The Silver Lining

Happy Friday.

2011-07-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

I like to end my week on a positive note. Pure entertainment, ladies and gentlemen. Say what you will about Jimmy or Justin, but try to say this isn't highly amusing.

The sad truth is that nothing is the same.

2011-07-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this post by saying that I was lucky enough to spend a week in Norway in 2005. I was taking tourism marketing classes abroad outside of London when a few friends and I decided to visit my extended family in Oslo and another little coastal town.

Oddly enough, the day after classes started in London on July 5, 2005, the city erupted in a terrorist attack of its own. I wrote a little about that here and also wrote a column when I was still in college about it, in The Plainsman. I'm going to post the clip as soon as I find it.

Aside from Norway being an obscenely cheap flight on Ryan Air, and the lovely family I had to visit there, another big draw to visiting the city was its relative safety. With London and Madrid both experiencing devastating attacks within a year of each other, Scandinavia seemed blissfully off the grid. And it was - absolutely lovely.

We went sailing in beautiful weather to different spots on the coast. We stayed up until midnight with with brightly lit skies and went sailing in the middle of the night. We ate seafood stew and amazing cheese and caught up with relatives. One of the absolute highlights of my trip was visiting downtown Oslo. My cousins - aside from looking like European royalty - were incredibly welcoming hosts. They took us all over - we saw the government buildings that were attacked Friday, the national museum, the royal palace and lots of gorgeous parks and green spaces with the most amazing public sculptures.

I hate that this happened in Oslo. Just like I hate that it happened in NYC and London and Madrid. Regardless of whether it's Norway's Oklahoma City (which it clearly was) or Norway's 9/11, the fact still remains that we live in trying times. No country is immune and no population is safe. It's a bit of a dark thought, but true nonetheless. Norway, I am thinking of you and remembering the amazing experience I had.

I hate it that there are so many bitterly opposing (and alarmingly drastic) opinions at play there - and in so many places, in Europe, here, everywhere... I hate it that this happened to your beautiful country, and mostly, I hope that this doesn't change the overall open, accepting nature of your people.

I want to be in your gang!

2011-07-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Do I really need to SAY anything more after that?!

Things that glow

2011-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite things about summertime in the South is the lightning bugs. We had them in Southern California, too - they were called fireflies there - but I don't think they came out at night en masse like they do down here.

Last weekend I was in D.C. celebrating the fourth. We were on the way to a cookout when we drove by an empty lot between houses that was completely alight with the incandescent insects. I love phosphorescence in all of its forms, and that's what this post is all about.

Also handy because then I don't have to talk about my job search or the fact that J currently lives hundreds of miles away...
Synchronized fireflies (ahem, lightning bugs) in the Smokey Mountains of north Tennessee and North Carolina.
I originally saw this piece in Southern Living yesterday in the dentist's office (heh) but since I couldn't find that article online, here's the phenomenon covered in the New York Times.

Basically, a whole slew of male lightning bugs blink in unison in order to attract females. Apparently it's like a symphony of lights. Not sure if it impresses their women, but I would love to see this. The NYT piece covers the bugs in Elkmont, Tenn., during the first two weeks in June.

The Dismalites of Dismal's Canyon outside of Phil Campbell, Ala.

Dismal's Canyon is also where they filmed the backdrop for When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth on the Discovery channel

I actually have seen the dismalites before. We had a group trip in 2009 to see them and enjoy the canyon for a weekend. They have campsites as well as a couple of lovely cabins and a swimming hole. The canyon (and the dismalites) are the major attractions, though.

You go on a guided tour after dark in the summertime to see the tiny bioluminescent worms. Gajillions (this is an official count) of Dismalites light up the sides of the cave walls like a starry sky.

image via

Also, Dismal's Canyon is home to Burr's Hideout - apparently where Aaron Burr hid out for days after he shot Alexander Hamilton. Lots of old graffiti on the rocks too. Definitely worth a visit.

