oh to be 20 again....

or was that 18? Hell, just reminiscing is H-O-T drool-worthy. Funny how many of the publicity stills I found of Marky Mark (hate me if you want but he will ALWAYS be Marky Mark to me) could easily be construed as gay boy pin-up shots. And if not gay, then at the least highly sexualized. I'm not just talking about the CK ads either. I have to wonder if he did it for the $$. Or for the exposure (no pun intended). Was it a calculated business decision? I mean, in some of the pics he's really young -late teens, early 20's. Think back to when you were that age; did you really know what the heck you were doing & why? Biz-R.

Edward Scissorhands

It was (actually!) really good. I found out after I purchased the tix that there was no dialogue. I worried that maybe Madster wouldn't like it. It was a surprise, see, & all I told her was that we were doing something on Sat. afternoon together -just she & I. We took light rail downtown & that was exciting in & of itself. We felt so "metropolitan". hahahaha. I told her where we were getting off. Every stop "is this our stop, mom?" When we exited at the DCPA she realized we were going to a show. When she saw the posters as we got closer to the theatre, the jig was up. She was very excited & we bought cool t-shirts instead of a program -she proudly put hers on when we got to our seats. The show started a few minutes late & Mad was getting really impatient b/c we had arrived 30 minutes early. "oh, I get it. This is what we came here for" (meaning viewing the curtain with Edward Scissorhands superimposed in lights & listening to the industrial sounding background pre prelude.) Miss Smarty Pants.

The production itself was all dance & instrumental music. There wasn't a dull moment; in fact there were some scenes where there was so much going on that I couldn't see everything. Like I would watch one thing & see out of the corner of my eye something equally entertaining. It was quirky & witty. And without words! And sad. but happy. Pretty much true to the original movie with a few added touches.

You should see it if you have the opportunity!

Maddie was also impressed with the handfuls of goths & punks in the audience & outside the theatre. Not something that she sees everyday here in our semi suburban urban community.

We walked the length of the 16th Street Mall looking for something to eat. We finally settled on Johnny Rockets since we had never eaten there b4. (Gunther Toody's is better.) Then home again, home again, jiggety jig.

Next is Wicked. Then The Little Mermaid. I'd forgotten how much I miss live theatre.

boob tube pt zwei

So what did I do last night? The usual Tuesday night couple time...watched The Unit (lesser of two evils -choice b/t that & NCIS. GAAAAAAAAWD). And I didn't knit a stitch. Friggin' pathetic. And then The Shield. Dang it but The Shield has jumped the shark for me. We waited & waited & waited for this season. It's always been a raunchy entertaining hour for 8 weeks a year. I don't know if they have new writers or what. But it's been just stupid this latest season. The storyline is draaaaaaaging and it's all over the place. Last night there was some stupid thing about Karin & a dream about Lem. The strike team sat there & listened so intently. And there was serious dialogue about what the dream meant -woven into other parts of the episode. And later Vic was all emotional. And it laughably sucked. Literally sucked my time away. I will never have that hour back again that bad. I think I'll have to write that hour of couple time out of my planner for the future. Sorry G, nothing against you. I would LOVE to spend the time with you. But I'd rather clean toilets than sit through another hour of The Shield.

Anybody up for meeting @ the 24 hr Starbucks on Colorado Blvd. for some late Tuesday night knitting?

confession

Yeah, I have other things I could be doing. Right now I am avoiding the t.v. Yesterday was not a successful "turn off the t.v." day for me. I fell asleep early Sunday night & missed The Sopranos. Of course I HAD TO watch it yesterday. And then while I was at it, I felt compelled to view & erase some of the shows on DVR b/c I tend to use up the majority of DVR memory with my viewing choices (thx G for being uncharacteristically patient about that). It's mostly crafty DIY shows. Some movies. Occasional EWTN offerings. Then last night after work I watched CSI w/ G. And then I watched the last 2 episodes of season 4 Six Feet Under so I could return the disc to Netflix. Yeah, you could say I was less than successful yesterday in my no t.v attempt. I'm weak. The idiot box calls to me. It's something mindless to have on in the background while I fold laundry or knit or eat or whatever. Mindless.

