8 (and then some) years later, IT IS FINISHED!

I bet it didn't take David McCullough this long to write the darn thing, but I finally finished reading John Adams. Maybe that should be "reading" because I finished the last third by getting the audiobook from the library.

I got the book as a gift for Christmas 2001, and I don't really know why it took so long to work through it. I would pick it up, read a bit, put it down, not get back to it for months. The story was interesting, but it's not like I was hanging on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next. I knew the arc of Adams' life, I was reading for details. And details just weren't enough motivation to keep me reading consistently, I guess. I found very quickly that it was not good bedtime reading, since I would barely get through a page or two and fall asleep, and it's a very heavy book to let fall (this does not imply it was boring - if I can fall asleep reading about a dragon crashing through Gringotts bank, I can fall asleep reading anything).

The book had languished on my TBR pile for about a year before I did the Great Book Purge and cleared away the "I'm really never going to read this" books. Those went into a giant "Donate" pile and John Adams went on the "Keeper" shelf as a "I will get back to it, but I don't want it staring me in the face every day" book. (guilt, guilt, guilt)

Then a couple months ago, I was wandering through the audiobook section in the public library. As soon as I saw John Adams, I snatched it up. I started from the beginning, and 26 discs and almost 2 months later, I FINALLY finished the book yesterday while I was cleaning the house for Easter dinner. It felt a little anti-climactic, but I can now move on to other books completely GUILT-FREE! Yay!

What about you? Have you ever had that one book that you couldn't get through, but also couldn't let go?

Why don't you Topeka that?

Google has done some awesome April Fools jokes over the years (CADIE, Virgle and hiring for jobs on the moon, for instance), but I don't think they've ever gone as far as changing their name before.

I especially love their usage guidelines:

Why Topeka? Find out here

Find of the Day: Jane Austen's Will

The National Archives of the UK recently joined The Commons on Flickr, and today I came across this gem:

I haven't dug very far through their photostream yet, but I already found both a note written by Jack the Ripper and the only surviving letter written by Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife. It's not just documents; there are plenty of photos. But it's certainly the documents that caught my eye.

Writer's Block

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Ten years ago today...

...I married my sweetie!

I love you, Dan!

Back to basics with Big Bird

I've had a very crabby, headache-y day (poor Hubby, poor LilGirl). I finally retreated to my cave...I mean, the office, and eventually I tripped across this video (did you know Sesame Street has a twitter account? Not verified, but still).

I remember having a set of these Sesame Street records when I was little (I still have the one with Rubber Duckie on one side and the Sesame Street Theme on the other). The ABC-DEF-GHI Song was in this set. Watching this video gave me a few minutes of childhood reverie.

Even when you're an adult, you can count on Sesame Street to cheer you up. :)

Friday Fun: The only movie trailer you'll ever need

Bleardy bleardy bleardy* St. Patrick's Day!

*my attempt at spelling Swedish Chef's words

WedPic: Photo"Pommed"

Last Christmas, our Pomeranian tried to imitate a famous squirrel.

"It's not a waste of time. Do it."

Like a lot of other people, I watched the Oscars last night. I was mostly unimpressed by the show, the speeches (mostly meh), the dresses (mostly ugly & some which were fine, but not worn by the right person) and the dancing (what was up with that?). The entire show was a bit of a slog.

However, I was especially struck by a couple of speeches near the end of the night. Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech made me cry - it was so very much the sort speech you'd expect from her, with humor and tears, and I'm very glad she won.

Another speech spoke to my heart and was probably missed or ignored by many, since it wasn't one of the big six. Michael Giacchino received the Oscar for Original Score for his work on Up. His words echoed through my thoughts the rest of the night and still do this morning, and I wanted to share them with you. Unfortunately, I can't find an embeddable version of the video, so if you'd like to watch it, you can watch here. I'll also include his words below:

Thank you, guys. When I was... I was nine and I asked my dad, "Can I have your movie camera? That old, wind-up 8 millimeter camera that was in your drawer?" And he goes, "Sure, take it." And I took it and I started making movies with it and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, "What you're doing is a waste of time." Never. And I grew up, I had teachers, I had colleagues, I had people that I worked with all through my life who always told me what you're doing is not a waste of time. So that was normal to me that it was OK to do that. I know there are kids out there that don't have that support system so if you're out there and you're listening, listen to me: If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It's not a waste of time. Do it. OK? Thank you. Thank you. [via Oscar.com]

I hope every child can receive this kind of encouragement and support in their life. And it's a good thing for adults to be reminded of, as well, since the world tends to stop telling us creativity is not a waste of time once we're grown.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlastula/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Got some time to kill? Ok, go (wink, wink)

Everyone else has tweeted/blogged/facebooked/shouted about OK Go's latest video, I may as well, too. I mean, it is pretty cool...

