Moving on up

So I'm moving my blog to Wordpress. The site is thebigseester.wordpress.com

Yes, it's true. I ditched The Clam. We decided there was no point in calling it "A Tale of Two Sisters" when only the one sister actually wrote on the blog (comments not included, of course!)

Anyway, come visit me in my new home!

I DID IT

I finally figured out the online billing thing! Sure, it took a while, but I did it! I am so proud of myself right now, I could burst a blood vessel. I have all my bills scheduled for payment, except my car insurance, which I had already paid (the one bill due in the middle of the month).

There's also an option for certain bloodsuckers...oops, I mean corporations to send me bills via email. This seems like a cool option, since (a) I hate paper, which is a well-established factoid about me, and (b) this way the bills are less likely to get lost (or stolen). However, it appears only 2 of the companies offer this option - my phone and my electric. I wonder why?

Also, Canuck, DJ: Do you keep the old bills? I mean, Comcast sends you a bill (or Rogers if you're Canadian). You pay it online. Do you keep the paperwork?

Pat me on the back, cause I ROCK!

Many thanks to The Canuck for not losing his temper at me during the many tech support phone calls lately...

Bad Shoe Day

So I'm blogging at work and not on my lunch (not good) but I had to take 5 minutes to just type this up.

I don't own a lot of shoes, and what I have are pretty basic and functional.

I have 2 pairs of black dress shoes for work, plus I just bought a pair of work-acceptable sandals for summertime. I recently bought a third pair of black pumps for work (because I've had the other 2 pairs for a couple of years now and they are wearing out), but I haven't broken them in yet. (I HATE breaking in shoes. I'm not like other people. I can't stand pain. It hurts me!)

Anyhoo, we had a shindig at our other building at lunch, and as I was walking back, I realized that my left shoe was causing me pain. A fair amount. It felt like a pebble in my shoe. (Or, more likely, kitty litter. One piece of litter can feel like a giant rock, and that's not even counting the cootie factor.)

Anyway, I got back and took off my shoe to shake out the pebble. Turns out the sole of my shoe is cracked along the ball of my foot (on the inside) and is pinching my foot with every step. Way to self-destruct, huh?

So far I hate home banking

So, after much discussion with my personal tech stalkies, The Canuck and DJ, I decided to try online banking.

So far, I hate it.

First I had to fill out a form and snail mail it to my credit union.

Then they sent me back a piece of paper with my pin number (great. another number to remember.)

I log on and try to get going, with The Canuck on the phone from Canuckia for support, only to find out that there's another step, and I have to wait until they email me to tell me it's OK to start.

(Can you hear the "24" clock ticking in the background, as the due date for my bills comes closer and closer?)

Then, I start asking questions that The Canuck doesn't know the answer to, since, as has been pointed out in other places, Canada is in fact a foreign country, and that becomes blatantly obvious when it comes to things like banking (and Beer Stores).

So I have to wait until today to try again from home. I know better than to try and do this on my lunch, because if you attempt to log in from strange computer, they will want to know the answers to the confirmation questions, which are not easy questions like What is your mom's maiden name? What hospital were you born in; but rather, quantifiable questions like what is your favorite food (all depends on what day of the month it is, buddy my pal), who is your favorite band? (I dunno. Does it have to be a rock band?) You can see how this might cut into my lunch and complicate things.

So I wait until I get home. I purposely don't start any other projects because I want to get this done, when I realize that my complete lack of a filing system in my new place is not helping the situation. Of course, the fact that I have actual panic attacks about forgetting to pay a bill and getting evicted from my home doesn't help either.

Anyway, after much looking through my pile o'paper and checking and double-checking the bills that I have paid (last month), I sit down again, at 10 pm, with my stack of bills in my hand, ready to go.

AND I CAN'T GET ON TO THE STUPID SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This stinks!

Plus I am so scared that a bill is not going to get paid. I'm not kidding. It really has me freaked out.