So I am resisting the urge to go anywhere near the t.v. room. It's difficult. The dark side centripetally pulls me into it's time wasting, mind numbing presence. Feed me Seymour. Now I hear the futon "Ciiiiiiindy Ciiiiiiindy I'm so comfy down here in the t.v. room Don't you want to come on down? Keep me & t.v company? We're down here. We need you. We're nothing without you..." The urge to give up resistance is strong. What was that pin I used to have? "t.v. is for people who can't afford drugs"? No, that was "reality is for people who can't handle drugs". Either way. Electronic crack. What's happened to me? I didn't use to be this t.v. dependent. I blame it on V. V & the 47" LCD flatscreen & the expanded cable with premium movie channels & DVR & HD & yeah, it's all V's fault. V, the t.v. pusher. And G. G spends ALOT of time w/ the t.v. You know, b/t you & me, I think G prefers the t.v.'s company over mine. (I'd say actually, but seriously fits better here) Seriously. Addict. It's like quitting drugs or smoking or whatever. Must break ties w/ the people who trigger me. Well, that's not possible. Considering the only thing we do as a couple (sad but true) is sit in front of the tube, what's a recovering girl to do? Must. Resist. Urge. To Go. Downstairs. Must. Resist. Pull. Of T.V. *help?*

I left jr high 24 years ago

And I'm not naming names. You're smart. Maybe you can figure it out for yourself.

You know that I have joined several online knitting communities, some of which have weekly local meetings. For the last 8 months or so I've been heading up a weekly knitting/crocheting playdate for one of the online groups. Quite a few people responded online very enthusiastically at the outset. But not so many people have actually (actually!) shown up for playdates. I know with kids it's always "kid time" & life gets hectic & days fly by without notice.

I've tried to garner more interest by occasionally posting about this gathering to another local group I've been in for some time. So far no one has responded. Oh well, I'll just keep it out there for future reference & some one will eventually respond.

A few weeks ago I joined another local group (got to have options, right?) & went to a meeting & felt like I was welcomed to be there. I planned to attend another meeting in the future -maybe as soon as next week. There were some moms at the meeting so I thought "hmmm" & sent out a post about our playdates & invited moms AND dads to join us.

Little did I know that the post never did make it to the group b/c a moderator (THE moderator?) emailed telling me that their group was not associated with the group I was trying to promote. AND my gathering was alienating to parents who work. Really? REALLY?

Yes, I KNOW their group is not associated with the group I'm trying to promote because I HAD NOT YET INVITED THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PLAYDATES. Now, was she referring to the fact that this is a separate online group from the other online group? Yes, I am well aware of that fact. But are we not all knitters? Some of us are knitting parents with small children? There are few & far between opportunites for us to actually get together to knit with kids AS A GROUP. Apparantly we aren't capable of knitting together & then going our separate ways & hanging out with our respective online groups. I didn't realize there were fcuking KNITTING FACTIONS. Or that we're still in jr high & this clique DOES NOT fraternize with that clique. Is she concerned that someone will jump ship & join another group? God forbid! It's KNITTER GROUP COMPETITION!

Oh, and the alienating working parents? REALLY? 'Cuz we're not all working parents. Surely I don't spend my days working. Maybe she means parents who work for money & not parents who work for free? I'd love to work outside the home but day care costs are prohibitive -you all know my opinion about this. So I work evenings -for pay- and during the day for nada but the sheer insanity of staying home with 2 preschoolers. (jk?) So actually (actually!) isn't the evening meeting alienating to parents who can't meet in the evenings?

