Last night my brother sneezed and it sounded exactly like my Grandpa. Grandpa died 17 years ago. It's not like his sneezes were especially unique or a topic of conversation, but clearly they're etched on my memory.
And my brother makes that same sound when he sneezes.
It's weird and very flashbacky.
So sneezes are genetic?
What else is genetic?
Any woman who has given birth will recognize her newborn's movements as he lays in the bassenet. And that stretch you do in the morning? You do it the same way you have since you were a fetus. Mothers watching their children sleep recognize it. I have three children and none of them wake up the same way as the other, but all of them are exactly the same since they were newborns, hell since they were fetuses. I remember that movement. The oldest arches her back, the middle one rolls, the youngest scatters his limbs in all directions. They did that in my uterus and practically every morning when I woke them for school.
I inheirited my mother's voice - that's creepy to hear fall out of my mouth.
My sons sound like a mix between their father and my brothers - that's weird too.
But then there are the learned habits. Like mode of speech or animation. WATCHING my sons tell a story - Allllllll their dad, right down to facial expressions.
My husband says my daughter has a lot of my mannerisms and in the same breath will tell me how many of my mother's mannerisms we have. Butthead.
All of that makes sense. But sneezes? We don't develop our own style of rattling snot around in our sinuses? We get that from our bloodlines too?
Weird.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Enjoy The Quiet
At work my to-do list dwindled to nearly zilch. I have projects looming in the distance but nothing I can do at the moment, because, trust me, I would be knocking out as much of that as I could. But no, the time and the projects are not ready for my hands yet.
So I sit and wait.
I poke at little stuff. Nothing with looming deadlines, basically it's ongoing clean-up. "Busy work" if you will.
That lasted a whopping three days.
Sometimes, it's just better to sit and appreciate the quiet instead of strumming your fingers looking for work.
Because a dumptruck has backed up to my desk and vomited. And not a bit of it belongs to those bigass projects looming in the distance.
Dammit.
So I sit and wait.
I poke at little stuff. Nothing with looming deadlines, basically it's ongoing clean-up. "Busy work" if you will.
That lasted a whopping three days.
Sometimes, it's just better to sit and appreciate the quiet instead of strumming your fingers looking for work.
Because a dumptruck has backed up to my desk and vomited. And not a bit of it belongs to those bigass projects looming in the distance.
Dammit.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday Fragments - January 27, 2012
Good morning Blogosphere! Oh how our lives can change over a week...
Remember last spring how I agreed to keep my brother's dogs for "a few weeks" while he got his life back together in Florida and then three months later finally retrieved them? Well they're back along with my brother... for "just a few weeks." It sounds dramatic and a pain in the ass, but it's not. We're all cozy and getting along very well.
Now, retrieving my brother, his dogs, and all of his crap is a whole 'nuther story. We had to drive to southern Missouri where he had been staying since Christmas. It was a hovel of the lowest sort, every bit what you would picture as a rural home in the wilds of Missouri - drooping roof, moss-laden gutters pulling from the house, a dryer sitting on the back porch, boards missing from the front porch. Folks, there was even an OUTHOUSE laying in the backyard. Yes, LAYING. As in tipped over, hole covered over, wood rotting. We didn't question if the puddle of water further out was an actual pond for the horses to refresh themselves or a long standing septic issue. Either way I'm sure it was a mosquito nest.
We loaded up our pick-up truck and the damn thing got stuck in the mud in the front yard. We ripped up whatever "yard" was left and eventually had to have a neighbor with a tow truck pull us out. I managed to slip in the mud so I was filthy - oh so great when I had to dash into a gas station bathroom (after waiting 20 minutes for the previous occupant to leave... *faint*).
As my brother pieces his finances back together he's already planning his escape back to Florida. In the meantime he's helping my hubby at our consignment shop. He's taken over several tasks that I had to do after work, so that has been really nice.
My daughter posted on Facebook that she cut her bangs. The picture she posted DID NOT LOOK LIKE HER! Both her father and I claimed that was someone else. How sad is that when your own parents don't recognize you? I asked her to post a second picture from a different angle and THEN I saw my girl. Crazy. It's a cute cut and I think it was a rather small change overall, but quite significant in outcome. I need a similar transformation.
We cleaned out our freezer last week. Fortunately not much was tossed out. I came across the fruits and veggies I had put back last fall. It looks like I'm going to have to make pie. DARN. Not sure when I'll get the time to work on it, but it's burning in the back of my head, so it will happen soon.
Have a groovy week and make sure to check out everyone else's frags:
Remember last spring how I agreed to keep my brother's dogs for "a few weeks" while he got his life back together in Florida and then three months later finally retrieved them? Well they're back along with my brother... for "just a few weeks." It sounds dramatic and a pain in the ass, but it's not. We're all cozy and getting along very well.
Now, retrieving my brother, his dogs, and all of his crap is a whole 'nuther story. We had to drive to southern Missouri where he had been staying since Christmas. It was a hovel of the lowest sort, every bit what you would picture as a rural home in the wilds of Missouri - drooping roof, moss-laden gutters pulling from the house, a dryer sitting on the back porch, boards missing from the front porch. Folks, there was even an OUTHOUSE laying in the backyard. Yes, LAYING. As in tipped over, hole covered over, wood rotting. We didn't question if the puddle of water further out was an actual pond for the horses to refresh themselves or a long standing septic issue. Either way I'm sure it was a mosquito nest.
