Sunday, February 25, 2007

Oscars

I really enjoy watching the Oscars every year. It's so much fun to hang out in my jammies with a glass of wine and get snarky!!!

So here goes!

Gorgeous:
Kate Winslet-- Understated and glam!
Abigail Breslin-- Looking like a pretty girl, not a 10-year-old trampin' up!
Celine Dion-- Odd color, but nice!
Helen Mirren-- Age-appropriate and beautiful!
Nicole Kidman-- Initially I didn't like the neck bow, but a gorgeous silouette (sp.?)!
Jada Pinkett Smith-- You work it, girl!
Naomi Watts-- Beautiful!
Gwenyth Paltrow-- Old school, and it worked!

Not so much:
J Lo-- What were you thinking?
Beyonce Knowles-- That bling thing across your chest was waaaay too much!
Kristen Dunst-- Oh my goodness, nothing matched-- awful!
Penelope Cruz-- Were you trying to put off a Bjork vibe?
Anne Hathaway-- Ummm... you were in a movie about- fashion?
Meryl Streep-- I realize that you are the queen of cinema, but please put in a bit of effort!

I like Ellen Degeneres-- it's her first time and I think she's working out the kinks. A bit safe, but that's okay.

Curious to see what happens as the night goes on!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Easterners

There are times when, as a native of South Dakota, that I slap my forehead regarding East Coast logic.

This morning is one of those times. As my Caribou coffee brewed, I brought up the Washington Post online. The metro feature article is about prairie dogs.

A person from the East Coast sees prairie dogs and thinks, "Oh, how cute! They're so adorable! Look! They're kissing!" as they stop and block traffic in the state and national parks out west. Westerners see prairie dogs and think, "Rodent!"

Folks, prairie dogs ARE rodents! If cattle ranchers own their land, they should be able to do whatever the h-e-double toothpicks they want to do to the rodents on their land. Prairie dog towns are holes in the ground. Cattle can step into the holes and break their legs. Would a contractor be pissed if one of his power tools was destroyed? Would a programmer be ticked if his laptop was banged up?

Cattle are the capital of ranchers, who are business owners. They are sold so you can rush through traffic to Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Outback, etc. for your burger or steak.

This all reminds me of the mountain lion saga. To folks out here, they are beautiful, majestic creatures that should never be hunted. However, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they are (rightfully so, in my opinion). Why am I pro-mountain lion (aka cougar) hunting?

A couple of years back, mountain lions started coming into towns in the hills (towns in existence for the last 125+ years, people, not new commuter-villes like we have out here). The mountain lions began picking off dogs and cats in people's back yards. How would you like your Fido or Fluffy to be mountain lion food? The worst case I heard was a mountain lion that went through a closed patio door to a basement in Spearfish, S.D. to eat cats INSIDE a home.

Puts a whole new perspective on things, huh?

Moral of the story: Empathy, folks, empathy. There are reasons that people living in an area do the things they do. Communicate, figure out why people are taking the actions they are, and think about what they are going through.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Long Time, No Posts

Hi there.

I'm amazed at how long it's been since I posted. I've been running in twenty different directions, and I've neglected my blog. Obviously.

So here I am.

Mark's birthday went well. Large turnout on the day. He fell asleep as DH and I were setting up and we had to wake him up to take bites of cake. He could barely keep his eyes open. Then he promptly went down for a two hour nap. So it was a good day.

Report card time came and went. It's always a gigantic flurry of correcting papers and updating everything. My desk is constantly covered with skyscrapers of papers. However, I'm okay with that because it's everything that I need to place in the correct places. It's when I shove those skyscrapers in the closets that I really run into trouble.

DH's mom and aunt came out for a visit. DH's mom and I have difficulty talking because, as I always say, she only understands the county in Minnesota in which she lives. If she can't relate what you're talking about to something in that sparsely populated county, then it isn't real to her. So having a conversation with her is very difficult for me, and I know that I quickly shift into snark mode. I was enduring it, when I found out that they were staying an extra day. I made it, though.

We've had weather stuff going on, too. Yesterday and today, it was... ice. I have to tell you that I'll take a four foot snowstorm (I'm not joking-- I grew up in a town with two different ski areas) before I'll take ice. Uff da.

So, life goes on out here on the East Coast.