My post never did make it to the group so that folks could decide for themselves if they might like to hang out with us. It was killed right there with a click of that delete button that the moderator so hastily chose to press. Bummer. It could have been fun.

In the past couple of days since this transpired, I've been contemplating what I should do -if anything. I did respond in an email to the moderator (no sense trying to contact the group b/c OBVIOUSLY my posts are being monitored & my post won't go through if it at all critiques this situation; hence the blog rant here). I don't know that I actually want to be a part of a group that is so clearly exclusionary. Geez oh man! I thought knitters were cool. Must be the breakdown is just like in real life: there are cool knitters and then there are knitters who think they're cool. Or rather, who think they're too cool. I honestly don't know what the problem is. Am I being naive? I was impressed by the eclectic group of folks at the meeting. But my second thought is that this group -who bills itself as one in which "not one person decides...we decide as a group"- is really being dictated by one moderator. I mean really, what else or who else is being censored? It wasn't like I was flaming the group and I wasn't spamming the group. Other people have posted invites for various get-togethers. What makes mine different that it should be not allowed to go through? Must be my status as a member of that other group & I'm trying to cross borders. hahahahahaha. The f*cking politcs of knitting! It's almost laughable.

What should I do? What would I tell my kids to do? And maybe I should follow my own advice? Opinions anyone?

actually is the new seriously

The babies say it all the time, as in "I want orange juice. No actually I want chocolate milk". Or "can I watch t.v.? Actually, I want to play outside". "Actually, we're playing with Bratz". Today in the restroom line @ the Beull Theatre, this older woman behind me used "actually" at least 4 times in as many sentences. I wonder how many people we can infect with our new vocab trend?

flashback of the week

caught these dudes on London Live! on some HD channel last week. I was reminicsing to G about when they first came on the scene. I remember listening to a friggin' cassette someone had; it must have been pre-'95 b/c B & I were still together. I remember a bunch of us were at (I think) Johnny's (Jaundice's) dad's place in Lawrenceville on or about the 4th of July. His dad had these 2 little dogs -shi tzu's or something. Like little mops. I'm sure we were all partaking in some recreational activities -besides beers, that is. It was one of those "check out this demo tape I got" moments. I didn't like them then, & they never did grow on me. Don't know why; it's definitely the scene we were in at the time. But look how YOUNG they are in this vid...like little kids. Like we looked at the time, I'm sure. I'm feeling old today.

Oh, now I remember why I never clicked with this band: the word "cacophonous" comes to mind. It has a good beat, you can mosh to it...until the music gets all dissonant & sucky. The same reason I never liked Primus. Just a little too much on the "you call that music?" side for me.

what to do on a Saturday afternoon?

I'll let you know how it went later....

well that sucks

If we were going to lose to anybody, I'd have to say I'm glad it was the Sens...aside from the Pens, I routinely (secretly) root for the Senators b/c gosh darn it they deserve to win the Cup.

and if this kid is as good as his numbers -at his young age- imagine the impact he'll have in the coming years. They say good things come to those who wait....

taxes, schmaxes

amidst the frenetic 11th hour turbo tax hysteria, my wanders to a leisurly stroll across the Thames. It could be worse, I've waited until literally the 11th hour to do my taxes. Back in the day when my taxes were so simple as noting wages earned & taxes paid, and voila! refund check in the mail. Yeah, I could have filed earlier & received my refund sooner; good ol' procrastination had struck again. Not so this year. This year I purposely waited to file. This is the year uncle sam takes a huge bite outta my income. we're talkin' bite so big he looks like Lib when she stuffs an adult size french toast bite in her mouth & she can hardly shut her mouth to chew big. ouch . Damn the man; that f*cker can wait for his money. (I'm just a little unhappy, no?) And so, here I sit, reminiscing. Daydreaming. Probably the next big trip will be cross country to PA this summer. Can't wait to get on the road again!!