Cave graffiti at Dismal's dating from 1936

Phosphorescent plankton on the beach at Dauphin Island, Ala.
I've been fortunate enough to see this one, too, as a part of a field studies class I took my senior year of high school to Dauphin Island Sea Lab. My friend, Dustin of Spawning is Imminent (why can't I find your blog anymore, Dustin? Please explain this to me) was lucky enough to study there for a summer in college.

At any rate, it was amazing - standing in the complete dark and kicking up the sand in the surf. The entire area surrounding your toes lighting up as you disrupt the plankton.

Dauphin Island is a barrier island and quite remote - not very many city lights. So serene, and the glowing sand makes the experience otherworldly. I'd love to go back. No photos, unfortunately.

This completes my shortlist of favorite things that glow. I have no idea why I found it necessary to write this post.

Hi, I'm 27 and I live with my mother.

2011-06-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's not so bad, really. She brings me coffee every morning with frothed almond milk. I actually get to work on time because of the coffee-in-bed ritual.

She's an excellent cook and great company. And she helped me clean out three years of abandoned hobbies and detritus friends have left behind from house parties and get-togethers. I feel guilty about that, but am so thankful that she was here.

So, it's been a while since my last post, and definitely not for lack of activity. Life activity increase = blog productivity decrease. C'est la vie.

I've been up to a lot! J finished grad school in December (yay!), schlepped through months of unsatisfactory work (boo) while searching for a satisfactory first-career job. He got an offer in May (yay!) right around our first anniversary. Who can believe I didn't blog about that one?!

J gave me some truly gorgeous anniversary flowers - birds of paradise, lilies and others - pictured here in case I never get around to dedicating a post to our anniversary... which is entirely possible.

Anyway, after months of anxiously awaiting news, a company that makes yogurt offered him a job! After ages of waiting, the usual "we need you to start... YESTERDAY." occurred. Chaos ensued.

Our anniversary trip to New York City turned into a frantic apartment search. We found a place; signed the lease; came home; rented a 22-foot Penske truck (her name was Penny) with a tow dolley; loaded almost all of our worldly possessions to said rental; drove in lightning storms and heavy construction maxing at 55 mph and listening to a crappy suspense book-on-CD through Tennessee, Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Delaware and finally Jersey; unloaded in the rain in New Rochelle, N.Y. (27 minutes by express train to the Big City and home of Dick Van Dyke on his show, apparently - things you learn from old people); unpacked; visited with our friends Christina and Daniel; and proceeded to sleep through three alarms and two phone calls from the airport cab driver at 4:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

Penny

I eventually made it home, exhausted, just in time to work on Monday to a cat on hunger strike. At my mother's house.

It's only temporary.

Holy hell, I need to find a job. I'm working on it.

It's only temporary.

More to come...

In the meantime:

this is hilarious
J started a blog! About food! We can blog together. Because, obviously, we don't live together right now.
It's only temporary.
I'm looking for work. if you're hiring.
Charles is eating again. Her backbone still feels like a xylophone, but she is definitely perkier and eating her nom again. Phew.

Did you know that there are mobile truckers' chapels at certain truck stops?

I want to walk Scotland.

2011-03-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

I just have to find the vacation time to make this happen.

I have been completely absorbed in the Outlander series about a time-traveling British woman from WWII era and her life with a 17th century Scottish highlander. Sensational? Bodice-ripping? Yes and yes. But also really absorbing and quite historically rich. I've learned all of this stuff about 17th century Scottish uprisings and early American colonial history.

Anyway, now I've romanticized the Scottish highlands and want to visit. And then I see this in my Washington Post travel email. I need to go. I need to take 18 days for vacation and walk this. They say walk, not hike. I may not be the most outdoorsy, but I can walk for millions of miles. Just don't ask me to jog or run and I can go forever. AND you don't even have to camp - there are B&Bs, self-service cabins, hostels and inns all across the trails.

