Dog Party

 

Today Granite hosted a dog party at Lafayette Reservoir with her new friends Ginger & Cooper. It was fun. 

I Used To Have Hair Like Napoleon Dynamite Music Video

Napoleon Dynamite Music Video - Google Video Enjoy!

Sleep Interrupted

I awoke at 3:40am because I heard a huge crash. Granite fell off the bed. Poor puppy. I think she was a bit scared & stunned as she didn't seem to move for a minute or so. She shook it off jumped back on the bed and went back to sleep. Nothing phases that beast.

Maniacs!

SAD DOG

Click here to see the saddest puppy!

First Weekend of Yard Work

We spent last weekend sweating in the sun removing weeds and planting those we think deer won't assume to be a salad bar. Maybe the photos don't do justice to the amount of work but someday when wee plants grow and fill in the slope it will all be worth it. Up next... the back yard project.

Front - view 1 before



Front - view 1 after



Front - view 2 before



Front - view 2 after

The Enabler

I woke up this morning to a pounce from the puppy and Jane's presentation of my b-day gift. It was lovingly swaddled in a queen size flannel sheet. What could be inside? Ooooh a portable DVD player. She does love me. Now I can sit in bed and watch movies. Movies are not Jane's "thing". She voluntarily watches maybe 3-4 a year. I would watch movies on a daily basis if I could. Netflix helps me live into that possibility. So for Jane to give me something that is just for me to enjoy... aww.

We also went to KT Tunstall concert last night - she rocks.

Happy Birthday to me!

My (work) Life Right Now

Bishop Election in the news

This is the news that is swirling about my office. Every news item posted is about how we're having a gay election... might elect a gay bishop... blah blah blah - way to focus on the topic. But you know what what? We also could elect another straight white man from the south. Wouldn't that be news? The SF Bay Area, culturally diverse mecca that we are goes radically straight & white & male? That my friends would be the shocker.

I actually quite like the SWM so it wouldn't be so bad. We'll know on Saturday who my new boss will be (maybe).

Home Alone

If only it were as much fun for me as it was for Mackauley Culkin. Jane's in Boston and I'm single parenting a skulking greyhound and a wild puppy.

Dad invited me over for Chinese food dinner (he does this when Jane's away). I scooped up the pup & drove over for parent time while Mally & Granite wore each other out. As I was saying goodbye mom decided to take out some recycling and as the padres always do she leaves the front door wide open. How many dogs does it take getting hit (killed) by cars before they learn to close the door? Yes, you see where this is going. Granite quietly follows mom out the door, I yell, mom turns - bends down - reaches out - falls. She manages to grab and hold on to Granite and keep herslef from tumbling head first down the front steps. She's (mom) too old for that kind of activity. I'm sure she's bruised and sore today. Maybe they'll learn to close the front door.

I spent the evening watching my BRAVO reality TV shows: Top Chef (goodbye Lee Anne) and Blow Out (I'm all about bangin' hair). I've got the 8 episodes of Texas Ranch House waiting for me on DVR. PBS started the reality show genre decades ago with American Family in 1970. I can't help it, I'm a voyeur. I like to see how real people interact - it makes me feel better about myself.

That's all for now.

Save the Internet

MoveOn.org Civic Action: Save the Internet

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality--the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn't have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including Google, eBay, and iTunes--must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress' effort to gut Internet freedom.

You can do your part today--can you sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click link at top or copy & paste URL:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C3646767-N42qBAIYugcgegxgCQEJow

I signed this petition, along with 250,000 others so far. This petiton will be delivered to Congress before the House of Representatives votes next week. When you sign, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress.

Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that circulate on the Internet, explained:

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site's traffic has precedence over any other's...Whether a user searches for recipes using Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend's MySpace profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user's web browser with the same priority. In recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid carpool lane.

If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites ranging from Google to eBay to iTunes either pay protection money to get into the "fast lane" or risk opening slowly on your computer. We can't let the Internet--this incredible medium which has been such a revolutionary force for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech--become captive to large corporations.