We loaded up our pick-up truck and the damn thing got stuck in the mud in the front yard. We ripped up whatever "yard" was left and eventually had to have a neighbor with a tow truck pull us out. I managed to slip in the mud so I was filthy - oh so great when I had to dash into a gas station bathroom (after waiting 20 minutes for the previous occupant to leave... *faint*).
As my brother pieces his finances back together he's already planning his escape back to Florida. In the meantime he's helping my hubby at our consignment shop. He's taken over several tasks that I had to do after work, so that has been really nice.
****
My daughter posted on Facebook that she cut her bangs. The picture she posted DID NOT LOOK LIKE HER! Both her father and I claimed that was someone else. How sad is that when your own parents don't recognize you? I asked her to post a second picture from a different angle and THEN I saw my girl. Crazy. It's a cute cut and I think it was a rather small change overall, but quite significant in outcome. I need a similar transformation.
****
We cleaned out our freezer last week. Fortunately not much was tossed out. I came across the fruits and veggies I had put back last fall. It looks like I'm going to have to make pie. DARN. Not sure when I'll get the time to work on it, but it's burning in the back of my head, so it will happen soon.
Have a groovy week and make sure to check out everyone else's frags:
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Spreadsheets
Do you use spreadsheets (Excel)?
Those who do, LOVE them. I use spreadsheets all the damn time and I definitely love them.
Most people, however, open up the application, see all of the little boxes and their brains explode. I get it, I do. And then you hear eveyone babble about formulas and suddenly we're jettisoned back to Algebra 1 and any remaining gray matter melts into goo.
The other day I posted about using cameras and encouraged to PLAY with something you're not familiar with like all of the different settings on the dial. PLAY is definitely in order when it comes to spreadsheets. Yes, you can do some awesome formulas. If there is a geek in the crowd I could brag about my embedded concatenate inside a triple if/then statement - I've shown this puppy to pros and they are amazed. But for the beginner just using the list feature is pretty damn awesome.
Yesterday the latest batch of Oscar nominees was announced. I watched with my Oscar spreadsheet open, ready to add the newest titles.
hmmm... look at that, in red I added formulas at the top. It totals the number of titles, how many I've seen and then other stuff. I'm a junkie, what can I say?
I started using color coding to indicate which ones I've seen. My goal, of course, is to eventually see all of them. Currently I've only hit 38% of the titles. TCM is helping me knock out the really old ones.
Usually I like to alphabetize my lists, but this one I felt it was better if kept in order by year. Using a spreadsheet means I'm not restricted to one set up. I can resort them by title and then go back to the year or I can find all of the ones I like and do a secondary sort by title. Spreadsheets mean I can CHANGE MY MIND. Oh how I love that flexibility because this girl does a lot of mind changing.
Because one list was not enough, there are tabs at the bottom (not pictured) where you can add new sheets which is like a new page or document. Using formulas you can link and cross reference between these tabs. I have one where I track nurse visits for an entire year and then on a cover page take the totals for each year so I can have a multi-year summary to hand off to the executive team at work. For my Oscar chart I have a second sheet where I track the nominees for best actor/supporting actor/actress/supporting actress.
I'm always editing my list. It started off with title, year, and a box to mark if I'd seen it. That wasn't good enough, oh no, no, no.... I needed to track WHEN I saw it, my assessment of the movie (like, don't like, was it good enough in my book to be nominated) and then I kept forgetting what the movie was about so I tossed in a blurb about content. Sometimes that blurb is film critic, sometimes it's just a quick synopsis.
Yes, all of this could be done in word processing, but it takes a lot of tweeking to add or modify. So much so, that it's almost prohibitive.
A few years ago I learned you can also use spreadsheets to make forms. This is an intermediate level way to use the application. You have to be able to resize the boxes (cells) and know how to merge boxes together. I've done a ton of forms this way. I've had to reproduce forms created by other agencies and I'm able to replicate them almost identically. It's important to know how to make a check box using the wingdings font to do this. I'm pretty sure that tidbit has just made someone out there dangerous.
I challenge you to give it a try. Feel free to hit me with questions, I'll give personal tutorials FOR FREE. I love this application and want to convert the whole world into honoring the glory of spreadsheets.
Those who do, LOVE them. I use spreadsheets all the damn time and I definitely love them.
Most people, however, open up the application, see all of the little boxes and their brains explode. I get it, I do. And then you hear eveyone babble about formulas and suddenly we're jettisoned back to Algebra 1 and any remaining gray matter melts into goo.
The other day I posted about using cameras and encouraged to PLAY with something you're not familiar with like all of the different settings on the dial. PLAY is definitely in order when it comes to spreadsheets. Yes, you can do some awesome formulas. If there is a geek in the crowd I could brag about my embedded concatenate inside a triple if/then statement - I've shown this puppy to pros and they are amazed. But for the beginner just using the list feature is pretty damn awesome.
Yesterday the latest batch of Oscar nominees was announced. I watched with my Oscar spreadsheet open, ready to add the newest titles.
hmmm... look at that, in red I added formulas at the top. It totals the number of titles, how many I've seen and then other stuff. I'm a junkie, what can I say?
I started using color coding to indicate which ones I've seen. My goal, of course, is to eventually see all of them. Currently I've only hit 38% of the titles. TCM is helping me knock out the really old ones.
