MI-5

Oops, there I go neglecting my blog again!

I don't watch a lot of prime-time television. In fact there are only two shows that I follow with any regularity: CSI-NY and Numbers. When I get the chance I like to catch episodes of The Office and 30 Rock, but lately that hasn't happened too much. Other than that there isn't too much that interests me with prime time. This works out for me quite well as I'm not forced to pick between two shows airing at the same time--I haven't quite gotten on the Tivo bandwagon yet, not that I don't like the idea of commercial free television, but because I don't like the idea of a gadget that would try to convince me that television programs are vital and not to be missed when the reality is that the vast majority (including the ones I do choose to watch) hold little to no real value at all.

Well, my friends, this is about to change. I have just discovered that the British program MI-5 now airs on KUED Channel 7 (one of my local PBS station) on Friday nights at 9pm--the same time as Numbers. What to do? This week will not be a problem since Numbers isn't new, but what do I do when it is new? I am really conflicted here because I hate the idea of being tied to the television or a television program, but I really don't watch so much TV as to make it a serious vice...--full justification in process leading on a frightening downward spiral?

Anyway, I highly recommend the show to you. MI-5, for those of you who don't know, stands for Military Intelligence, Section Five and is a bit like Homeland Security here in the USA--or like the CIA only with less of an oversees mission. Each episode handles a different security threat while also following the personal lives and relationships of the main cast (much like CSI-NY and Numbers) and all this is done with a British accent so you know it is not only smart (sounding at least) but also sexy. There is some very good man candy going on on this show as well, if that should interest you. Click here is you want some more info on the show and what episodes will be airing on KUED.

Also, kudos to KUED for airing a show that could actually create some competition for the big boys during primetime.

Inaugural Poem

I absolutely loved Elizabeth Alexander's poem from the inauguration yesterday (among many, many things). For those of you who may have missed it, here it is via the New York Times.

Inaugural Poem

Published: January 20, 2009

The following is a transcript of the inaugural poem recited by Elizabeth Alexander, as provided by CQ transcriptions.

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

Beautiful Mind

One of my fabulous sisters sent this to me and I thought I would pass it along.

Wasn't that amazing? It makes me want to do something creative this weekend--a real challenge for me.

Happy Friday

Cause I Was Asked

I've been asked to explain how to create the little reactions option that appears at the bottom of each of my posts so here you go:

To enable Reactions, log in to your dashboard, go to Layout > Page Elements and click the Edit link in the Blog Posts element to open the blog post configuration tool. Then, check the box next to Reactions, edit your reactions as a comma-separated list, and click Save.

If you have trouble getting it to work (like I did) you may need to go to Edit HTML from your Layout page, scroll to the bottom and click on Revert widget templates to default. When I did this I did not notice any change in the look of my blog, but as I am not very computer literate I do not promise that it will not change yours.

Hope this helps.

Sore Throat

I was reading the newspaper the other day (before moving on to work on the crossword as per resolution no. 8) and learned that having a sore throat is not a symptom of a cold it is a symptom of your body fighting a cold.

Well right now my body is putting up a strong fight.

Just wanted you to know so that you wouldn't think I was already breaking resolution no. 6 (will not neglect blog). There are also a couple of other resolutions that I have decided I am totally within my rights to break while sick: resolution no. 5 (will make bed--as there is no point if I just keep crawling back in) and resolution no. 7 (will not mindlessly watch tv. was watching CSI:NY last night and couldn't follow the story line--and let's face it CSI:NY is not rocket science so mindlessly watching tv is apparently all that I am capable of right now).

The Answers Please

Thanks to all for playing along (those who commented and those who didn't) I appreciate it. I believe that Nemesis (whose newly designed blog is more fabulous than ever--go check it out) is the winner. If you haven't had the chance to play and still want to get in on the action you need to go to the previous post here without reading this post.

