a couple of words that I use regularly that I've either never heard anyone else use, or I've only heard used by friends/co-workers.

The first one that I use a lot is "piffle-fribbits." It can be used as just "piffle" as well. I call it my frustration word. I don't swear, and I got sick of using words like "dang it" "drat" etc... I don't know where/when I first used it, but I like it. I even caught my dad saying it once! A lot of times if I just say "piffle" a friend will finish it for me and say "fribits."

Another word that I use now I actually got from a friend, and it's for a kinda gross bodily function type thing. The word is "vershlook." It means "to choke on your own saliva." If this has never happened to you it sounds absolutely disgusting, but if it has.... this is the perfect word for it! Now, when I'm coughing and someone says "what happened?" I can just say "I vershlooked" It sounds much better than "I choked on my own spit."

The last word I'm going to bore you with is one that I hear at work all the time, "efforting." If I'm waiting for my sports scripts and go bug the sports guy, many times he will say "I'm efforting!" He's working on getting them done and to me. I've never heard this noun/verb word outside of TV people (for whom it is pretty common). Has anyone else heard it?

Which Moon Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I liked this picture so much that I had to take the quiz so I could get it on my blog!

Betcha this kid won't drink and drive again! I have to admit this is an interesting way to teach a lesson. I kinda like it.

This is for my mom. I have very fond memories of watching Dr. Who with my parents when I was little.

We have an open house at work tomorrow. So, today I have to clean up my area and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow. And then on Wednesday I have to come in 5 hours early to help with all the extra visitors. I'm not looking forward to having to get up early. But... they've asked me to take still pictures of the thing, so I'll get to play with my camera at least. That should be fun.

Gnome-Girl has a great list of T-shirt (or may I suggest bumper sticker) slogans. I particularly enjoyed "You... off my planet" and "Is it time for your medication... or mine?"

And I'm watching the Screen Savers repeat from last night. I couldn't find the link in the show notes, but at the end they were talking about nasty spam software. They were making fun of the "warning" on the software's site that said they weren't responsible if you used their software for spaming. (yeah, OK, whatever) Then Patrick made me laugh. He said "Remember, spam doesn't spam people. People spam people." OK, it sounds kinda lame when I write it down, but I was laughing.

Now I'm watching a tape of a CSI: Miami episode. I'm a huge fan of the original so I'm giving the spin-off some time before I decide if I want to continue watching it. My one problem so far... if feels like they took the original character bible and just changed the names. The main character, Horatio, reacts the same way as the main character on CSI, Gil. His speech patterns are remarkably similar (I'm assuming same writers?). He even uses similar (or identical) one-liners. Maybe they'll diferentiate more in coming weeks. I sure hope they do because it's really starting to annoy me.

OK, question for any Floridians out there. Are there really old Cuban guys sitting around in white hats, smoking cigars, listening to salsa, and playing cards in Miami? Or is that just a plot device? Every time there's a show involving a Cuban and the cops go to visit the family its the same scene. What's up with that?

Al Roker has a blog. He writes a lot about being a dad, and today his post is just adorable.

And on the subject of babies... send prayers to Hannah. She is improving, but much slower than everyone was hoping. She is finally up to a normal birth weight, and looks liks a real baby. But she's having some breathing problems. I really need to get an updated picture of her. The one I've got is a couple months old and she's lots bigger now. So, send prayers to Hannah and her mommy and daddy.

This post is really good. He's got some good points about gun control & also about the crazy sniper in D.C. Make sure you read the whole thing, the last paragraph is my personal favorite.

Games don't kill people. Guns kill people.

And don't give me that, "no, people kill people" crap. I'd like to see you try and kill someone with a box of Counter-Strike. Sure, you could do it, but I haven't heard of anyone bleeding to death from a box induced papercut yet.

Very good.

Also, the post above it about Glad Plug-in extra outlet thingies. It made me laugh out loud (at work no less!)

I found this news story here.