Do you think it's too late to back out of this now? I'm someone who has done email statements in the past, only to cancel it after a couple of months because I'm certain the Kremlin is monitoring my statements.

I don't like feeling not in control of when and how things get paid. I don't like worrying that I'm going to get hacked. I don't like that I have now spent HOURS on this and yet NONE OF MY BILLS ARE PAID.

I hate this. Make it stop.

What a maroon...

OK, I'm in a bad mood, so that probably doesn't help matters much, but I'm sorry. Johnny Depp gave an interview in Rolling Stone recently where he talked about Keith Richards, and how cool he is.

What exactly is cool about watching a 60-something guy stumble and teeter around and try desperately to pretend he's still 25?

Frankly, his sort of antics aren't even cool when you're 25, but they are just pathetic when you're 65.

And it's sooo dorky for Johnny Depp to think that this guy is any kind of cool.

I'll tell you the same thing I have been saying for years:

Grow up
Get a haircut
Get off the dope
Try listening to some real music for a change

Frank Sinatra. Now that cat was cool...

I Hate 24 with a Passion

OK. I stuck it out through the entire season. Sure, I gave up for a couple of weeks there, when, after every episode I was irritated beyond words at the sheer stupidity of what I saw. But then The Canuck pulled me back into the 24 spiral of insanity. (Semi-Godfather reference.)

So tonight was the "2 hour season finale" of this season. I'm not going to put spoilers in here...mostly.

However, I read an article last week that said basically that the producers knew this season sucked and that they were going to fix things for next season. They were going to take the show out of LA, and it was going to be Jack Bauer and a whole new cast of characters. Perhaps some old fave actors would show up, as new characters, but basically, a whole new cast. So that pretty much tells me that, say, if we don't know now whether Ex-President Logan is alive or dead, we won't know later.

Guess what?

We don't know.

We also don't know who The Mole is (I still think Milo, and the appearance of his creepy brother doesn't help his case). We still don't know whether President Wayne is going to make it. We don't know about his annoying sister's reasonably cool boyfriend (remember him? The Muslim who got the stuffing kicked out of him at Camp Bombalot?) We don't know how Mike Doyle is. (I'm not sure we care, but still...) We don't know whether Josh's dad is Jack or the granddad. (The only thing we're reasonably sure of is that Josh's dad isn't his dad, if you know what I mean.)

That's really freaking annoying. I mean, I GET cliffhangers. I get Jack walking off into the sunset and not sure where he's going to land. But if they are not going to continue the other characters, the least they can do is clean up the messes.

I am SOOOO not happy right now.

Reading is Fundamental

So The Clam tagged me for a book meme. Ahem. Why she would do that is beyond me. I hate to read, and she knows it. Hahahaha. If there were such a thing as book-buyers anonymous, The Clam and I would be attending weekly, although...(get ready to be shocked) she and I went into our local Super Giant Mega Book Store over the weekend and didn't buy anything! (GASP!) Of course, I'm feeling particularly poor because of all the moolah I've laid out for my new home, so that was probably a contributing factor...

Anyway, here's the meme, for better or for worse, and I tag DJ, The Canuck and...Tim Ferguson. Yeah. OK, dudes, show us gals up!

Three works of non-fiction everyone should read:

1. The Bible (along with the Catechism of the Cat'lik Church). Especially if you are not a Catholic, or not a Christian. If you're going to disagree with something, don't you think you ought to know what you are disagreeing with?

2. Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II. OK, ok, I haven't actually read the book. I have been working on the Intro to the Theology of the Body. It's just that deep. However, I hope to actually scratch the surface of the TOTB within the next year or two. This is one of those things about being a Cat'lik - nothing is easy. As Ven. John Newman said (I wish I could remember it exactly) "Catholicism is a deep subject. You cannot catch it in a teacup."

3. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. I know - everyone says that one. What can I say? It's a classic for a reason, and when I read it (in college) even though I was already a Christian, it really started me down the road of critical thinking.