I think you actually all did quite well--as I was putting it together I kept thinking that I wouldn't be able to guess correctly even though these quotes were coming from books that I own--and have sometimes read several times. Anyway, without any further ado here are the answers:

1. The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld

2. It was a dark and stormy night. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle

3. When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. Ellen Foster, Kaye Gibbons

4. Before Batsheva moved to Memphis, our community was the safest place on earth, close, small, held together like a carefully crocheted sweater. The Ladies Auxiliary, Tova Mirvis

5. The boy's name was Santiago. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

6. Ugh. The last thing on earth I feel physically, emotionally or mentally equipped to do is drive to Una and Geoffrey Alconbury's New Year's Day Turkey Curry Buffet in Grafton Underwood. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding

7. My Father had a face that could stop a clock. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

8. Holly held the blue cotton sweater to her face and the familiar smell immediately struck her, an overwhelming grief knotting her stomach and pulling at her heart. PS, I Love You, Cecelia Ahern

9. The little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of midday, and now, with its afternoon manners on, presented a holiday aspect that, as the principal room in the brown house, it was eminently proper it should have. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sidney

10. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J K Rowling

First Lines

I picked up a new book the other day, read the first line, and then burst out laughing. This first, and immediate, reaction to the first line got me thinking about first lines of books. Some authors present ultra-memorable first lines like this one from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

I love lines like this that bring a smile and immediately let you know what is in store for you if you continue on with the book.

Other authors don't seem to go in much for the memorable first line thereby masking for just a little while their writing brilliance such as this one from Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo:

"On the 24th of February, 1815, the watch-tower of Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the arrival of the three-master Pharaon, from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples."

And still others write first lines whose significance is masked until you go back to read the book for a second time such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird:

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow."

I like authors like Jane Austen that give us that memorable first line. To me it is a bit like taking that first sip of a flavored hot chocolate: You don't exactly know what to expect, but on savoring that first delicious sip you smile and then go back for more.

Apart from giving me a craving for some yummy hot chocolate, all this talk about first lines has prompted me to create for you a little quiz that I will use all my creativity to call "Name that Book." I will provide for you 10 first lines and we will see just how savvy a book reader you are (meaning, of course, how savvy you are with some of my favorite books). No cheating, though. You know it or you don't. Don't go Googling it. I'll put up the answers next week. Of course don't feel like you need to know all of them to play along. Here we go:

1. The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.

2. It was a dark and stormy night.

3. When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.

4. Before Batsheva moved to Memphis, our community was the safest place on earth, close, small, held together like a carefully crocheted sweater.

5. The boy's name was Santiago.

6. Ugh. The last thing on earth I feel physically, emotionally or mentally equipped to do is drive to Una and Geoffrey Alconbury's New Year's Day Turkey Curry Buffet in Grafton Underwood.

7. My Father had a face that could stop a clock.

8. Holly held the blue cotton sweater to her face and the familiar smell immediately struck her, an overwhelming grief knotting her stomach and pulling at her heart.

9. The little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of midday, and now, with its afternoon manners on, presented a holiday aspect that, as the principal room in the brown house, it was eminently proper it should have.

10. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

We've been Wiied

I come from a family of girls. There are five of us. So growing up that made 6 girls and 1 boy in our family. Much to my dad's chagrin he had to give up things like camping or adventure type movies in favor of things like staying in hotels and chick flicks. Over the last several years three of my sisters have married thus bringing 3 boys into our family. Any evening out of the girl/boy ratio was quickly canceled out, though, with the addition of four little girls. This has left us with the current ratio of 10 girls and 4 boys--so the staying in hotels and seeing chick flicks hasn't really changed much. My mother is ever aware of this and tries in her way to accommodate the weird phenomena that is the boy. Sadly, such attempts have not always succeeded (hence the unused air hockey table sitting). This year, though, with a masculine shout of approval as one particular gift was unwrapped my mother hit the mother load. We got a Wii.

Now when discussions of getting a Wii first secretly came up I was a little bit skeptical, but I conceded to my mother that the boys would probably really like it. The thing is, though, I kind of really like it too.

The other day I was "playing" the Wii fitness challenge that comes with the Wii sports package and it was determined by the machine that I have a Wii fitness age of 28. I was temporarily very pleased with this result until my sister pointed out that having a Wii fitness age of 28 is actually not something to be particularly proud of since it isn't based in anyway on fitness but on how well you play a particular video game.