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Together, we do care about preserving the free and open Internet.

Please sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Internet freedom. Click link at top or copy & paste URL:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C3646767-N42qBAIYugcgegxgCQEJow

Thanks.

Join the Virtual March to End the Genocide in Darfur

Join me in helping to end the genocide in Darfur

I just signed up for the "virtual march" against genocide in Darfur, and I'm hoping you'll join me. You can sign up online at:

MoveOn.org Political Action: Virtual March to End the Genocide in Darfur

Over 400,000 civilians have already died in Darfur. But, almost 2 years after the United States officially recognized it as a "genocide," almost nothing has been done to stop the killing.

A relatively small United Nations peace keeping force (which wouldn't even require new US troops) could protect civilians, stop the violence, and help a real peace process begin. But it won't happen if world leaders, including ours, don't stand up and demand it.

So this week, thousands of concerned Americans will gather in Washington to tell Congress and President Bush to support a real international peacekeeping force - and to do it now. To help show the national media how many voters support this call, MoveOn is organizing this virtual march.

They'll present all our signatures and comments at the big rally, and they're aiming to get 250,000 "virtual marchers" by the end of the week.

Please join me and sign up today:

http://political.moveon.org/darfur

Thanks!

Dear Mr President

I found the video below at the following blog: Joe. My. God.: I Got Luv4Buddha:
Joe's words:
"One of the most fascinating aspects of the recent boom in internet video is the phenomenon of the reimagining and resplicing of movie trailers and music videos, as seen on netvid portals such as YouTube. The result is sometimes more entertaining than the original. The most creative video productions often use entirely original images.

Check out YouTube'r Luv4Buddha's original video set to Pink's blistering indictment of GWB, Dear Mr. President, in which he skillfully splices in haunting pictures along with his own lip-sync perfomance. According to his YouTube profile, Luv4Buddha is a 32-year old Harlem-based social worker. Some of his images are over the top, but I think you'll agree that he's created something memorable."

Big Dogs

 
A comparison of the 7yr old 75 lb greyhound & 5mo old 45 lb puppy. We've got lots to look forward to. 

King of the Hill

  

Loving Life

  

KQED Food Blog: Bay Area Bites: Supporting our Farmers in Good Times & Bad

Supporting our Farmers in Good Times & Bad

"It's so much easier on Saturday mornings to stay under the warm covers with my cup of coffee and my newest book, but I have been trying my hardest to motivate and go to a farmers' market on Saturdays or at some point each week. I am making a point of doing this for the farmers. They have had an unusually rough season, and the most important thing we can do right now is to go to markets in the rain and support them.

This doesn't mean that you have to buy gads of produce that you don't want, but it does mean that you should give the small local farmers a chance. A chance to explain why prices are high, a chance to explain why their produce is looking a little bedraggled, a chance to tell you how the rain is affecting their farm.

The situation was best explained in the weekly newsletter produced by CUESA: "The anticipation that seasonal eaters feel in early spring has turned into more of an ache this year as farmers forecast smaller harvests on later dates for our favorite foods. But the ache we feel is trifling compared to the devastating losses for those whose livelihoods depend on California's fertile soil and sunshine. Storm after storm has discouraged pollinators, muddied fields and rotted flowers and berries; many farmers are struggling through the wettest season they've seen in at last twenty years."

How will this unusually wet season affect what's on our plates this year?

Berries: The rain has decimated strawberry crops throughout the area. Swanton Berry Farm which usually has an abundance of berries by this time has just brought a small fraction of their usual harvest to market. My own CSA had to cancel their May strawberry days due to the small yield of inferior strawberries.

Grapes: If the rain continues in the next couple of weeks, the size of the 2006 local wine harvest could be much lower than predicted.

Stonefruit: Cherries, peaches, apricots, and other stonefruit are in jeopardy. If we continue to have warm days like today, then we may be in the clear, but more rain (as is predicted at the end of this week) may jeopardize the stonefruit crops.