Three works of fiction everyone should read:

1. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. I don't know how this book escaped me for so long, but now that I have read it, I am anxiously searching out her other faith-themed books. It was poignant and beautiful, and those 600+ pages flew by!

2. The complete works of William Shakespeare. All jokes aside, the man was a truly timeless writer, and he should be read by everyone.

3. The Little House books. OK, they are technically kind of memoirs, but they are also not, and they give us a first class picture of pioneer life. Always a joy to read.

Three authors everyone should read:

1. Fulton Sheen.

2. GK Chesterton.

3. The Pope. Any and all popes.

Three books no one should read:

1. The DaVinci Code. And not just because it's full of blasphemy. Also because it's very badly written. Seriously. The guy writes like a 7th grader. And that's NOT a compliment. I actually tried to read it so I could debate it with various protty family members, and I couldn't get past about page 60. It was horrid. This guy makes the "It was a dark and stormy night" dude look like Shakespeare.

2. Pretty much anything by Garry Wills.

3. Madame Bovary. Wow, a little controversial, huh? I hated this book. Absolutely hated it. Hated it in English, hated it in French. She was spineless, weak and manipulative, and when things didn't go her way, she topped herself. (Oops! Just gave away the ending, so now you don't have to read it!) It was a horrid book, and I came away from it wishing that I could send Scarlett O'Hara over there to smack her around...

Now Who Could Have Seen THAT Coming?

Well, me actually. (Pause while I shine my MENSA badge.)

"Americans face sizable increases in their grocery bills this year as a boom in ethanol production diverts more corn from the nation's dinner table to its gas tank. Indeed, their pocketbooks could feel the pinch for years to come." The Wall Street Journal

See, here's the thing. If you take FOOD, and turn it into GAS, you are, by definition, reducing the amount of FOOD available. Because of the laws of supply and demand, prices go up.

When they first started talking about ethanol, I remember saying to several people that it was not a good idea to mess with our food supply to provide gas. And corn isn't just a food - it's THE food. It's in everything! (Well, as high fructose corn syrup it is, anyway. Plus we feed it to animals we eat.)

This whole thing is giving me a headache. Here's how my brain train is running:

1. We want to stop buying gas because the arabs are meanie-bobeanies and everybody's complaining about the high cost of gas. (not that I blame them.)
2. We look for an alternate source of energy.
3. We settle on a food crop, thus driving the cost of food way up on top of the cost of gas still being up. (And, BTW, the Wall Street Journal is estimating that food prices will go higher than they are now, and stay up for TEN YEARS.)
4. We get into a situation where people have to gas up their cars to get to work, but cannot afford to pay their bills, buy gas AND feed their families.
5. All of this causes a recession, or, God forbid, a depression.
6. Not only that, but (can I just remind you) that a food crop is vulnerable to weather patterns. Just ask the citrus farmers in Florida. So, when there's a bad year, a drought or whatever, and we are dependent on corn for fuel, what do we do then? We aren't addressing the basic problem - reliance on fuel.

You know, it's really sad that the only econ class I ever took was in high school (and I remember being really confused, largely because the teacher was a sweet old man who should have retired 10 years earlier) and I get this, why don't the people in charge? Why don't people have the sense God gave a squirrel?

Oh, and, in case you love irony, get this:

We used to use sugar in all the places where high fructose corn syrup gets used, right? Remember that? OK. Lots of that sugar was grown in the Philippines, which was an American protectorate. Well, when corporations realized they could use HCFS for way cheaper than sugar, lots of those sugar plantations shut down. Those areas of the Philippines have become hotbeds of Radical Islamists, because when a man doesn't work, he has all kinds of time to get indoctrinated and stuff.