Friday Fun: Give Stan Lee an Oscar!

Hot off the...er...presses? Here's a just-released video from Funny or Die. Hey, he makes a good argument. :)

Stan Lee's Oscar Campaign from Stan Lee

How Star Trek should have ended, according to Darth Vader

Darth Vader tweeted this today (yes, he tweets), and I had to laugh...






I've been taking a little accidental-on-purpose break from blogging for the last couple weeks. I've basically been in late-winter survival mode (putting on the oxygen mask), and may be there a bit longer yet. So, instead of any of "real" posts, there will probably be a few lazy "here's something I found" posts for the next few days. Hopefully I'll have my rear in gear by Monday and get back on schedule.

Friday Fun: Muppets try out for Star Wars

It's Valentine's Day, and I only have one thing to say...

Mmmmmmmm, chocolate!

(Oh, that's NOT what the holiday is about? Oops...)

Photo by Darwin Bell / CC BY 2.0

Vancouver Olympics on Flickr

The IOC has set up an official Flickr group where anyone can share their pictures of the Vancouver Winter Games - I love it when an organization "gets" some part of social media. There are so many ways to follow the Olympics this year, whether on Twitter, Facebook, online video, or several other sites (There's a good list at TechCrunch) that I think I'll have more fun following the games than I've had in years. It'll be great to be able to experience the Olympics through the eyes of athletes and attendees as well as "old" media.

Friday Fun: Poor Beaker

Somehow, Beaker's musical aspirations always end in fire...



and...

The Making of a Super Bowl Commercial

Somehow I missed this commercial during the Super Bowl. I'm sure it has nothing to do with me being a big nerd who was madly tapping away on the netbook in the middle of a sports bar filled with people. Apparently, even though I'm generally such a distracte-bunny, if you put me in a distracting enough environment, I come swinging round the other side and can really focus. I got more work done on my work in progress during a few hours in the midst of Super Bowl revelry than I have since NaNoWriMo. Who knew? (and I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the fact that the bar's wifi was locked down so I couldn't get on the internet)

Anyway, today I came across Leo Laporte on TWiT, interviewing the guys behind "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." I was fascinated by the work that that went into this commercial. Watch the video to find out if it was one long shot or CGI trickery, while I go clean the drool off my keyboard

Wed Pic: We need more beach

IMG_0863, originally uploaded by mdesive.

We're in the throes of February, so here's some more beachiness.

Hindsight...

A New York Tribune cover from 1910, pondering whether there will be any place to dock the Titanic when she arrives. I guess they need not have worried.

When she saw this, LilGirl, ever the conspiracy theorist, said "Maybe the iceberg was hired!"

(To read the story, click for the large version here)

Vader joint visitation

Warning to all women!

I don't remember who sent me this, but thanks!

A WARNING TO ALL WOMEN!

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU... 

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER ...

OR TO YOUR SISTER...

The strangest thing happened to me at lunch today. I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at my table..... I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table and wouldn't leave me alone. I shined up my ring on my married finger, then placed my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was not interested in them. Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera. I'm including this picture as a warning just in case they try and pick you up too.

Honestly, some men think they are God's gift.

Friday Fun: Cake Wrecks

Today I'm sending you to one of my all-time favorite blogs: Cake Wrecks!. It picks me up when I'm down, and usually makes me spit something on the screen (I've finally learned not drink anything when visiting the site). The site features professionally made cakes. Yes, "professionals" did this:

From A Teaching Moment

and this:

From As We Fumble Along

Sometimes, it's not a lack of talent that makes the cakes go wrong, but great talent led horribly astray (or should I say, ashtray):

Yes, that's a cake. (From Holy Smokes!)

It's not all bad, though. On Sundays, they feature really awesome cakes (it's usually okay to have a beverage during those). Check out the Sunday Sweets. This is one of my favorites, from When Gamers Marry:

Wish I'd thought of this for my wedding cake.

A few weeks ago, Cake Wrecks featured a post that made my daughter laugh so hard, she made me stop scrolling through halfway so she could catch her breath. She still talks about it, always with a snicker. I'll link to it here, but be warned: It involves bodily functions. What else would make a fourth grader laugh so hard?

Have fun! 