Usually I like to alphabetize my lists, but this one I felt it was better if kept in order by year. Using a spreadsheet means I'm not restricted to one set up. I can resort them by title and then go back to the year or I can find all of the ones I like and do a secondary sort by title. Spreadsheets mean I can CHANGE MY MIND. Oh how I love that flexibility because this girl does a lot of mind changing.
Because one list was not enough, there are tabs at the bottom (not pictured) where you can add new sheets which is like a new page or document. Using formulas you can link and cross reference between these tabs. I have one where I track nurse visits for an entire year and then on a cover page take the totals for each year so I can have a multi-year summary to hand off to the executive team at work. For my Oscar chart I have a second sheet where I track the nominees for best actor/supporting actor/actress/supporting actress.
I'm always editing my list. It started off with title, year, and a box to mark if I'd seen it. That wasn't good enough, oh no, no, no.... I needed to track WHEN I saw it, my assessment of the movie (like, don't like, was it good enough in my book to be nominated) and then I kept forgetting what the movie was about so I tossed in a blurb about content. Sometimes that blurb is film critic, sometimes it's just a quick synopsis.
Yes, all of this could be done in word processing, but it takes a lot of tweeking to add or modify. So much so, that it's almost prohibitive.
A few years ago I learned you can also use spreadsheets to make forms. This is an intermediate level way to use the application. You have to be able to resize the boxes (cells) and know how to merge boxes together. I've done a ton of forms this way. I've had to reproduce forms created by other agencies and I'm able to replicate them almost identically. It's important to know how to make a check box using the wingdings font to do this. I'm pretty sure that tidbit has just made someone out there dangerous.
I challenge you to give it a try. Feel free to hit me with questions, I'll give personal tutorials FOR FREE. I love this application and want to convert the whole world into honoring the glory of spreadsheets.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Photo Challenge #1
My mind is coming up blank for anything profound to say so why not play along with the million different photo challenges out there. That would make great post filler on days my mind is blank, right?
So here we are, on the 24th of the month... do I post starting on #24 or start from the start? I'm opting starting with #1...
And that would be "STREET"
So here we are, on the 24th of the month... do I post starting on #24 or start from the start? I'm opting starting with #1...
And that would be "STREET"
Monday, January 23, 2012
Tips From A Camera Owner
Let's get something straight, I do not consider myself a photographer of any level (beginner, amateur, hobbiest...). I just happen to be a girl with a camera. So if you are a photographer, the advice I'm about to offer is probably beneath you, but please feel free to chime in - I might learn something.
1. Read the directions. And in true QandleQueen fashion, I have already broken the rules starting with the first one. I abhor directions. And camera directions are littered with mumbo jumbo that I won't bother learning. They are written by photographers for photographers, not us little people who need to know the difference between the various settings. I have recently educated myself about "aperature" and something with a name that escapes me about refocusing so background lights become dots. Okay, maybe I'm a "beginner" photographer. That said, everyone insists it's really important to read the directions that come with your camera, so there, I said it.
2. TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU. I cannot tell you how many times I whip out my little pocket camera and people around me sigh with relief that someone is going to capture the day's events. I used to travel quite a bit and every so often I would see a tree (like I posted yesterday, I have a thing for trees) and think, wow, if only I had a camera with me... Two years ago we bought a pocket camera and that puppy LIVES in my purse. Of course there are times I forget to pull it out and miss a great moment.
3. Take a lot of pictures. Gone are the days where you waste film on crappy shots. I take oooooodles of crappy shots. Sheer volume will produce an accidental great shot. Take those pictures. Who cares if you chop off heads or have shaky hands. Take them.
Speaking of chopping off heads, this one pisses me off, well... now I find it funny. I'm on the right in the pink coat and in the fur, Geraldine Ferraro. My photographer didn't even manage to capture us shaking hands! GAH!
Had she kept clicking she might have accidentally got our faces!
4. Keep your crappy shots. Okay, maybe not all of them. But at least some. Please. The historian/genealogist in me thanks you.
This picture isn't posed well, is out of focus and overall not really worthy of keeping. But my great-grandmother held onto it just the same. Actually most of her pictures are off-center and fuzzy, but they're all I have and I am very grateful. This is my grandmother and her younger sister. Isn't this absolutely PRECIOUS? Besides capturing the sisters, it also caught the house where they grew up. Now I can go back to the small town where she grew up and find that house. A few years ago Grandma led us to a house she said was her grandparent's home. I took a picture of it thinking it would match the house in this shot, but it does not. Oh well.
5. Play with the settings. Maybe if you understand the photographer mumbu jumbo in the directions you won't need to "play" with the settings. Me? I have to tinker. I mean, really, what's going to happen? It's not like the camera is going to blow up...
Aw crap, let me go off on a tangent. PLAY with all of your electronics. Seriously, unless you physically force the parts to move in a direction they're not meant to move or you drop it, YOU CANNOT BREAK THE DAMN THING. Turn the dials (don't force them), push the buttons, see what happens when you click this and try that. People are so freaking SCARED of their electronics, afraid they'll make a mistake. You know what? WHO CARES. Get over your bad self and give it a try. You have MY permission. Quit waiting for the experts. Do you know HOW they became experts? They got past that fear of screwing up. This applies to cooking, computers, car radios, DVR, and photography. TRY IT, YOU MIGHT LIKE IT.
Please, PLAY with your camera.
Now I am guilty of leaving my camera on one particular setting and about 90% of my shots are taken with that one singular setting. In fact, I leave it on that setting so much that I fail to check if it got jostled in my purse and occasionally I end up using the record or panorama settings. Ooops.