Courtesy of the Washington Post - check out the rest of the slideshow (!!!) You'll want to come on this adventure with me.

This reminds me of another incredible book I read quite a while back - It's Not About the Tapas (hm, by the looks of that Amazon link, Ms. Polly Evans writes a whole series of travel books. I will be checking those out...) - that made me want to bike Spain. But walking seems a bit more accessible. The author of the Post piece is a food writer for crying out loud. That makes him like me. If he can do it, so can I. I mean, the hardest bit on the trail only has a two-hiking boot difficulty meter. Out of five. This is doable.

I'll even compromise. the first leg of Brian Yarvin's trip is the long-distance West Highland Way that only takes eight days (or stages), according to my the impressive Scottish walks website.

The West Highland Way was Scotland's first long distance route and remains by far the most popular. Stretching for 150km from Milngavie on the edge of Glasgow to Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis, the route offers a fabulous introduction to the Scottish Highlands. Those wanting to add an extra days walking could even begin in the heart of Glasgow, reaching Milngavie by following the Kelvin Walkway.

I can take a ten-day vacation. I'm thinking anniversary trip. Thank you, Outlander series, in your historically titillating excessiveness, for reigniting my wanderlust. I'm going to make this happen. Just give me time. And help me figure out how to somehow include a kayak excursion to further pique J's interest in this enterprise...

If you're into this travel fantasy (hey - it'll eventually become a reality!) stuff like I am, this WaPo newsletter had a Europe guide that also featured renting a house in France, cycling through southern Portugal and exploring Ukraine's ancient walled city. I have some more article reading to do :)

Oh! Also - A Town Like Paris. Another travel daydreamer's must-read. The author moves to Paris to work a Parisian government job (sadly, probably not so cushy anymore...) and totally immerses himself in la vie Francais.

Time to roll up those Snuggie sleeves!

2011-03-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

I love Airfare Watchdog.

If I recall correctly, I started using the website because it's what our bustling Huntsville International Airport (International - ha!) uses for fare alerts. It's great - I have a ton of alerts set up for fabulous places and three times weekly, I get email pings about especially low fares from Huntsville to a number of my preset, specified locations. New York, San Francisco, Chicago, anyone? Yes, please.

Anyway, like many of the new web-based offerings, the Airfare Watchdog crew are pretty witty writers. I received an email this afternoon that made me want to shut my mini blinds extra tight when I get home tonight.

Hi there Melanie,
Gosh, is it March already? Time to roll up those snuggy sleeves, get off the sofa, and start planning your big spring getaway, if you haven't already. So where will you be thawing out come May? Take a look at our latest finds from the Huntsville area and see what's up for grabs...

Their "insert contact name here" email marketing campaign got me dead on this time. Thanks for calling me out in front of everyone. I'll forgive you this time, low fare finders. I will suffer a lot for you letting me know that there are $138/rt fares from Nashville to Chicago right now.

Maybe it is time to shed the Snuggie and venture out of hibernation.

Charles likes the Snuggie too.

the water pilgrimage.

2011-02-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

I just had the weird sensation of realizing that someone has been observing my daily habits, finding them unusual and trying to help me be a little more normal.

Let me explain.

I work in a really really super nice building.

The nicest building I've ever worked in over the (short) span of my working career thus far. When I move and continue working other places, it'll still probably be the nicest facility I'll have ever worked in. There's glass everywhere. Shiny marble. Fabulous modern furnishings in a four-story atrium and a little cafe serving breakfast and lunch.

There are scores of support staff that man that cafe and clean the building (including the bathrooms, all of them, at least three or four times a day.) It's ridiculous. But I am not complaining - it's also lovely.

Anyway. I have these habits. I think they're good ones. I drink a ton of water. Possibly a gallon a day; not entirely sure. I used to go fill up my trusty plastic cup at the water fountain right by my office. One day, or operations director saw me and said (I kid you not), "WHY, pray tell, are you drinking out of the water fountain?! You do realize that we have nice, filtered, refrigerator water in the break room across the atrium, don't you?"

