Living In the World, Not on It

I watched a particularly effective episode of Harry's Law , a show that airs on Wednesday nights on NBC at 21:00. This is not your typical offering and I will also admit to being a big fan of David E. Kelley's shows. This is another law show, but not just another law show. It has its serious topics and its less serious topics but it is a lot more interesting... the scenarios posted and the responses to them. Last Wednesday, on 9 November, the episode centered around two things. Harry goes on vacation in a Mercedes Benz truck where in the town of Langford, she is pulled over. The reason? The mayor of the town (well played by George Wendt) made an ordinance that no one shall own, operate or otherwise bring a foreign-made vehicle into their town. They wanted her to pay $1,000 fine for this ridiculousness and she wouldn't. This is not where I am going with this. The second case that comes to the office is the less amusing side of the story. A couple from China c...

Six Check out the following exercise, guaranteed to freak you out. There's no trick or surprise. Just follow these instructions, and answer the questions one at a time and as quickly as you can! Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance until you've done each of them... really. Now, arrow down (but not too fast, you might miss something)......... What is: 1+5 2+4 3+3 4+2 5+1 Now repeat saying the number 6 to yourself as fast as you can for 15 seconds, then arrow down. QUICK!!! THINK OF A VEGETABLE! Then arrow down. Keep going. You're thinking of a carrot right? If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are warped enough to think of something else. 98% of people will answer with carrot when given this exercise.   (I thought cucumber. I have no idea why carrot was the theme.)

Just when something positive and happy occurs, halfway around the world, something tragic happened. On 22 July, some madman armed to the teeth, bombed the Prime Minister's building in Oslo, then showed up at a camp in Utøya, a small island in the Tyrifjorden Lake in Norway that had 600 Norwegian kids there and shot at least 68 (dead) and injured many more. The shooter, Anders Behring Breivik, is a rabidly conservative, anti-immigration activist. He opened fire on children... to what end? How is this going to fix or solve anything? Why do people think violence is the answer to anything? I'm terribly disappointed in the human race sometimes. This is one of those times. I don't know what the Norwegian government will do with this nutter, but I hope they will at the very least lock him up and throw away the key. What insane thinking was going on inside this man to perpetrate such heinous crimes? And killing kids? What possible positive outcome can that have? My thoughts go out...

This is the most unbelievable thing I've seen: "CHOUTEAU, Oklahoma -- An Oklahoma woman believes outrage over the Florida murder case almost cost her her life. The 26-year-old says a crazed woman tried to kill her because the woman thought she was Casey Anthony. It happened in Chouteau last Friday night, July 8, 2011, just days after the Casey Anthony verdict. Sammay Blackwell hopes she never hears this again: "You look like Casey Anthony, I'm like 'okay,'" she said. Blackwell doesn't think it's funny after what happened last week. Blackwell works at a convenience store in Chouteau and said Shireen Nalley came in that night around 10 p.m. and looked strange, very suspicious, then left after buying gas. "I just couldn't keep my eyes off of her," she said. Sammay got off work at 10:30 that night and walked out to her car, which was parked on the other side of the building, and got inside. "Began to back out and looked and...

This is the kind of topic most people talk about at the end of the year, or right after the start of a new year. (I’m sure I’ve addressed it those times, too, over the seven years during which the Saturday Six has been up and running.) But now that the calendar just flipped over to July — which I still can’t believe — it’s a great time to look at where you are now versus where you were then. Goals is the topic of this week’s edition. Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answe...

Welcome to the 375th edition of the Saturday Six ! This week, the topic is about the news. Do you still have a newspaper subscription? Do you watch network news these days? Whether you love it or hate it, I suspect you’ll be able to handle these questions with little difficulty! Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. Where do you get the majority of your news: from the newspaper, the radio, the television or online? From friends and online -...

On Patrick's Place I found the following post: "A friend and former colleague of mine recently asked his Facebook friends if they thought it was right for a reporter or anchor to use a different name on air when the new name is designed to make them sound like they’re part of an ethnic group they’re not really part of or to appeal to viewers in that ethnic group. For example, anchor Jim Smith moves to a market with a large Hispanic population, and decides to change his name to Jim Sanchez. My friend, incidentally, uses his real name. I checked. But what about renaming yourself on-air to sound more ethnic than you are, or at least more ethnic than your name makes it sound like you are? Is there anything wrong with that? I’ll give my thoughts soon, but I wanted to get yours first." My response: "I'd have to say it is wrong to change one's name to appeal to a demographic. This only encourages the prejudice that colours Americans and other groups, in...