Still, I am having a bit of fun with it. We could use a bit of advice on what games to purchase. So those of you that have Wiis, what do you like?

**As a parting note I would just like you to know that I spent the majority of last night reading The Count of Monte Cristo while listening to The #1 Puccini Album (which is so excellent) and eating Belgian chocolate. Having a Wii in the family has not turned me into video-playing recluse or fanatic.

Resolutions for 2009

Last year I stole most of my resolutions from Bridget Jones's Diary which consisted of 6 things I would not do and 8 things I would do. Then just to round it out I added 5 more things of a more spiritual things to the to do list. Then I promised to report on my resolutions on a monthly basis. Well things went really well for me as far as reporting until about June and then I kept forgetting to do it at the beginning of the month and began promising myself that I would for sure report next month. The good thing, though, is that even though I wasn't reporting to you I was still working on my resolutions and in the end did quite well on most of them.

So now it is that time of year to once again sit down and resolve to do something or to stop doing something. Just for fun I decided not to blatantly steal of this year's resolutions from a drunk fictional character.

I Will:

1. write in my Journal more. This is a carry over from last year (I just never managed to really get in the habit) and really I shouldn't use the word more but come up with a specific number of days a week, but...well I don't want to force myself to write something when I don't really have anything to say. Rather, I want to create the time and space each day to write if I happen to have something to say. I want my journal to be a place of joy and relief not a chore. Will have to think further about how to do this.

2. drink 6 cups of water a day. I believe I'm supposed to drink more than that, but I have been a very bad water drinker of late and need to start slow.

3. read more non-fiction. There is that word 'more' again. I think I only read 4 non-fiction books last year and I am not pleased about that. The thing is, though, I get lots of fiction suggestions and not so many non-fiction suggestions. So please suggest away. This year I want to read 12 non-fiction books.

4. attend the temple at least twice a month.

5. make my bed every day. I don't know why this 30 second chore is so difficult for me but it is.

I Will Not:

1. neglect my blog for two weeks--1 week and 6 days, ok, but not 2 weeks!

2. not turn on the tv without purpose. This is when the tv sucks me into its evil world. If I turn on the tv to watch a show I usually watch that show and that is it. If I turn the tv on because I'm bored I tend to watch for hours and hours--and not necessarily watch quality tv for those hours. This must stop.

3. not start a crossword or read the funny pages before I read the front page of the newspaper.

4. not weigh myself. I do not need a scale to tell me when I've gained or lost, when I'm exercising or not, or when I'm eating better or not. In short I do not need a scale to tell me when I am healthy. Healthy is best measured in other ways and so I hereby swear off scales--and already I feel lighter.

So there they are. Wish me luck.

Lazy, So Lazy

I really hadn't intended on taking 2 weeks off of blogging for Christmas--can't figure out where all my time goes--but now I am back. Now my first post back in this brand new year maybe shouldn't be a complaint, but it is going to be.

Christmas Music.

I love Christmas music and listen to it on and off all year. That said, however, I don't entirely agree with the practise of some local radio stations of playing non-stop Christmas music starting the day after Halloween. This just feels as though the commercial world is trying to get us to forget about being grateful and move right on to the greed and spending and debt--sadly it is most like not only true but a concerted effort to do so. Still, I listen and enjoy the Christmas music being played during November all the way up to Christmas Day. Now here is where the real complaint comes in. Why is it that we start listening to Christmas music the day after Halloween but then Christmas music is abruptly taken from the air at midnight on Christmas Day? Surely if we can begin the celebration of Christmas on November 1st it can be extended at least a little past December 25th. Besides, so much of our Christmas music could more properly be called winter music (Frosty the Snowman, Silver Bells, Jingle Bells, etc.).

Okay, complaining done. Fortunately for me I recently received 2 Christmas cds so I can extend my own Christmas music season quite happily. Now 5 days into the New Year I am off to consider my New Year's resolutions (look for something on not complaining) and to catch up on all of your blogs.