Well, no I didn't, actually. But I guess since the water fountain is off limits (except for guests - they don't get the good stuff?), I'll start walking across the way for my many times daily fill-up.

So, for the past year or so, I've been trekking across the atrium, from my office to the break room across the way to fill up my water cup. I've really started to enjoy it - my office is nice as far as offices go. I have a secondary window that looks out on to a hallway, through another office and finally out an outside window. I get light of day, indirectly. I have a door. But the atrium. You saw the photo. Now, it's a break I look forward to - getting up, stretching my legs, checking out the action in the atrium (that's where visitors come) and enjoying the full sunshine you see in the fully glassed-in area. Plus, I walk like, half a mile a day, to and fro between office and break room.

This morning, my little routine was interrupted by a really pleasant lady who works in the cafe.

"I see you walking way over there at least 25 times a day," she says. "You know the cafe water is triple-filtered, right? And cold? Why don't you just come get your water from the kitchen?" She says this all very patiently, as I'm obviously a tad slow to be walking a half mile per day just for water.

So anyway, I feel obligated to explain to her that I skip the water fountain because I was encouraged to drink the filtered water. I'm not a water snob, I insist. A little fluoride is good for a person.

In summary:

Water fountain (is less than) filtered breakroom water (is less than) super awesome triple filtered chilled cafe water.
I am a weirdo who drinks way too much water, walks too far for it and thinks she's too good for the water fountain.
We have entirely too many water options. I mean, seriously.

Sigh. Sometimes I wish I could just be odd in peace without people noticing my little quirks and trying to help me out. Although, it is kind of touching that they care.

And, I apologize for sharing the weird again. I do think this little exercise will help dissolve the writer's block I've been experiencing while writing pages for our annual report. So this has been beneficial after all. I think I need a water break first, though...

OH! And so this isn't a total loss. I give you, Barcelona:

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

Hm. This isn't my favorite of the series but it still makes me insanely travel-jealous. We wanted to go here for our honeymoon but realized that there was a bit of a cash flow issue for a weeklong (or more) Euro trip. We had the best vacation we've ever had in Vegas, thanks to a family friend. But Barcelona is still on the bucket list. And it sure would be nice to go there while I still look decent in a swimsuit. Although, I'm pretty sure I never looked like the girl in the video. Seesh.

Bejing

2011-02-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

(By the way, these all came from the ModLife blog, which is almost always interesting reading.)

I am fairly sure I'm more of a Europe girl than an Asia one, but this does make me want to explore the asian side of things as well... Can you study abroad for work? Sigh.

Oh, to be a study abroad student again...

2011-02-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

And there are more... I believe I'll share them one at a time since I am the worst blog poster ever lately. This will give anyone who happens to look at my blog something to daydream about :)

Voyage

2010-12-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

I love the holidays. But, as I'm sure is the case for many people, they are bittersweet. In addition to the joy I feel being around loved ones and eating food and looking at lights and glittery paper and ribbons, I also reflect on those lost. Bittersweet. On my way into work this morning, I heard this poem and it rung so true. Anyway, not much more from me today, just this:

Voyage

by Tony Hoagland

I feel as if we opened a book about great ocean voyages
and found ourselves on a great ocean voyage:
sailing through December, around the horn of Christmas
and into the January Sea, and sailing on and on

in a novel without a moral but one in which
all the characters who died in the middle chapters
make the sunsets near the book's end more beautiful.

—And someone is spreading a map upon a table,
and someone is hanging a lantern from the stern,
and someone else says, "I'm only sorry
that I forgot my blue parka; It's turning cold."