Wed Pics: Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell

Instead of the usual picture of my own today, I thought I'd follow Google's lead and celebrate Norman Rockwell's birthday. He's one of my favorite artists, and was probably my first favorite artist. I can't remember a time I wasn't familiar with his work. When I was little, we had a huge coffee table book of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers (I think this was it). I could barely lift it, but luckily, the book was usually stored in a low place it could be slid out of, so I could lay it open on the floor and get lost in the paintings.

I always especially loved the covers that involved a whole sequence of events, like the gossips or the "Day in the life of..." ones like "A Day in the Life of a Girl."

I almost put that as "the covers that tell a story" but they ALL tell a story, and that's what's so great about Norman Rockwell. We also see ourselves in them, despite the passing of time, changes in technology, or changes in popular culture. The people in his paintings are humans, and we're all still human, whether it's 1920, 1950 or 2010.

Interesting link: Mathew Brady Civil War Photographs on Flickr

The U.S. National Archives have joined The Commons at Flickr. I haven't had a chance to peruse more than a handful of photos, but I'm excited to see a selection of Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs have been included.

These appear to be straight scans of the plates, not cleaned up and cropped for best effect as you would usually see in a book or documentary. They're essentially raw, and that almost makes it seem like you're seeing something completely new. I'll probably waste an evening in the near future browsing these.

I'm...Lost

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

(I have to say you were rockin' that floral shirt back in the day!)

Get going!

A friend sent this to me yesterday:

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, 
the devil says,  "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"!

Thanks, Sharee! It's just the sort of kick in the pants I needed this week.

Wed Pic: To the beach!

A little winter respite :)

Must focus...Focus! Ooh, shiny!

Some days I think I should just rename this blog (and maybe my life) Distracte-bunny. I'm having one of those weeks. I blame January.

Anybody else tired of winter?

Anybody else tired of winter?, originally uploaded by mdesive.

I can't wait for it all to melt!

Star Wars Focus Group

We've all done it...

A simple typo here or there can make for an embarrassing situation at the time, but (hopefully) a good laugh later on. Put your drinks down (I don't want to be responsible for wet keyboards and monitors) and head over to Grammar Girl's Facebook page where readers are sharing their own whoppers.

It's been one of those winters...

...and we're not even half-way through. I've felt like this on more than a few days:

Wed Pic: Gargoyle and his little friend

Toddler learns Hamlet from Brian Cox

Lucky toddler!



(via ShakespeareGeek)

Back from Bootcamp

Delilah gives April some feedback

I attended the Heartland Writers Group's annual retreat this weekend. This year, we invited Elle James and Delilah Devlin of Rose's Colored Glasses  to come up and put us through Plotting Bootcamp to help us plot our next books. I learned a lot and I 'm ready to write my pirate story when I'm done editing my NaNoWriMo Robin Hood story. I'm excited!

I would tell more about what happened this weekend, but "What happens at retreat, stays at retreat." ;)

Elle James and Delilah Devlin

Look out!

(via Gizmodo)

If Lie to Me met CSI: Miami

As a fan of Lie to Me who regularly snarks about David Caruso when hubby watches CSI: Miami, I had to post this cartoon. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I first saw it, or I'd have had to clean off my monitor.

Wed Pic: I'd like a quote on my car...

That's not what I meant.

Miep Gies Remembered

I was thinking last night about how fourth grade just might kill me. LilGirl has piles of homework every night. It makes nights when we have other activities pretty stressful. We try to keep her bedtime at 8:30, but last night she didn't make it to bed until almost 10:00. Once she was tucked in, I gnashed my teeth, pulled my hair, moped a bit and checked Twitter. One of the first things that caught my eye was a retweet of this:

That sliced right through my "unbearable" evening. I read Miep Gies' book Anne Frank Remembered years and years ago (in high school, maybe?). It was a powerful book for me, maybe more powerful than The Diary of a Young Girl. I remember more of Miep's book than Anne's. It helped me understand just how much was going on in an attempt to keep the Frank family and the others safe. 


One of the biggest things I remember from the book was how scarce food was as the war went on. I remember that Miep mentioned that for years afterward, she felt guilty throwing out moldy bread, and I think of that every time I have to throw out the green remains of a loaf. 

So, yes, fourth grade will mostly likely not kill me. LilGirl and I may just get through it without tearing each other's eyes out. And we've got much less to contend with than others have, even today. Sometimes I just need a little nudge to remember that.

Rest in Peace, Miep. You've earned it.