So here's one we've all had
The blurry night shot. Actually I kept this one because I like the swirls (See? Rule #4 keep some of your crappy shots). The problem is that the lighting is so poor that the shutter stayed open too long. Damn, I'm sounding like a photographer. Sorry.
So I dicked around with the settings. There is a "nighttime" setting, but it wasn't working for me. Then, on a lark, I discovered a "candlelight" setting. And THIS is what I got:
Huge improvement, huh?
So I tucked that in my memory and a few weeks later I used it again!
My grandson's Baptism was another low light event and no matter how much I fiddle with the focus, it just wasn't going to come out clear.
I flipped it over to the "candlelight" setting and got a couple of clear shots. Before you get too excited about the quality of this picture, let me move onto the next piece of advice...
6. Learn how to adjust the quality of pictures after you download them. If you have a Mac I can give you all sorts of advice how to achieve this using the application "Preview" that comes already loaded on your computer. I'm not sure what applications are available to Windows users. Again, screw around with settings. All of the professional photographer sites insist that you tweek your pictures. I'm not super confident in this endeavor, but as always I'm willing to try. The key to not screwing up a good picture is to duplicate the document and play on a copy.
So there you go, six easy steps to become a mediocre photographer.
1. Read the directions. And in true QandleQueen fashion, I have already broken the rules starting with the first one. I abhor directions. And camera directions are littered with mumbo jumbo that I won't bother learning. They are written by photographers for photographers, not us little people who need to know the difference between the various settings. I have recently educated myself about "aperature" and something with a name that escapes me about refocusing so background lights become dots. Okay, maybe I'm a "beginner" photographer. That said, everyone insists it's really important to read the directions that come with your camera, so there, I said it.
2. TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU. I cannot tell you how many times I whip out my little pocket camera and people around me sigh with relief that someone is going to capture the day's events. I used to travel quite a bit and every so often I would see a tree (like I posted yesterday, I have a thing for trees) and think, wow, if only I had a camera with me... Two years ago we bought a pocket camera and that puppy LIVES in my purse. Of course there are times I forget to pull it out and miss a great moment.
3. Take a lot of pictures. Gone are the days where you waste film on crappy shots. I take oooooodles of crappy shots. Sheer volume will produce an accidental great shot. Take those pictures. Who cares if you chop off heads or have shaky hands. Take them.
Had she kept clicking she might have accidentally got our faces!
4. Keep your crappy shots. Okay, maybe not all of them. But at least some. Please. The historian/genealogist in me thanks you.
5. Play with the settings. Maybe if you understand the photographer mumbu jumbo in the directions you won't need to "play" with the settings. Me? I have to tinker. I mean, really, what's going to happen? It's not like the camera is going to blow up...
Aw crap, let me go off on a tangent. PLAY with all of your electronics. Seriously, unless you physically force the parts to move in a direction they're not meant to move or you drop it, YOU CANNOT BREAK THE DAMN THING. Turn the dials (don't force them), push the buttons, see what happens when you click this and try that. People are so freaking SCARED of their electronics, afraid they'll make a mistake. You know what? WHO CARES. Get over your bad self and give it a try. You have MY permission. Quit waiting for the experts. Do you know HOW they became experts? They got past that fear of screwing up. This applies to cooking, computers, car radios, DVR, and photography. TRY IT, YOU MIGHT LIKE IT.
Please, PLAY with your camera.
Now I am guilty of leaving my camera on one particular setting and about 90% of my shots are taken with that one singular setting. In fact, I leave it on that setting so much that I fail to check if it got jostled in my purse and occasionally I end up using the record or panorama settings. Ooops.
So here's one we've all had
So I dicked around with the settings. There is a "nighttime" setting, but it wasn't working for me. Then, on a lark, I discovered a "candlelight" setting. And THIS is what I got:
So I tucked that in my memory and a few weeks later I used it again!
My grandson's Baptism was another low light event and no matter how much I fiddle with the focus, it just wasn't going to come out clear.
I flipped it over to the "candlelight" setting and got a couple of clear shots. Before you get too excited about the quality of this picture, let me move onto the next piece of advice...
6. Learn how to adjust the quality of pictures after you download them. If you have a Mac I can give you all sorts of advice how to achieve this using the application "Preview" that comes already loaded on your computer. I'm not sure what applications are available to Windows users. Again, screw around with settings. All of the professional photographer sites insist that you tweek your pictures. I'm not super confident in this endeavor, but as always I'm willing to try. The key to not screwing up a good picture is to duplicate the document and play on a copy.
So there you go, six easy steps to become a mediocre photographer.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sundays In My City - NC Trees
My tree shots (I'm obsessed with trees for some reason) when I was in North Carolina last month
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday Survey - Coming Home
After a long day at work, do you change clothing?
Me? YES. If I don't have any other plans for the evening I nearly rip my bra off like a man wiggling out of a tie. Then it's only feasible to change into my tshirt and shorts (PJ's). It's almost torture if I have to wait a few more hours because I'll be out in public.
Me? YES. If I don't have any other plans for the evening I nearly rip my bra off like a man wiggling out of a tie. Then it's only feasible to change into my tshirt and shorts (PJ's). It's almost torture if I have to wait a few more hours because I'll be out in public.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday Fragments - January 20, 2012
The plague infested us two weeks ago but the cough lingers. I stopped popping cough drops only three days ago. I'm ready to move onto woes... like complaining about the bitter cold. And I do that sooooo well.