Sunset like a burning wagon train
Sunrise like a dish of cantaloupe
Clouds like two armies clashing in the sky;
Icebergs and tropical storms,
That's the kind of thing that happens on our ocean voyage—

And in one of the chapters I was blinded by love
And in another, anger made us sick like swallowed glass
& I lay in my bunk and slept for so long,

I forgot about the ocean,
Which all the time was going by, right there, outside my cabin window.

And the sides of the ship were green as money,
and the water made a sound like memory when we sailed.

Then it was summer. Under the constellation of the swan,
under the constellation of the horse.

At night we consoled ourselves
By discussing the meaning of homesickness.
But there was no home to go home to.
There was no getting around the ocean.
We had to go on finding out the story
by pushing into it—

The sea was no longer a metaphor.
The book was no longer a book.
That was the plot.
That was our marvelous punishment.

"Voyage" by Tony Hoagland, from Hard Rain. © Hollyridge Press, 2005. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

Interestingly enough, my granddad was a ship captain. So was my uncle before he retired. My dad was in the Navy too. In her early twenties, Mom sailed from L.A. to Australia on the beginning of her great adventure that eventually led her to my dad in Spain.

My uncle posted this photo on his Facebook sometime this summer... it's of him on his ship in Vietnam. He met up with my dad there - he's in the reflection.

Granddad had Alzheimer's and many of my more vivid memories of him were in this state since I was old enough to remember. He told this amazing story about when he first left Norway to work on a ship, they still sailed on masted sailing ships. I'm sure it was part of some sort of hazing ritual, but when he was young, they dared him to climb up to the uppermost mast and balance there, entire ship and ocean below, on his belly. Crazy. Crazy what you remember when everything else is gone... Crazy how many life-changing moments in my family, on both sides, began with a ship.

It's beer-thirty

2010-11-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Did you know there was such a product?

I had no idea. I saw them at a quickie-mart last Saturday in Nashville.

You learn something new every day.

Hope they're not as nasty as this beer/malt liquor caffeinated concoction. Yikes.

Spoiled rotten

2010-10-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Marrying a cook has its perks. Sure, the hours are unforgiving and after his slow Monday and Tuesday we pass like ships in the night most weeks, me trying to stay up to see him when he gets home and him waking up earlier to have some coffee as I bolt out to work.

But sometimes, he pulls out all the stops and cooks for me. And a girlfriend. At his restaurant. I'm talking a multi-course fiasco here, complete with sorbet palate cleanser and full wine pairings.

How 'bout a course-by-course review of last Saturday's epic tasting menu to end all tasting menus?

Like an idiot, I forgot to take pictures of the first two courses, so you'll have to use your imagination...But here is a nice sunset one overlooking the putting green and the rest of south Huntsville I got before I was distracted by our first glass of prosecco:

Course one:
Six fresh shucked oysters on the half shell - three Island Creek (tiny and fatty and briny - in a GOOD way, these were my favorites) and three Savage Harbor (also delightful, larger) - with a champagne mignonette, which is quite possibly my favorite condiment ever. Can I call it a condiment?

Course two:
Butternut squash soup, drizzled with a lemon agrumato and garnished with fresh parsley. Hey - this was a learning dinner as well... Did you know that agrumato is made when olive oil presses are cleaned with fresh citrus and the cleaning oil? Well it is.

Course the third:
A lovely, palate-cleansing lemon sorbet with mint leaves.

(Hey, guess what? I finally remembered to take photos starting... now!)

Course four:
Warm purple cabbage salad with goat cheese, walnuts and chicken sausage. I had a version of this salad at Mezza Luna last fall and let me tell you, it embodies everything that is the best about fall. Perhaps Mezza will feature it again this fall? You should definitely go check it out if this is the case. Purple cabbage reminds me of this Norwegian side dish my Grandma used to make (and my mom does now... surkal... better believe I had to look up the spelling on that one. Amazing dish.) The goat cheese/walnut combination added some delightful creaminess to the dish and the chicken sausage tasted homemade. Mmmm.