(Photo via Telegraph.co.uk)

An example of how little boys never really grow up

I'd forgotten Cobra Commander ever wore a hood. In fact, I think I had put most of my G.I. Joe knowledge in deep archival storage until I saw the movie. Hubby didn't, and was as excited as a little kid on Christmas when we went to see it, which is probably how most guys in our generation felt.

And here we have grown men debating mask vs. hood:

"But the hood being broken out meant Cobra Commander was getting serious. It was more regal, more majestic, more befitting of his world domination plans. It meant he was planning something big in his Springfield headquarters."

It made me smile. Little boys and their toys...that they never really grow out of.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23578939@N06/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Cat called to jury duty

Sad & hilarious all at once. I love the "reason" they marked for having him disqualified.

Wow! I aced it!

The Cable Connector Quiz



Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

I have to say I'm surprised I did this well (one or two I wasn't totally sure about). I guess working at Radio Shack in high school paid off. :)

How well can you do?

The decade according to 9-year-olds

I came across this earlier this week (via ITART) and, having a 9-year-old myself, I found it very interesting:


The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

Friday Fun: Neil Gaiman's Statuesque

Here's a neat little movie directed by Neil Gaiman, starring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer.

Wed Pic: Not Snow!

It's snowing...again. School called a snow day...again. I'm not going to post a Wednesday picture of snow...again. So here's something a lot more green to warm your bones.

The Lied Jungle at the Henry Doorly Zoo

A post of great intelli...Velociraptor? Where?

I had a different blog post planned today, but I'm feeling like a big slacker, so here ya go:

Created by Oatmeal

The occasional flash

Every now and then, I have a moment of brilliance, and, even more rarely, I act on it. I always struggle to come up with a few succinct New Year's resolutions. Every year, I start a list and it gets pretty long pretty fast. It becomes more of a list of "Things to get done" rather than ways to improve myself. I mentioned the other night that I even started a blog post about my goals and resolutions, but left it unpublished because it had fallen into the usual trap.

However, Friday morning, I found an interesting reminder in my e-mail. Several months ago - I don't remember exactly when - I had a flash of insight. I knew what my New Year's resolution should be. It was simple, to the point, and exactly what I needed to do most for myself:

Put on my own oxygen mask FIRST

(The point of the resolution could be another blog post in itself, but I'l leave that for another day.)

I knew that I would never remember this resolution by year's end. Amazingly, I had a second flash and set a reminder in my Google Calendar. My resolution has popped up in my e-mail every morning this year (and apparently I've set it to remind me every day for the rest of the year - we'll see how long it takes before I say "I get it already!" and shut off the reminder). Sometimes I'm really impressed with myself for having a little foresight - most days I feel I'm seriously lacking in that - and I just wanted to share.

If a tree falls, can you Google it?

Nebraska "on the map"

Happy New Year!

I had a post written about 2009's accomplishments and 2010's goals, but in the end, I decided to keep it to myself. Instead, I'll just say...

May your dreams become reality in the new year.
God Bless!

Resolve to get it right in 2010

Two very useful, easy-to-use posters:

and

Christmas Week: Santa?

LilGirl has reached that age: she believes in Santa Claus, but is hearing from a lot of her friends that he doesn't exist. She argues loudly with any show on TV that implies that Santa doesn't exist, has debates (mostly with herself) laying out the facts vs. the rumors, and had a very hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve.

Today, hubby found this video that put her fears to rest. Apparently the daughter of tweeter (and actor) Peter Facinelli set out a spycam to "catch" Santa.  Here's the result:





(In the spirit of full disclosure, I had no idea Peter Facinelli was the source of the video until I started writing this post. Hubby sent the video to me and he didn't know either...so, it really doesn't count as anything Twilight-related. Right? Right? People are going to stop believing I'm not a fan...especially after a post that's coming up in the next week or so...)

Let it snow...but let it stop soon!

These were taken about 24 hours apart, yesterday and today.

Hope you're having a Merry (warm, safe & dry) Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the "silent" monks

My mom on the news

She was interviewed just before leaving Rapid City yesterday for being one of those silly people travelling in yesterday's weather:

Christmas is for doggies, too

Wed Pic: Icicles

I didn't have to hang any tinsel - nature did it for me today. :) (I'm so glad I got to stay home today and didn't have to drive in this stuff)

Christmas Week! More SNL

I love this song, and the guys are so a-dor-a-bul!

Christmas Week: Stop! Cookietime!

This is why I use gift bags:

Christmas week! Schweddy Balls

This is one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas skits. (Warning: It's a bit naughty, so if you're offended by that sort of thing, well, check out Friday's post instead)