flashback of the week

Heard this song on the radio the other day & started wondering whatever happened to these boys....could be that the sophomore effort didn't pan out as well their first CD. Then I watched this video...maybe the conceptual art video killed their careers. Whatever. They were fairly amazing to be this musically talented as teenagers -and only 3 of them, at that.

here we go Penguins, here we go

SERIES SCHEDULE
Wed, April 11 7:00 p.m.at Ottawa (CBC, RDS, VERSUS)
Sat, April 14 3:00 p.m.at Ottawa (CBC, RDS, NBC)
Sun, April 15 6:00 p.m.at Pittsburgh (VERSUS, CBC, RDS)
Tue, April 17 7:00 p.m.at Pittsburgh (VERSUS, CBC, RDS)
*Thur, April 19 7:00 p.m.at Ottawa (CBC, RDS, VERSUS)
*Sun, April 22 1:00 p.m.at Pittsburgh (NBC, CBC, RDS)
*Tue, April 24 TBDat Ottawa (CBC, RDS, VERSUS)
*if necessary
-- All times Eastern

even better than the real thing

swiped from yahoo.com news

Crosby gets Penguins into playoffs -- much faster than Lemieux did

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Mario Lemieux didn't win a scoring title until his fourth NHL season and, despite his enormous talent and on-ice presence, couldn't lead the Pittsburgh Penguins into the playoffs until his fifth season.

Sidney Crosby did both in his second season. At age 19.

The NHL hasn't seen anything like this since a 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky's first NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers in 1979-80 -- a teenager being greatly responsible for carrying his team into the postseason.

Crosby did exactly that with his 120-point season, one that left him six points ahead of San Jose's Joe Thornton and secured his first Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring leader. There aren't many in the NHL predicting it will be his last.

"It's a nice accomplishment, and I didn't come into this season expecting it," Crosby said after setting up both Pittsburgh goals in a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night. "I tried to have the best season possible, and I was lucky enough to get it."

Crosby is the first teenager to win the Ross. Gretzky equaled Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings with 137 points in 1979-80, but Dionne won the trophy because he had more goals.

Still, the most impressive statistic of Crosby's sophomore season wasn't his point total, which represented an 18-point increase from his rookie year, but this one: the Penguins' 47-24-11 record.

The Penguins' 105 points were the second most in franchise history, and bettered the point totals of their Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1991 and 1992. The 47-point improvement from a season ago, when they had a 22-46-14 record, and was the fourth best in NHL history. Their 47 victories were two more than they had in their previous two seasons combined.

"The goal (when the season started) was just to get into the playoffs and, all of a sudden, we were fighting for home ice the whole second half," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "So I don't think anyone can say anything less than it was a great season."

Now, the question going into the Penguins' first playoff series in six years, or since Lemieux's comeback season in 2000-01, is how good it will be. The fifth-seeded Penguins open the playoffs Wednesday night in Ottawa against a team they've never met in the postseason.

"You work all season to get to this point," Crosby said. "Now it's time to get going. Last year, I can remember having the season over and being excited for the playoffs to start, but watching them wasn't fun."

Crosby's first playoffs are likely to be better than Gretzky's -- his Oilers, the 16th- and last-seeded team in 1980, were eliminated by Philadelphia in three games. Lemieux took Pittsburgh into the second round in 1988-89, when he had his memorable eight-point game against the Flyers, but the Penguins were beaten in Game 7 at home by Philadelphia backup goalie Ken Wregget.

Eight Penguins players have playoff experience, but most were in supporting roles with other teams -- only 40-year-old Gary Roberts, 39-year-old Mark Recchi and 33-year-old Sergei Gonchar have played prominent roles in the postseason.

To Recchi, the only current Penguins player who has appeared in a playoff game with them, that's hardly a disadvantage.

"I won the Stanley Cup in my first playoffs," Recchi said, referring to the 1990-91 Penguins. "It's all about how you approach it. We've got guys who have unbelievable attitudes who have been in situations where they're been under pressure, whether it's in juniors or the world juniors."