I can't understand how anyone can hurt a baby like that. I can't imagine being so mad/frustrated/upset that I hit a child. I just can't fathom the mind that can go to that place.

It's been a couple weeks since I've done a Friday Five. But I just couldn't resist this subject.

1. How many TVs do you have in your home? I just have one TV, but I do have two VCR's. It used to be three, but one of them died recently.

2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? A LOT! I'm a little bit of a TV nut.

3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children? Well, Barney is bad for anyone... I think it can be. But not always. It really depends on what is being watched I think. Anything with violence can't be good, especially for real little ones. And I don't like the TV baby-sitting concept either. Kids need to interact with real live people, not just stare at a TV all day.

4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken? I tape just about everything. I work in the evenings which is prime time after all. So I end up taping everything and watching it later. A couple weeks ago I goofed and didn't manage to tape the season premiere of Alias. I was really mad. During the season finale last year, my friend Klink and I watched it together and we were yelling and squealing through the whole thing. That's probably the closest I get right now.

5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? Oooohhhh the posibilities! I'd bring back Sports Night. I'd pick up Farscape and force Sci-Fi to sell me the back episodes of it too. Star Trek would be a must. Alias & CSI would be there, ER, West Wing, and Friends. There'd be a lot of sci-fi. A few choice comedies. A couple medical dramas, and some crime/lawyer ones. A couple things there wouldn't be... infomercials, game shows & soaps. I'd want a couple quality news shows. Probably World News Tonight & Nightline. No Babba Wawwa tho'. Oh and I really like Inside the Actors Studio. And I'd buy a local news station and treat the employees right! All you production geeks out there know what I'm talking about!

I could go on and on and on about this subject. So... I think I'll quit now before everyone starts thinking I'm completely nuts.

This is a great idea. What to do with all those annoying AOL CD's that they leave everywhere. Answer? Give them back! Make AOL deal with all their annoying disks.

Please No!!!!! Richard Simmons dolls! That is just wrong on so many levels.

This is such an amazing movie I just couldn't resist the quiz.

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Today it snowed for the first time this year. It's beautiful. I love looking up at the snow falling down onto my face. I took some pictures. One of my favorite things in the entire world is when it snows at night. When there's a covering of white on the ground and more is drifting down in big fluffy clumps. The light from the moon and the streetlights reflects off of everything. It becomes bright and you can see for what seems like miles.

I know a lot of people around here don't like winter, they say it's too cold. But I just love winter. It's one of my favorite times of year.

What Monty Python Holy Grail Quest Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I admit I've only seen this movie once. But... I have quite a few friends who quote it regularly. So, by the time I saw it I knew all of the bits already!
Link via Bloggishness.

I guess this is one way to get what you want... maybe not the best way, but a way.

Link via Ciscley

I'm watching Egg on PBS right now. They just did a segment with a photographer that was amazing. She does black & white photography underwater. Using the people's bodies, their reflections, and the line of the surface of the water. It's really beautiful. Some of the things she said really made sense to me too. Like looking at the world a different way. Ever since I started getting into photography again I've been looking at everything in pictures more and more. I can only imagine how differently a person looks at the world who's been doing art for years and years.

So it's been a while since I've done a Monday Mission, but I'm doing one this week just 'cuz I feel like it!

1. Have you ever felt like you were expected to set a good example for others? Definately. I grew up as the pastor's kid and that is a huge part of it. The feeling that you have to be the "good girl" because your dad's the pastor.

2. What keeps you on the right path? For example, why do you think you turned out the way you did as opposed to the nut ball sniper out there? The simple answer is God. The more complicated answer is that I'm who I am because of the way I was raised and the experiences I've had, and the way those things have affected me.

3. Sometimes things seem different than they really are. When was the last time you believed something to be one way only to learn you had it all wrong? Wow, that's a hard one. The only thing I can think of is work related. Over a year ago someone who I thought was my friend became my supervisor. He made a number of promises and I figured that it would be good because he was a friend. Boy was I wrong! It ended up being a nightmare with him telling me one thing to my face and then telling other people something else entirely. Anyway, it was bad and I hope I'm never in a similar situation again!