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I don't have much to report from the last week. I realized yesterday that I hadn't posted since Sunday. So much for keeping up with that New Year's resolution that I didn't bother to make.
The one thing that I did do of note was get to watch the grandbaby overnight last Saturday. I finally got the video to post on FaceBook, but I can't seem to get it to load on YouTube so I can share it here.
Oh well, it's a short post today. Just waving HI to all of my visitors.
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I don't have much to report from the last week. I realized yesterday that I hadn't posted since Sunday. So much for keeping up with that New Year's resolution that I didn't bother to make.
The one thing that I did do of note was get to watch the grandbaby overnight last Saturday. I finally got the video to post on FaceBook, but I can't seem to get it to load on YouTube so I can share it here.
Oh well, it's a short post today. Just waving HI to all of my visitors.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday In My City - January 13, 2012
Happy FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH
Do you know it was only YESTERDAY did I realize a FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH was upon us? And yes, you shoud say "FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH" in ominous tones. Actually, I never have issues with FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH. Now Saturday the Fourteenth is ALWAYS wonky, so I'm really bracing myself for tomorrow.
It looks as though the plague has been put behind us. Hubby and I are both rattling a cough as this disease makes its final exit. Now let's hope Ian doesn't come down with it.
SNOW! It snowed finally! wooooo.... yipppeeeeee.... Of course, in true midwestern fashion, the ass biting cold is so bitter that it's impossible to enjoy the beauty of the scant inch of white stuff unless you're standing inside steaming up the window with a great cup of hot cocoa.
I love typos. Mine are always glorious. I just typed the the above sentance as "unless your standing inside steaming up the WIDOW..." hahahahahahahaha!!!!! Sometimes I send emails to Pirnanha where I proclaim I'm tired of fighting my fingers and she'll just have to decipher my message on her own.
At work I had the craziest project. There were seventeen power-point projects created by a team of people that after they were generated someone pointed out that maybe they should all be on the same template. Cart before horse, anyone? So step one was picking a template that was easy to manipulate with our logo and a few other details. Step two was to get everyone to agree said template was good enough (amazingly, one round of emails with no dessent). It took two days to migrate the modified template into each of the documents and then change some spacing issues in each one. DONE.... whew
Sunday, despite my raging plague, I ventured to join the public and sat as far away from the crowd as possible as my grandson was finally baptized. It was a great family gathering, I just wish I was more fit for human consumption.
Quite the chunk, isn't he?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Westerns
I do not watch westerns.
I am not a fan.
They were pure drudgery to endure back in the days before cable. For as much as I hate to blame TV for the degradation of America, I can concede that when a crappy movie like a western was the only thing to watch I was clawing at the front door to run free like a dog needing to take a piss. Lord help anyone in the vicinity if it was raining and I was stranded indoors. Whine whine whine until I sought refuge in the pile of toys scattered on my bedroom floor.
And then I married the man from Oklahoma.
A man who likes westerns.
Especially John Wayne.
He's watched some of them so many damn times he can recite them.
Do you know what's worse than watching a movie you weren't interested in to begin with? It's watching it with someone who can tell you the next line. It makes one ponder the need to watch this movie yet again and maybe, perhaps, move on to greener pastures to movies not yet seen?
Surely I jest.
Now that I've seen ninety bajillion western movies in the past few years I've actually grown not to dismiss them quite so quickly. They don't all suck. They're not all formulaic. And some, heaven forbid, are actually educational.
And then there was the one I watched yesterday, Drum Beat. It piqued my interest somewhat from the opening credits as it claimed to be based on actual facts. I watched it half-assed while playing on the computer like I do most everything (amazing my husband that I catch far more than you would expect - one of the most fantastic talents possessed by people with ADD) when I heard President Grant mention the Modocs.
Ahem
Modocs? I know about Modoc Indians. I grew up in Modoc country. The arrowhead tucked deep in my jewelry box is surely Modoc.
Uh, that would be southern Oregon and very northern California.
Ooooh shit, now I have to pay attention. So I google Modoc Indians because I still wasn't clear what historical event this movie was portraying. Well, my my my - there happened to be an actual "Modoc War" in 1873. 57 Indians against 1,000 calvary and it is the only Indian war where a general was killed in action. WHO KNEW?
And I got to tell you, I've been through the Klamath County Museum plenty of times and do not remember a damn thing about the Modoc War. Then again I was rather fascinated with the real live stage coaches and recreation of a one-room school house to be able to recount any of the wars detailed elsewhere in the facility. The only Indian stuff that stands out in my memory were the scads of arrowheads. By the way my awesome arrowhead did not come from the museum as I had not yet refined my kleptomania skillz (yo) at such a young age. It actually came from a stream running through a ranch (an actual, up-and-running ranch with real live cows roaming around). It is my firm opinion every child should go on a field trip to a ranch and get to grab up arrowheads as souveniers. Stick that in your Gateway Arch and smoke it, St. Louis!
So eyes back on the TV screen. Suddenly I turn into my mother who when watching any TV show filmed in the greater Los Angeles area (every damn one, by the way) would start to click off the street and intersection in question. As a cruel joke my mosterous children should get me a GPS with my mother's voice. Unfortunately I couldn't quite recite landmarks since they didn't film this Modoc War reenactment anywhere near the states of Oregon or Califor-NA-YAY.
