Thursday, November 08, 2012

Grandma and the girls

Lizzie, Grandma, and Journey




Music is the Best


Before Journey was born I made some silly comment at work about how I wasn’t going to change the type of music I listened to in the car to accommodate the child.  After all, I fondly remember my parent’s music in the car and wouldn’t want to deprive my daughter of all that goodness.  A coworker who has been a mother for 20+ years openly laughed at my naïveté.  “You’ll play whatever music keeps your child the most occupied, but good luck with that plan of yours.”


 She, of course, was right.  Journey isn’t shy about telling us when she doesn’t like the TV program or music we are playing and often it’s not worth the fight, especially since she’s almost 3 (three going on “always right.”). 


Yet there are schemes and trickery that works to get the child’s education on (or attempt to brainwash them into your way of thinking.)

One is to take advantage of what she already likes.  



Jack’s Big Music Show and the interstitials between Nick Jr programs provide the best kids music out there.   The Roots “Lovely, Love My Family,” Andrew Bird’s “Dr Strings,” and any of Laurie Berkner’s or David Winestone’s songs are great. 




There are a handful of Sesame Street songs she likes:  The Count’s “Lambaabaa,” Grover’s “Monster in the Mirror,” and Elmo’s “Happy Tappin’,” and “Elmo’s Song,” are in heavy rotation.  Incidentally we don’t watch a lot of Sesame Street in favor of the Nick Jr lineup (Olivia is her favorite with Pocoyo a close second and Wow Wow Wubbzy,  Wonderpets, and Bubble Guppies rounding out the top five).



 Journey absolutely loves the music from the movie “ Rio ,” and there’s nothing wrong with a good samba mixed by Will.I.Am.  Plus it’s a good movie.


What you say?! She also loves Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack,” and I’m working on the Blues Brothers soundtrack for a little soul.   
She’s just a little young yet for “ Alice ’s Restaurant,” but we’re moving in that direction.  


PeBloProMo

CASE:  I haven’t written prose on my blog regularly in a very long time.

FACTORS: 

Fear.   I cannot write about directly work-related items any longer due to company policy.  The company also has a fairly strict policy about “do not shame your company.”  I like my job and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize it.   As long as I work in the coal mine, any story I tell will be from the viewpoint of a coalminer but I have to be much more careful about discussing the mine itself. Also – I often get quite cheeky and irreverent in my writing.  I have to be careful not to say something so outrageous that it attracts the attention of the mine operators.  Practically speaking, this shouldn’t be much of a problem but I have to be willing to take this risk every time I put ideas out into the public domain.  

Time.  Time is always a factor, more mentally than anything.  I don’t get a lot of “me” time and I am almost never all by myself    I write best late at night while listening to music on headphones but then again, a dad’s gotta sleep when he can.

ACTION PLAN: 

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to encourage folks to write the novel they’ve always wanted to write. My youngest brother did NaNoWriMo last year and I considered it this year but I certainly can’t commit to that kind of output.  What I can do is make November my Personal Blog Prose Month PeBloProMo. 

Keep an eye on this blog for continual updates this month and we’ll see if it becomes a habit again. 

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Pretty much sums it up

Strange to be happy my candidate won but worried that it means that it's going to just be more of the same gridlock. Would the grownups please show up to their JOBS in Congress? and Dems I'm talking to you too.

Okay, more choice tweets


"I knew this country wasn't ready for a white president." - 

This just in: Apple Maps projects Obama to win Chile.
 
And a special congratulations to women, minorities and the future. 

FLASH: Denver Post projecting win for Amendment 64, making Colorado first state in US to legalize marijuana :

Too bad Romney can't even drink this off. 

Watching Fox News right now is like watching me when I first saw "The Phantom Menace"... So much denial.



 

Journey and Mitt Romney just threw up

poor little girl.

poor extremely rich man.


and it's over

Congratulations Barack Obama, and congratulations America.
 

Daily Show Election Coverage Starts

and Eric smiles

Good Point Douglas Hulick

Not be a downer, folks, but I remember going to bed on Bush v Gore night thinking Gore had it in the bag. Patience. 


The coolest scenario: Romney wins popular vote Obama wins electoral. Gore and Romney become best friends. 


More notable tweets


RT : America decides rapists are responsible for rape, not God. Big win for God.  

:don’t fuck with women, minorities, youth, gays and veterans.  Lesson of tonight.  No triumph just telling the truth about a new America 

Tonight's message: scaring old people to death is a great way to sell gold coins, bad way to build a winning electoral coalition 

Obama just took Minnesota. Michele Bachmann just spat 1,000 nettles out of her back pores.



Rice Update

Cilatro rice tastes of slightly salty butter, but not cilantro.  Big win for Cilantro Rice.

Journey thinks every ailment can be fixed with an icepack.  Cross off medical school but add chiropractic school.

Notabe Tweets


Seeing Sarah Palin on FOX News is like seeing MC Skat Kat on BET. 

It's officially legitimate! Todd Akin has been aborted! Don't let my uterus hit ya on the way out! 

The fact that every marginalized group votes for Obama really says something. 

"Why aren't you tolerant of my intolerance?! YOU HATE EVERYTHING YOU HATEFUL HATER WHO HATES! WARGARBLE!" -Way too many people in my replies



Getting closer

Still haven't been able to watch TV commentators.  I still think Obama's gonna walk away with the election but we never know.  Florida and Ohio can still mess everything up. 

Turns out Taco Bell doesn't serve Mexican Rice any longer.  It's Cilantro Rice or nothing.  Dish Soup Rice?  That's a change that President Romney will put a stop to, most definitely.

Early On...

I love Presidential Election Night.  The pace is a little slow at first but as the correspondents for the "news" stations get more tired it gets more interesting.  Oh and our future is at stake ...

as of this moment, it's way too early to call but it seems like Florida is going to be a big deal. 

As far as my viewing pleasure, the girl is sick and Kelli's not a fan of election coverage so I can't hog a TV all to myself until much later (plus we have an errand to run in a bit).   Nothing dramatic will happen until about 8pm Alaska time anyway, right?