Tomatoes: Though tomato season is months away, farmers have been unable to get their seedlings into the ground due to wet and soggy conditions.

Lettuces: All types of lettuces are being hard hit. Prices will be higher for a while, and the quality may not be what we're used to.

What can we do about all this gloom and doom news? We can't really stop the rain, so we will have to support farmers to the best of our ability with our wallets.

We can hit the farmers' markets. Bundle up if necessary, and wear your galoshes. The farmers will be there, so let's give them a reason to drive their trucks into the city. Small crowds are discouraging to the farmer after they've worked so hard to bring what they do have to market.

We can taste before judging. Chances are that when apricots come to the market, they will be sort of ugly and have some brown spots. But there is a good chance that they will actually taste great. Don't be quick to dismiss the ugly fruit, and listen to the farmers when they tell you why it looks the way it does.

We can adjust our spring repertoires to match what's available locally. I am as ready for spring peas and strawberries as the next person, but instead this week I was cooking yet another butternut squash. In the grand scheme of things, a few more weeks of butternut squash isn't going to kill me, and I feel good supporting my local farms instead of buying foreign strawberries to meet my craving.

For more information, you can read some of the great references below, or you can head out to a market and ask your local farmers how the rain has affected them and what we can expect in the coming months."

Good Friday

Aside from it being an actual holiday today...

My letters of complaint to Dish got us a free month of service.

I spent the day with Granite & Timm. Granite got to see the cute vet today and she has mites. Not contagious to humans or other dogs. A mite that lives on us all and some beasts are suseptible to "infection" (balding patches). We must apply topical ointment & revisit cute vet in 10 days. If ointment doesn't work we go into dip therapy. Whee.

I'm off to pick up the wife, have pizza and beer and see a movie.

Happy Easter to all and to all a Good Friday.

Boo.

When Customer Service & PMS Collide

This past weekend we discovered that our second TV had lost reception from our satelite dish. After several phone calls to try to fix without a service tech. visit we decided that while we were at it to upgrade our equipment as well.

I scheduled a service call to fix broken dish for yesterday and a service call to upgrade equipment for tomorrow. I asked several times if both calls could be set for the same day, same window of time. I was told NO. Each issue needed it's own appointment.

I spent the afternoon at home catching up on tv & netflix, training the dog, relaxing... and waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally at 5:05 when nobody showed up I called back to customer service to find out what was going on.

The good news was that both service calls CAN be scheduled on the same day & time window. The bad news is they did it without telling me so I took a day off work for no reason. So our equipment will be fixed & upgraded all in one visit tomorrow - phew.

The annoying news is that Dish Network ships it's service calls overseas. How do I know this? Well it's a two parter. First call answered by thick accented man named "Joe". Here is transcript of conversation
Joe (w/ accent): To whom am I speaking?
Me: Sarah
Joe: Can you spell that?
Me: spell it out
Joe: What is the name on the account:
ME: Jxxx Lxxxx
Joe: What is your relation to J
Me: Domestic Partners
Joe: Excuse Me?
Me: Domestic Partners
Joe: I'm sorry I don't know what that is.
Me: Domestic Partners
Joe: Ma'am can you explain? (YEAH - You're based in Tulsa aren't you!)
Me: No - hang up phone.

I call back hoping to get someone based in US to help me. Casper (another accent) answers the call so when I get the relation question I say "married" and we move on.

Let it be known that I have no problem with accents or with those who have a primary language other than English. My problem is with outsourced customer service reps pretending to be located in Booger, Wyoming and assuming names like "Joe" and "Casper" when clearly they are on another contenent.

Excellent Response

Way back in 2003 the lead singer of The Dixie Chicks stated she was ashamed that GWB was our president. The chicks took a lot of flack from the right. Finally they respond:



I quite like the song regardless of its "big middle finger" back to the right.

Talking It Out!

On the Barry Gibb Talk Show



Sometimes Jane and I burst into the theme song.