JUST when you thought it was safe: "The Duggar family continues to grow! Josh Duggar, 23, –- the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle –- and wife Anna, 22, welcomed their second child, Michael James, on Wednesday, TLC announced. The couple is sticking with their "M" theme, for their children's names. Little Michael James will join big sister MacKynzie, 20 months, at home. The couple's new son weighed 8 lbs., 5 oz., and arrived at 5:55 PM Tontitown, Ark., according to People, who was first to report the news. The newest Duggar is very close in age to his Aunt Josie (Jim Bob and Michelle's youngest child, who was born premature, but is now healthy), who is only 17 months old. "I think of Josie being born at only 25 weeks," Josh told the mag prior to the birth of his son, "and it makes us think about how precious life is and what a blessing each child is." The Duggars are back on TLC." And once again, the ball rolls downhill. Th...

Now, this is just disgusting: "The item is part of a new Women Who Rock exhibit at the Cleveland museum. Gaga went from rocking a rack of meat to having it preserved for the ages. Literally. The hand-sewn meat dress is now more of a beef jerky dress. Let us explain. The Argentinean slabs of tartare may have been barbeque-ready when Gaga put them on last September . The singer modeled the dress when she accepted the Best Video of the Year, "Bad Romance," wearing it to proclaim, as she put it , "I am not a piece of meat." But let's face it: The freshness date of the frock -- and matching meat boots -- have long since passed. A post on NPR explains the process for preserving the meat dress: The edible fashion statement "was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals and then dried out by taxidermists in California before being transported to the museum." Just one problem. It looked like a bunch of beef jerky -- which doesn't ...

Ye gods. Normally, I don't want to post the whole thing each week when there is another two-hour episode of Celebrity Apprentice, but after this last one... well, wow . They both fell flat on their faces. Both teams did poorly and were eaten alive by the executives. They were chewed up and spit out. The mens' team had only three guys who were overworked (but still very relieved not to have Gary). But the little details, like leaving out any - ANY - kind of contact information, was a huge gaff. And while the men used to have the creative edge, they did not have it this time. They stuck to the tried and true methods of what high-end hospitality is. And then there was the womens' team. Ouch. Star Jones was the team leader and as usual she glued herself to the laptop to put it all together. The concept was to create four images that showed how high-end Trump hotels are. Star visualised four different images and there were errors. Star also put together the pitch. It was terribl...

It isn't as bad as all that. Car 65 had their installation dinner tonight. I suspect all have left the actual event place by now (it is 01h10, quite late) but many times people love to keep a party going and go out somewhere after the formal event is over and party some more. So there may well be people out still having a fun time. It was quite unusual. One call went out around 19h00 and one just went out about 15 - 20 minutes ago. Usually they have the luck of picking a night where the weather is terrible and sometimes crews have had to stay at the buildings to get out. We normally hold our dinners later in the season and don't get snowstorms, but as I recall, last year there was a horrendous rain storm complete with high winds and other insanity on our dinner night. I love the installation parties, although I never partake in the drinking portion (I really hate the taste of alcohol). I kind of understand drinking, but I never understand drinking to the point of vomiting and f...

Remember this morning's lofty goals? Not happening. There is no way to find enough topics - and the time - to put up as many meaningful posts as I'd like. The days are too long and tonight has proven to be the standard in full-moon fare. Don't misunderstand; you don't need just crazy people to make the full moon nights what they are. Sometimes it is all medical, sometimes it is all substance abuse, most of the time it is a mix. It's just more. So tonight we had one medical call and one CO alarm, which undoubtedly the fire district at the scene is still playing with - people do the strangest things. I'll just leave it there. CO alarms are normally a show-up-and-get-dismissed-immediately kind of thing, but tonight we were standing there talking and talking while the firemen were in and out and doing things. This is a standard stanby at a scene where the firefighters have the work. Still, that is about 90 minutes of my life that I will never get back. Guess that be...

Wow. When these people fight, they don't kid around. I should really say "when these women" fight. The men were all working together really well, but the women did nothing but bicker. Pick, pick, pick. Every conversation started out well but deteriorated quickly. Holly Robinson Peete is pushy, pushy, pushy and even suggested that Donald Trump is favouring Sharon Osbourne by not giving her the axe for being sick. I really don't care for this woman. Now, personal feelings aside, let's look at this carefully. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cyndi and Bret were brought in as the extreme ADD, bouncing off the walls people and then Curtis and Sharon for the sharp, hard-driving focus. But Holly and Bill and a lot of the various contenders really have no idea how to deal with other personalities. I'm one of those ADD, gets excited fast and cuts off everyone. Snap your fingers and tell me to focus! If someone tells me I'm doing it, I'll make a better effort to...

Always... I should say my best thinking is done anywhere I can't write it down. The shower? That is easily the highest qualifier... At least when I'm driving I can call the house number and leave myself a message with bulletpoints of what I'd like to write. So here I am, witting in front of the home computer, which underscores the fact that I need to purchase another new monitor, wrapped in a towel with wet legs, not getting ready to go visit my parents... But if I don't do this now, I won't remember later. I should move some money around and buy another monitor... But I will instead wait for Luis to return from far-away Omaha (he'll be on the 1400 flight out of Omaha to Houston, then wait a bit for his next flight out of Houston to arrive in New Jersey around 2200). Then he can come with me to Staples to select a new monitor that won't be broken. Back to what I was thinking about in the shower... I was shaving something, and thinking about the social graces...