See, the movie makers can get away with using one tiny plot of land for all of their wild west films because most audience members wouldn't know any different. If you've seen one western landscape, you've seen 'em all. And those of us who are actually from the area in question, well, hush, you're detracting from the movie when you point out that pile of dirt looks like it's from Arizona or Utah. Who cares that it doesn't look like lava beds.
What the hell does a lava bed look like anyway? OH MY GOD, DEFINITELY NOT LIKE THAT!
I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid on the face of the earth... well me and my brother... and then any poor sap that moved into the house after us... that had a "sand box" filled with jagged lava rocks. RED jagged lava rocks. I'm actually really sad I didn't keep one of the damn things - we brought them inside all the time only to get yelled at. We would play in the rock box for hours trying to make roads, you know trying to use it like a sand box? I'm sure it always ended up with us throwing rocks at each other. We were loving like that.
But this fucked up childhood memory serves to make me an expert as to what a lava bed looks like. And it is NOT smooth or sandy like what was portrayed in this Indian war as seen from the white perspective. And you know what? It had what is seen in every flipping movie of this genre - the same eroded rock steeples in the background.
Methinks a bigass studio owned or had rights to one certain plot of scenic desert. I'll be stunned to discover if they also used the same sappy violin background music.
I am not a fan.
They were pure drudgery to endure back in the days before cable. For as much as I hate to blame TV for the degradation of America, I can concede that when a crappy movie like a western was the only thing to watch I was clawing at the front door to run free like a dog needing to take a piss. Lord help anyone in the vicinity if it was raining and I was stranded indoors. Whine whine whine until I sought refuge in the pile of toys scattered on my bedroom floor.
And then I married the man from Oklahoma.
A man who likes westerns.
Especially John Wayne.
He's watched some of them so many damn times he can recite them.
Do you know what's worse than watching a movie you weren't interested in to begin with? It's watching it with someone who can tell you the next line. It makes one ponder the need to watch this movie yet again and maybe, perhaps, move on to greener pastures to movies not yet seen?
Surely I jest.
Now that I've seen ninety bajillion western movies in the past few years I've actually grown not to dismiss them quite so quickly. They don't all suck. They're not all formulaic. And some, heaven forbid, are actually educational.
And then there was the one I watched yesterday, Drum Beat. It piqued my interest somewhat from the opening credits as it claimed to be based on actual facts. I watched it half-assed while playing on the computer like I do most everything (amazing my husband that I catch far more than you would expect - one of the most fantastic talents possessed by people with ADD) when I heard President Grant mention the Modocs.
Ahem
Modocs? I know about Modoc Indians. I grew up in Modoc country. The arrowhead tucked deep in my jewelry box is surely Modoc.
Uh, that would be southern Oregon and very northern California.
Ooooh shit, now I have to pay attention. So I google Modoc Indians because I still wasn't clear what historical event this movie was portraying. Well, my my my - there happened to be an actual "Modoc War" in 1873. 57 Indians against 1,000 calvary and it is the only Indian war where a general was killed in action. WHO KNEW?
And I got to tell you, I've been through the Klamath County Museum plenty of times and do not remember a damn thing about the Modoc War. Then again I was rather fascinated with the real live stage coaches and recreation of a one-room school house to be able to recount any of the wars detailed elsewhere in the facility. The only Indian stuff that stands out in my memory were the scads of arrowheads. By the way my awesome arrowhead did not come from the museum as I had not yet refined my kleptomania skillz (yo) at such a young age. It actually came from a stream running through a ranch (an actual, up-and-running ranch with real live cows roaming around). It is my firm opinion every child should go on a field trip to a ranch and get to grab up arrowheads as souveniers. Stick that in your Gateway Arch and smoke it, St. Louis!
So eyes back on the TV screen. Suddenly I turn into my mother who when watching any TV show filmed in the greater Los Angeles area (every damn one, by the way) would start to click off the street and intersection in question. As a cruel joke my mosterous children should get me a GPS with my mother's voice. Unfortunately I couldn't quite recite landmarks since they didn't film this Modoc War reenactment anywhere near the states of Oregon or Califor-NA-YAY.
See, the movie makers can get away with using one tiny plot of land for all of their wild west films because most audience members wouldn't know any different. If you've seen one western landscape, you've seen 'em all. And those of us who are actually from the area in question, well, hush, you're detracting from the movie when you point out that pile of dirt looks like it's from Arizona or Utah. Who cares that it doesn't look like lava beds.
What the hell does a lava bed look like anyway? OH MY GOD, DEFINITELY NOT LIKE THAT!
I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid on the face of the earth... well me and my brother... and then any poor sap that moved into the house after us... that had a "sand box" filled with jagged lava rocks. RED jagged lava rocks. I'm actually really sad I didn't keep one of the damn things - we brought them inside all the time only to get yelled at. We would play in the rock box for hours trying to make roads, you know trying to use it like a sand box? I'm sure it always ended up with us throwing rocks at each other. We were loving like that.
But this fucked up childhood memory serves to make me an expert as to what a lava bed looks like. And it is NOT smooth or sandy like what was portrayed in this Indian war as seen from the white perspective. And you know what? It had what is seen in every flipping movie of this genre - the same eroded rock steeples in the background.
Methinks a bigass studio owned or had rights to one certain plot of scenic desert. I'll be stunned to discover if they also used the same sappy violin background music.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Pinterest - Change the message
Sigh - it's really important to change the message when you repin items on Pinterest
Blackie King
Genealogy is filled with a bunch of deadends and brick walls. It's what keeps everyone from waltzing around with full copies of their various family trees. Even sites like Ancestry.com are filled with possibilities, but no guarantees.