4. Can you recall a time when being alert and observant kept you safe? Well, not really. The closest I can think of would be when I'm driving. Obviously when you're driving it's very important to be alert & observant! There's that experience that I think everyone's had at least once. When you're next to a semi and it starts moving over... I really don't like semis.

5. Who in your personal circle of relationships do you think is smarter than you? Are they smarter in just one area, or overall? How do you feel about that? How do they interact with you? Well, Joe is smarter than me about computers (and I'm pretty good to start with!), but he's really nice about explaining and helping me out. He showed me how to map my ftp onto my computer just like any other drive so I can access it with windows explorer instead of having to use the clunky browse/upload one file at a time thing. I've always had a really smart group of friends (yeah ok, I was in the nerd group in high school) so it's always been normal to be in a group where we're all pretty intelligent. It's always been my experience that there's always someone who's smarter than you and there's always someone who's... well... not!

6. Let's daydream a little: Describe in detail the most perfect lazy day, start to finish. Stay in bed till I wake up, stay there for a little longer too. Watch TV, surf the web, stay in my pajamas for as long as possible. Snuggle with Dolce. Read a book, or at least part of one. Go to a movie (if there's something good to see of course).

7. Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what as? If not, how come? What is the most favorite costume you ever had? No, Halloween has never been a very big holiday for me. It was fun when I was really little, but I haven't gotten into it since middle school. My favorite costume? Probably Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. I went as him in either 4th or 5th grade. It was a costume my mom made for me.

BONUS: Come on baby tell me what’s the word? persnickity

I was just checking my TV watching schedule for the next week and discovered that Wil is going to be on The Screen Savers on TechTV on Wednesday. I'm going to have to tape it so I can watch it when I get home from work.

I've been trying to find a part-time job to help pay bills. I stopped by the local Super Target yesterday to fill out their computerized application. I expected it to be easy, it's on a computer after all so it should be short and sweet, right? Wrong!! Not only did it have the normal application questions (name, address, job history, etc.) it also had upwards of 100 "what would you do if..." questions. That in itself wouldn't have been too bad, but the server it was on went sooooo slowly. The wait between each question was a minimum of 1 full minute. It regularly went to it's screensaver because I wasn't responding. I just wanted to scream at it. I'd be responding if you'd give me a new question!!! It took me 45 minutes to finish the stupid thing. ACK!!! Very annoying. But hopefully something will actually come of it and I can get myself a part time job to join my full time job.

I've only had a couple search engine referrers so far, but I just checked and on Friday I had a weird one. The other 3 or 4 searches have made sense. But how someone got to me with Another Word For Invasion I'll never know!

I just uploaded the full size pictures from IWTB & my trip to see Cirque in the Cities. I put "next" and "previous" links on it this time too. I'll go back and add those to the rest of the full size pictures later. I'm slowly getting this website thing to work the way I want it to.

Cheyenne posted this about this article. I have to say, I agree with her. The article is ridiculous. All of us bloggers aren't trying to solve crimes, or break some big news story. Well, maybe a few are. But most of us are just writing about our lives and sharing our opinions. Anyway...

Well, I have another job interview for another part-time job. It's at Super Target and it's on Friday @ 11 a.m., hopefully it will go well. It's just for a seasonal part-time thing, but I really need some extra moola. So everyone cross your fingers for me OK?

I'm so glad they finally caught that psycho that was running around shooting people. I don't live in the area, but it was freaky just thinking of the people I know that do live there. I can't imagine how scary that must have been for everyone. Hopefully it's all over now and he'll be locked up (key thrown out preferably) so he can't hurt anyone again.

Well, the job interview this morning went pretty well I guess. By my guesstimate they're interviewing around 80 people today and on Monday. I'm really hoping I get a job. I need some suplemental income dang it!