Anyway, here are a couple of links:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117667991954270669-Oglbl5YepJfTYwDNgEWSt54OTB8_20070423.html?mod=regionallinks

http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/economy/beef_prices/index.htm

The Moralities of House, MD

While I'm in a TV kind of mood, I wanted to draw your attention to a blog I read regularly, American Papist. Besides the fact that Thomas is a local boy (also from Detroit), he's really S-M-R-T.

http://www.americanpapist.com/blog.html

Anyway, back to my point. Thomas has started a semi-regular feature on his blog, called The Moralities of House. Apparently I can't link directly to the correct posts, but he uses labels, and "House" is one of them...

He's done 3 so far:
The Moralities of House (3x21, "Family")
The Moralities of House (3x20, "House Training")
The Moralities of House (3x19, "Act Your Age")

Check them out. He's much much more cognizent of the ins and outs of moral dilemmas on the show than I am, and I find his comments pretty spot on.

And again, Hugh Laurie is AWESOME! If I'm completely honest, this is one show I try never to miss.

Thomas catches some of the funnier quips from the show, like: "Loss of free will. I like it. Maybe we can get Thomas Aquinas in for a consult."

Of course, I also very much enjoyed when he went shopping for a new cane with Wilson. (Not at a medical supply company. At some sort of goth shop.) The first cane the salesdude showed him was black, with a silver skull for a handle. House says, "No...too Marilyn Manson in a rest home." The second one was (I think) a bull penis stretched over the cane. House's response? "Bull penises are murder." (ie "fur is murder"). What does he end up with? A black cane with flames on the bottom, "because it looks like I'm going really fast!"

Too funny! Long may he reign!

Into Great Silence

OK, that's a natural segue, right? Violent anti-terrorism, bombs, guns...Carthusian monks.

Well, too bad, because actually the monks came first (in sooo many ways!).

The Clam and I went and saw the foreign film (ooooh, aren't we sophisticated and stuff?) Into Great Silence over the weekend. It's an almost 3 hour long documentary, for lack of a better term, inside a Carthusian monastery in France. Since the monks mostly keep a vow of silence, the movie is mostly silent. By that I mean, there are noises, footsteps, scissors, chopping, etc, but not much talking. It's not for people with ADD.

Now, I actually did fairly well, considering that sitting still for that long is difficult for me. But for me, the peace and joy of the monks really shone through, and so it was a very deep film.

It's hard to vocalize why I liked it. First, it was a beautiful film (well shot, and you have to be a bad photographer indeed to make the Alps look bad!) but it was more than that. It felt...transcendent. Oh, I sound incoherent. Ah well.

Here are a couple of links that you might be interested in reading, if you are thinking of going to see it.

http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/reviews/intogreatsilence.html
http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/articles/groning.html

Last Night's 24 (Spoiler Alert!)

Random thoughts from last night's 24:

1. When Morris and Potato Face were having their latest awkwardness, and Milo asks "What's going on?" and WON'T DROP IT UNTIL THEY TALK ABOUT IT, I had a weird flashback to 10th grade. Come on! National crisis, national crisis, NATIONAL CRISIS!!! (Side note: I know Chloe is a very popular character, but I really don't see why. Really.)

2. Milo's whole cornering Nadia and saying how hurt he is because he thinks he senses feelings between Nadia and Mike Doyle was really weird and stalky. Seriously. He kissed her like 2 hours ago, and suddenly he's all wounded feelings about Nadia and Doyle? WHAT?

3. But all that gets dealt with nicely, when the Chinese bad guys bust into CTU, and shoot Milo through the head. (Hurray!) Now, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure he's dead. I don't think you walk away from something like that. No more Mr. Stalky! Can you tell I'm not crushed? Actually, they could have taken out Potato Face too. I actually prefer jerky Morris to her. At least he's semi-fun to watch, when he's not whining and feeling sorry for himself. She's just awful.

4. I still think Milo is the mole, though. I mean, since we now know that James Cromwell (Jack's dad) is behind the busting into CTU, and we know how very sentimental he is (not), it would be an obvious move for him have the mole shot.