Let me jump on a side note and discuss Ancestry.com. It IS a fabulous source, unfortunately you have to pay for it. If you're dabbling or just beginning, sign up for their free trial period. Also know that most libraries carry a subscription to their services but you'll have to ask at the desk for the address, it's something like libraryancestry.com, not the regular one we use at home. I haven't used the paid portions of ancestry.com in over five years. There are many other ways of pulling information if you're dilligent enough. My favorite sites are LDS familysearch.com, genforum.com, and findagrave.com. There's also a lot to be said for just Googling your person with their name, year and state of birth.
The way you jump into this tangled process is to take what you know (parents, grandparents, etc) and piece it with what you've heard then dig deeper and deeper until you're in so deep all you want to do is keep digging.
When I started 15 years ago my father's family had minimal information. My mom, oddly enough, provided enough hearsay for me to at least go in some direction. She said my grandmother was raised by an aunt and uncle on an indian reservation in Oklahoma. Well there weren't any reservations by the time my grandmother was born, but I did eventually find her listed as on a census as the neice to the head of household - BONANZA!
And then nothing.
For a long time.
My mom said grandma's father's name was Blackie King. Well honestly! You know perfectly well that "Blackie" was a nickname. And "King"? That might was well be "Smith". Nothing like a needle in a haystack, huh?
Worse yet, there happens to be a "Blackie King" of similar age who played in a lot of westerns. That man is all over the place when I do my searches. At first you get a little excited that maybe a great-grandfather was a western star, but no, too many inconsistencies. Damn. I learned early on that even the slightest bit of doubt is usually enough to move on - you may have the right person but the current source you're reviewing has flawed data, go find a better source.
Over the weekend I found on findagrave.com a tombstone for Blackie King with a link to the name that matches my great-grandmother. That's not conclusive in any way, shape or form, but it's good enough for me. Unfortunately it doesn't document his real name. Dammit. It did give birth and death dates and that led me to the California Death Index where I landed his mother's maiden name. I'm still facing my brick wall, but I'm finding cracks and I am determined to pick and pick until I whittle it down to nothing... so I can face the next brick wall.
It's a game.
Let me jump on a side note and discuss Ancestry.com. It IS a fabulous source, unfortunately you have to pay for it. If you're dabbling or just beginning, sign up for their free trial period. Also know that most libraries carry a subscription to their services but you'll have to ask at the desk for the address, it's something like libraryancestry.com, not the regular one we use at home. I haven't used the paid portions of ancestry.com in over five years. There are many other ways of pulling information if you're dilligent enough. My favorite sites are LDS familysearch.com, genforum.com, and findagrave.com. There's also a lot to be said for just Googling your person with their name, year and state of birth.
The way you jump into this tangled process is to take what you know (parents, grandparents, etc) and piece it with what you've heard then dig deeper and deeper until you're in so deep all you want to do is keep digging.
When I started 15 years ago my father's family had minimal information. My mom, oddly enough, provided enough hearsay for me to at least go in some direction. She said my grandmother was raised by an aunt and uncle on an indian reservation in Oklahoma. Well there weren't any reservations by the time my grandmother was born, but I did eventually find her listed as on a census as the neice to the head of household - BONANZA!
And then nothing.
For a long time.
My mom said grandma's father's name was Blackie King. Well honestly! You know perfectly well that "Blackie" was a nickname. And "King"? That might was well be "Smith". Nothing like a needle in a haystack, huh?
Worse yet, there happens to be a "Blackie King" of similar age who played in a lot of westerns. That man is all over the place when I do my searches. At first you get a little excited that maybe a great-grandfather was a western star, but no, too many inconsistencies. Damn. I learned early on that even the slightest bit of doubt is usually enough to move on - you may have the right person but the current source you're reviewing has flawed data, go find a better source.
Over the weekend I found on findagrave.com a tombstone for Blackie King with a link to the name that matches my great-grandmother. That's not conclusive in any way, shape or form, but it's good enough for me. Unfortunately it doesn't document his real name. Dammit. It did give birth and death dates and that led me to the California Death Index where I landed his mother's maiden name. I'm still facing my brick wall, but I'm finding cracks and I am determined to pick and pick until I whittle it down to nothing... so I can face the next brick wall.
It's a game.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Sunday In My City - On The Road
The drive home from North Carolina
If you look closely, there's a rainbow
Once I got the camera in better focus I lost the rainbow, but I do love the shot anyway. Unfortunately I slept through the most scenic part of the mountains. Damn allergy medicine.
Kentucky - you can never go wrong with a sunset picture, can you?
If you look closely, there's a rainbow
Once I got the camera in better focus I lost the rainbow, but I do love the shot anyway. Unfortunately I slept through the most scenic part of the mountains. Damn allergy medicine.
Kentucky - you can never go wrong with a sunset picture, can you?
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Friday, January 06, 2012
Friday Fragments - January 6, 2012
Oh my my - another year down and a new one to screw up every time we try to write it out. Yes, I've already done that several times in the past few days.
I'm sick at the moment - courtesy of my husband who has been sick all week. Hacking coughs, body aches, my head is pounding. This sucks that I have to use up my PTO on the heels of just taking several days off for vacation, but worst of all I was supposed to have the grandbaby tonight. WAAAAHHHHHH!!!