Granted that People Magazine has its interest in sleaze, it also has its interest in public issues and affairs (outside of the famous people and their affairs) and one subject that has been getting more and more notice is school bullying. When I lived in Wallington, NJ, I didn't love school, but it was okay. It was an onerous task with boring teachers and some wretched kids but it was just there. I prayed for snow days but in those ancient days (I sound the grandparents of any age, at 42) we had to go to school even when there were measurable inches of snow. But as much as I wasn't crazy about it, I usually had a couple of friends and did poorly in subjects I wasn't interested in and flew through the few that I was. Teachers loved to say I wasn't attentive and this and that, but I have discovered that adults lie as much as children and when put to the wall, even more. When we moved from Wallington to Wayne in 1981, I discovered what every kid dreaded - moving to a new ...

I have been feeling so good since getting back from Philly and getting into a more normal rhythm of living. I still feel good. I e-mailed my doctor to set up an appointment so I can follow up with the sleep testing and ask if they know any particular opthamalogist in the CIGNA plan. I wanna get this ball rolling! And I love the medication for my muscles! Almost no side effects, doesn't make me tired or loopy on a full stomach, does make me tired on an empty stomach and works well in tandem with Ambien, so I have cut back on that. I eating less, getting back into exercising, getting into the holidays and taking pictures again... it's awesome! And work - I always love work but it had gotten so uncomfortable with the back spasms and neck tightness. Now I am focussing on work and not being in pain! I don't think of it often, or I should say, I try not to think that this may just be a momentary thing. I don't want this to be a couple weeks of feeling great and then going b...

OK, ready for this? Seriously, sit down. This is bizarre beyond all imagining. I was watching "Kate & Leopold" on WEHD - I'm guessing that is the Women's channel in High Definition. And let's be honest - Hugh Jackman is not just attractive or good looking, he's a five course meal. And Meg Ryan is cute. But that is not at all the purpose of this post. No. While skipping through the adverts (I luuuuuvvvv my TiVO) something weird showed up. It was an image of eyelashes growing in and getting bushy. If you are like me, you are thinking, "You mean 'eyebrows', don't you?" No. I mean eye lashes . Seriously. And so I actually went back a bit to look at the whole advert. I'm sorry to say that I have now found a whole new low for humanity. While we are a sad case of a country being owned by an industry, this will really underscore how much we are owned. A pharmaceutical manufacturer named Allergan is now making a drug called "Latisse...

If your mind is racing and you are having difficulty falling asleep, a few minutes of simple but effective breathing exercises can help calm your nervous system on a chemical level and lead to greater success in hitting the sack. The awareness and control of breath has been a central component of yoga, martial arts and Taoism for thousands of years. There are dozens of different methods and exercises you can explore through a good teacher or book. The practice of breath control in yoga is called pranayama. I'll detail a simple pranayama exercise here that is particularly effective for falling asleep called alternate nostril breathing (that's "nadi shodana" for the Sanskrit posse out there). Alternate nostril breathing is a great way to clear obstructed nostrils, balance the yin and yang energy of the body and focusing the busy mind on the present for a deliberate and calming exercise. When our nostrils are unobstructed, we involuntarily alternate breathing through one...

Yep. It's that time of the week (not really, but that sounds good, right?) I enjoy this show greatly but at the same time, I sometimes want to slap the celebrities. I love Joan Rivers, I love Clint Black. Jesse James is normally very likeable, but this time, not so much. And the other team, ye gods. Brande Something (I'm sorry, I just can't remember names well) and Annie... Annie... Duke - are snakes. They are imature and whispering to each other and overly ass-kissing. Melissa Rivers may be a little overly sensitive, but as much I am not a big fan of hers, she's completely right about this. Clint is the one I'm most impressed with. He is managing the team and the project really, really well. He is very aware of what he did wrong the first time. He is making a marked effort to be open and attentive. Clint would ask questions and ask for input and Jesse - surprisingly - was complete unreceptive. He was even unresponsive. He started out negative, and continued that wa...

As you recall, I was falling asleep watching the 12 April episode of Celebrity Apprentice and so did finish writing about it. That was past the mid-way point, with about 45 minutes left to go. The contestants all left the boardroom and Joan talked to Annie about how she did not say what she had told Joan the previous night. She did not. When asked by Donald about what she thought of Brandy, she made some sort of spineless, wishy-washy statement about her not being... it was some kind of poker analogy (I guess) but it was not a strong statement and did not convey any real intent to anyone. I guess I should back track and get that comment... Oh, yes. The losing team had to explain the loss. At one point, George (I don't remember his last name but he has worked for Donald Trump for years and has been on the show when it was just The Apprentice and was a long, on-air job interview for candidates to prove their worth to take over a building or something of that nature in Mr. Trump...