And... I think I'm getting sick. Oh joy. My throat started hurting earlier today, and now it's a full blown sore throat. It feels marginally ok if I'm drinking constantly. Talking hurts. And what do I do for a job? I direct a TV show! So, I'm talking just about non-stop for an hour. Ack!! I have the weekend off though so hopefully that'll help.

*looks at the current world's population* You must have a lot of frustration then.

What pisses you off?

Created by ptocheia

OK, so this isn't much of a shock. We all knew this already.

Link found at Gretchen's.

I decided to watch my DVD of Gattaca while I blogged tonight. The movie is amazing and thought provoking, and I encourage all of you to see it.

In checking out the deleted scenes I stumbled across a Coda that was absolutely stunning. It was the only one of the deleted scenes that I thought should have been left in the movie. The rest were good, but wouldn't have added that much to it. It's really an amazing warning on where we're headed as a society. There are already tests for a number of genetic "problems" that can be done before a child is born. How much longer until other things can be tested for, or selected. Quite honestly, it scares me.

Yep, definately sick. My sore throat has been joined by headache, sweats/chills, general achyness, and lots of tired.

I'm watching last week's episode of "The Practice". I love the show, but they just did something that I see happen a lot and it frustrates me.

They had the D.A. arguing for an unborn baby. If you watch the show you know that the man is going nuts. Since the end of last season he's been slowly losing it. That's all well and good, the man is nasty. BUT... he was giving a pro-life argument (which was quite good by the way). He was awfully rambly with it, and used some very inappropriate words for a courtroom, but he had some very good points. Points with which I agree. The problem is that whenever a person on a TV show gives a pro-life argument (court show, doctor show, whatever) that character has to be one of the "crazy" characters. There's no room for a rational person to believe that life, before or after birth, is sacred. That's very frustrating to me. *steps off soap box*

OK, second issue on the show today (well, last week) is the right of parents to refuse medical attention for their child. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I've always believed that a person's rights end when they infringe on another person's rights. The "my rights end at the beginning of your nose" thing. If a parent's religious beliefs say that they can't accept medical care, then that's fine. But what about their kids? Does that right extend to refusing medical care for their children? A parent's rights and the child's rights are so mixed up together. If a little kid damages someone else's property then the parent is responsible for paying the damages. So the parent's actions and the kid's actions are one and the same from that view. Parents are 100% responsible for their kids, especially little ones. But can they make a decision that isn't medically considered the best one? But what if it is the best decision religiously?

I'm really rambly here, I think it's because I'm really unsure as to my feelings about it.

Someone just put my Travel Bug in a cache near where my dad grew up when he was little. Between Waterloo & Waverly, Iowa. I think that's neat.

I kinda went AWOL for a bit there. When I was first feeling sick I still felt up to blogging, but then I got worse and all I did was sleep & lay in bed for the past 2 days. Now I'm starting to feel better again, so I'm back! I still have this really annoying cough, but hopefully that'll go away soon.

I found this at Gretchen's place. It had me laughing out loud. I'm all for unique baby names, but some of the ones on this site are ridiculous.

The only writing I've done recently is on an Outer Limits fanfic. I started & abandoned a few novels in middle & high school. I've seen the link to NaNoWriMo on a couple of blogs that I read. I finally checked out what it is and it looks really interesting, fun, (perhaps stressful) and worth trying. So... I signed up. We'll see what happens.

I did it. It doesn't look quite right yet, but I now have my own blogroll. So, now I don't have to check to see if blogs are updated. I can just look for little arrows. Neat right?

There are some things that should really just be left alone and not turned into stupid plays. How anyone could think that the Unabomber should be the subject of a musical is beyond me.

These are some really cool pictures of Mt. Etna getting good and pissed off and blowing her top. From space no less.

I've been trying to figure out how to get my time stamp link at the bottom of my posts to work properly. I messed around with all kinds of options without success. Then I figured out that all I had to do was add ONE WORD to the line of code and now it works. So links to specific posts will work now. Ack! Those one word fixes that take forever for me to figure out...