You'll have to excuse me, I'm in a very whiney mood at the moment. The Tylenol hasn't kicked in yet.
We spent Saturday night the same way I've spent most every New Years Eve for the past 30 years - with my two best friends and various hangers-on (now spouses)... and copious amounts of alcohol. I detested hearing people say "I just can't drink like I used to". Damn if my friends aren't saying it now. GEEZERS! Next they'll complain that the music is too loud. AND we're starting to compare medical ailments.
Sunday was Christmas with the kids. It was great to be with everyone, but it seriously blew by too fast. I'm going to have to institute Sunday dinners or something so I have a chance to catch up with their lives.
Monday was a glorious do-nothing day. We did a little shopping to use up gift cards and then watched movies.
Work for the new year should be hitting a quiet time but for some reason I have a to-do list a mile long. I'm certainly not suffering boredom, that's for sure!
OH! This week I found out that you can listen to college lectures for FREE! I'm sure this has been going on for ages, but it's new to me. So while I'm busily knocking items off my to-do list at work, I've been listening to the 22 part series by a Yale professor on "Epidemics of the Western World Since 1600". LOVING IT! Coworkers ask which contagion I'm listening to. So far it's been black plague, small pox, cholera and just starting syphallis. I still have avian flu, AIDS and...um... something else... I forget.
I'm not a resolution-making person, mostly because I'm really prone to procrastination and I would just get really frustrated with myself. My hopes this year, though, is to blog more and finish some of my quilts.
I'm sick at the moment - courtesy of my husband who has been sick all week. Hacking coughs, body aches, my head is pounding. This sucks that I have to use up my PTO on the heels of just taking several days off for vacation, but worst of all I was supposed to have the grandbaby tonight. WAAAAHHHHHH!!!
You'll have to excuse me, I'm in a very whiney mood at the moment. The Tylenol hasn't kicked in yet.
We spent Saturday night the same way I've spent most every New Years Eve for the past 30 years - with my two best friends and various hangers-on (now spouses)... and copious amounts of alcohol. I detested hearing people say "I just can't drink like I used to". Damn if my friends aren't saying it now. GEEZERS! Next they'll complain that the music is too loud. AND we're starting to compare medical ailments.
Sunday was Christmas with the kids. It was great to be with everyone, but it seriously blew by too fast. I'm going to have to institute Sunday dinners or something so I have a chance to catch up with their lives.
Monday was a glorious do-nothing day. We did a little shopping to use up gift cards and then watched movies.
Work for the new year should be hitting a quiet time but for some reason I have a to-do list a mile long. I'm certainly not suffering boredom, that's for sure!
OH! This week I found out that you can listen to college lectures for FREE! I'm sure this has been going on for ages, but it's new to me. So while I'm busily knocking items off my to-do list at work, I've been listening to the 22 part series by a Yale professor on "Epidemics of the Western World Since 1600". LOVING IT! Coworkers ask which contagion I'm listening to. So far it's been black plague, small pox, cholera and just starting syphallis. I still have avian flu, AIDS and...um... something else... I forget.
I'm not a resolution-making person, mostly because I'm really prone to procrastination and I would just get really frustrated with myself. My hopes this year, though, is to blog more and finish some of my quilts.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Hands Off
So a few weeks ago I was at my son's practice and spied this flashback.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Last Night's Post
Pinterest has become a new addiction... because I need more of those. After scrolling for hours through other people's boards I have come to the conclusion people have some seriously jacked up tastes. AND they have far too much time to make some seriously hideous crafts. I broke down and created a board called "WTF".
Overall, I'm finding really cool stuff. Most of it is ooh and ahh or trips down memory lane. I am concerned that in time it's going to become a playground for pornography. They have a "report" feature, but there really isn't anything to protect our eyes from other people's perversion. It's really an open canvas so hold tight as this cute little website hits the news with controversy.
Mark my words.
Overall, I'm finding really cool stuff. Most of it is ooh and ahh or trips down memory lane. I am concerned that in time it's going to become a playground for pornography. They have a "report" feature, but there really isn't anything to protect our eyes from other people's perversion. It's really an open canvas so hold tight as this cute little website hits the news with controversy.
Mark my words.
Monday, January 02, 2012
How I Spent Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve I made my mom's refrigerator rolls. I was nervous because they weren't rising properly. Overall they turned out okay, except it was clear I was short on the salt.
I also made what we call "Grandmother's Dessert" or "Nana's Dessert". This has been made for every family event since my mom was a little girl, maybe since grandma was a little girl. It was her mother's specialty. I have since found the recipe online as "Woolworth's Cheesecake", a depression era recipe that has NO CHEESE. It uses whipped evaporated milk and jello. Sounds weird, but it's fabulous.
And of course, we watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"
I also made what we call "Grandmother's Dessert" or "Nana's Dessert". This has been made for every family event since my mom was a little girl, maybe since grandma was a little girl. It was her mother's specialty. I have since found the recipe online as "Woolworth's Cheesecake", a depression era recipe that has NO CHEESE. It uses whipped evaporated milk and jello. Sounds weird, but it's fabulous.
And of course, we watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Sunday In My City - Lake Norman
I spent last week near Charlotte, North Carolina (I passed a sign for Lake Lure and thought of fellow blogger "Lake Lure Cottage"). We had splendid weather and one day took advantage of it with a walk to Lake Norman... of course with camera in hand.
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