5. You know, at the beginning of the episode, when Nadia and the guards are talking to Jack after he got locked up again, I was thinking, Gosh, company Christmas parties must be really really awkward at that place, since isn't that the guard that Jack just beat up in the last episode? I mean, how do you put something like that behind you? Then he got shot by the Chinese, and I realized, Jack never has to say he's sorry. Everyone around him ends up dead.

6. Once again, Tom Lennox kicked heiny. The scene where blondie is freaking out because she's scared to try and get info off her russkie-loving boytoy, and he basically says, "Suck it up. You got yourself into this, and I don't feel sorry for you at all" was AWESOME! (Side note: the chick that plays her goes on my list of chicks who need to eat a sandwich, stat. The scene where we see her nude back was creepy. I haven't seen bones that prominent outside of sub-saharan Africa. She makes Callista Flockhart look pudgy. Ick.)

7. Have I mentioned that it rocks that James Cromwell is back?!?!

I guess 2 more episodes left... Can I make out a wish list of characters for them to kill?

Also, an open letter to the 24 folks: I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THE DRAMA OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. IF I WANTED THAT, I WOULD WATCH GREY'S ANATOMY. OR DAYS OF OUR LIVES. GIVE ME ACTION, WITH AS LITTLE PERSONAL CRAP AS POSSIBLE. IN FACT, I THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS "LAW & ORDER" REMAINED SO POPULAR FOR SO LONG. THE PERSONAL STUFF IS RARE. AND IT'S ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS FOR YOU TO EXPECT US TO BUY THE CHLOE AND MORRIS SHOW DURING A NATIONAL CRISIS. SERIOUSLY. CUT IT OUT. THANK YOU.

Eeew, eeew, EEEEEWWWW!!!!

See, stuff like this really creeps me out!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/07/spiderboy.ap/index.html

Doctor finds spiders in ear of boy with earache

ALBANY, Oregon (AP) -- These guys were not exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop.

What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy's ear -- "like Rice Krispies" -- ended up as an earache, and the doctor's diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.

"They were walking on my eardrums," Jesse Courtney said.(Watch how an earache led to the creepy discovery )

One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader's left ear canal. His mother, Diane Courtney, said her son insisted he kept hearing a faint popping in his ear -- "like Rice Krispies."

Dr. David Irvine said it looked like the boy had something in his ear when he examined him.

When he irrigated the ear, the first spider came out, dead. The other spider took a second dousing before it emerged, still alive. Both were about the size of a pencil eraser.

Jesse was given the spiders -- now both dead -- as a souvenir. He has taken them to school and his mother has taken them to work.

I Could Listen to Bishop Flores...

...for hours and hours. Which I did today, as a matter of fact. He led our department's annual retreat day, and he was marvelous!

He gave three talks, each framed around a question, and each question was asked 2 different ways. He was so profound, I sound like a moron trying to relate what he said, so I think I need to let it simmer a couple of days, but there are a couple of things I can put out there now:

1. If the Love of Christ means anything in our lives, it is that we are to be faithful, as faithful as we can be. (He was talking about this in the context of our relationships with other people.)

2. He spoke of Pope Benedict's new book on Jesus Christ. He said that the reason that books like the Da Vinci Code are huge bestsellers is because people are drawn to Christ. They seek him and seek him, even though they may not realize it. He said that we live in a "Christ haunted culture"; the human heart cannot fill its own emptiness. People will reach, even for false images of Christ. Therefore, Benedict says, our job is to present the true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, and people will recognize the authenticity.

3. He also spoke of our culture, and our obsession with entertainment. He said that our country was founded on the pursuit of happiness, and that it has become a mad passion for entertainment. (Doesn't that sound about right?) Why are we so into entertainment? Because we don't want to think about what it's all about - what we're doing here.

Like I said, I could listen to him for hours. What an amazing man!

Shameless plug: he will be one of the speakers at this year's women's conference - be sure to get your tickets early!

I'll try to let the rest of what he said percolate for a couple of days, and maybe I can put it together into something that makes sense, because the notes I was taking today kind of don't. Ahem.