The Penguins' top three goal scorers are under 21 -- Crosby (36 goals), 20-year-old Evgeni Malkin (33 goals) and 18-year-old Jordan Staal (29 goals) -- and that's believed to be an NHL playoff first.

But to Roberts, who turns 41 next month, the Penguins' young legs and fresh attitudes are a positive going into the playoffs, not a negative. He thinks they were tested last month when, playing a grueling 17 games in 31 days, the Penguins went 12-3-2 -- the best March in franchise history.

"We've got a lot of guys who don't have playoff experience, but that's probably a good thing," Roberts said. "They're loose, but this team's a very mature group. They're committed and they're disciplined, they work daily on the system and on trying to be better. That's nice to see for an old guy like me."



ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
April 8, 2007

flashback of the week

"Is it wrong to help karma along?" Or "Why didn't I think of that?"

sugar high

or what happens when you feed your kids Texas sheet cake @ 10pm. Do you know what's in this recipe?? like a pound of sugar. close to a pound of butter. But damn is it goooooood.... (it was G's bday cake, btw, contrary to what Lib believes)

pt 1




pt 2

sheena is a punk rocker

what to do about a little girl who has a penchant for scissors? Professional haircut? check. Refashioned clothes? check.

it's the bacon dance

@ Dot's Diner w/ Snick 2 weeks ago. (it was better in live-action)



Speaking of Dot's...just one more thing I miss about Boulder. Nikki tells me that Rocky Mt Joe's has been out of bizness for some time. Wah! (I just couldn't believe it. I really couldn't. I held out hope that Snick was mistaken. That she just "forgot" where it was & overlooked it somehow. There must be some bit of sanctity left in Boulder. But it's true! I just now called the # in order to appease my curiousity. It's some chick's #. You ever get that little sad feeling deep in your heart when your hope against hope is dashed onto the rocks of verity? -sniffle sniffle) So we went to Dot's. Next time will be the Broadway Coffee shop or Walnut Cafe. Or what's that one on Folsom "Coffee Shop"? Or even The Buff; I haven't eaten there in years. Boulder is (or was?) rife with this little breakfast/lunch only places.

nano nano

Anyone else have this problem or am I just a dork? Blah blah blah I'm minding my own bidness, listening to my selected podcast, maybe I'm cleaning the playroom, maybe I'm doing laundry, whatever. I catch my earphone cord on something, a door knob, say, and OUCHF*CK! (for you folks in PGH, remember the time period of that sniglet?) the earbuds rip out of one or both ears. Or the cord rips out of the device itself. (Thankful for the crafty people @ Mac who designed the nano to stop mid-listen when the cord comes out of it's little docking port thingy.) However! There must be a better way! Anyone have a recommendation for a cord winding type doodad to take up the earbud cord slack? They say that earbuds could stretch out your ear canal...well, it's not from the bud itself resting at the very opening of the ear canal; it's from being RIPPED VIOLENTLY OUT OF MY EAR EVERY TIME I WALK PAST A FRIGGING DOOR KNOB!!!!! (help? anyone? anyone?)

crap, what now?

I just realized that the annual turn-off-the-t.v. week is precisely three weeks into the final 9 episodes of The Sopranos. It's also hockey playoffs. What inconvenient timing. DVR, baby.

could be time consuming

So I think I'll quit posting about the Pens until the playoffs get underway; there's just too much up & down on a daily basis (now in 6th place tie overall & 2nd to NJ by one point in the Atlantic Div). Then there is XM radio...Bucs' games to listen to as well! Yay!! (And what field is that on XM's sports page???)

train kept a-rollin'....

#1 in the Atlantic Division. #3 in the Eastern Conference. Tied w/ the Canucks for 5th place overall. Pins & needles waiting for the next two weeks to expire.