Course five:
The most amazing fried fish I've ever had in my life. This course reminded me of a fish fry, but the best possible fish fry ever. The flounder itself was everything I love about fried food (crispy, lightly bread-y, crunchy) but underneath the crust was amazingly cooked fish. Like, perfectly cooked. With the amazing fish was a honking hunk of grilled cornbread (the hush puppy), some super tart slaw with julienned granny smith apples and shaved fennel keeping the green cabbage company and some surprise sugar snap peas hidden under the flounder. This may have been my favorite course. Maybe.

Course six:
Braised short rib with fried gnocchi (which, as it turns out doesn't have to be made of potatoes can in fact be made of any sort of starch... who knew?) and roasted root vegetables, including turnips, parsnips, carrots, rutabaga and some other rooty veg. The whole thing was topped off by an amazing gremolata (another new food term for me) and the best, most concentrated jus you've ever tasted. The jus was everything that made the short rib amazing, combined with red wine and reduced down to its most intense form and drizzled all over the plate.

Remembered to take this photo before I demolished the short rib. Not in the most pristine state, but Kris give it thumbs up nonetheless.

Dessert course (course seven):
Pumpkin cheesecake. I'm not gonna lie. For me, sweets are typically an afterthought. If I get to eat an amazing meal, I'm usually so stuffed by the end that I don't have an intense desire for dessert. But as they were only six courses into a seven-course tasting, the dessert was inevitable. And wonderful. The cheesecake was incredibly light and airy and whipped. Not like the heavy brick-like ones you find sometime smothered in cherry goop. We got tiny little pieces and ate every last bite because we had to be polite. Naturally. The final glass of prosecco made those last bites go down quite nicely.

Hello there, Kris (and pumpkin cheesecake). The bubbles were the best.

I concur.

Since J will graduate in December, we hope that he will transition from cook to some sort of 8-5 food scientist position. I will miss the restaurant ambiance and J in his starched white chef coat (complete with embroidered name... le sigh), but I hope this will bring about a new round of experimentation in his free time that he's never been able to attempt previously due to a rigorous work/school schedule... I'm thinking charcuterie, bread making, at home canning and pickling. If all goes according to plan, there will still be plenty of ways for me to remain fatter than I would like to be. But happy. Yum.

Here's one of the man in action, making ravioli (not from tonight, but some other time. See what I mean about the starched white coat?) He's on the right.

Thanks J!

And because ALL I have been doing this fall is eating, stay tuned for my Taste of Atlanta recap.

Is it tomorrow yet?

2010-10-25T15:01:00.001-07:00

I am beyond ready for "The Rocky Horror Glee Show".

'Glee' Does The 'Time Warp' @ Yahoo! Video

BEYOND. READY.

And I thought the treadmills were cool

2010-09-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Found this in my daily design blog reading, oddly enough. Apparently a reader was reminded of this video thanks to a weekly "pets on furniture" feature they have. I love that pets on furniture feature. They all look pretty happy in their situations, and a lot of them look like rescue critters, too. From the slammer to the couch - what an excellent turn of events for them. Perhaps we'll take one of Chuck chilling when we get our new couch!

Anyhow - O.K. Go is the best, I've decided.

Also, some other things to make you happy -

Hyperbole and a Half: ever heard of her? Me neither. So I visited her about pageS and continued to die laughing. How completely, awesomely, unhelpful?

Seriously, the best -
Sneaky hate spiral. (this about sums up my last week.)
The alot is better than you at everything.

Frankenfish

2010-09-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

Looks like the FDA is about to approve the country's first genetically-modified animal. We've been consuming modified corn and soybeans for years, but never an animal, until now.

Before I get into the fish, let me back up to one of my favorite outreach exercises our education team has created here at work - G-MOD. High schoolers are given a lab in a box that contains everything they need to determine whether their favorite snack foods - Cheetos, Doritos, Oreo cookies and others - have been genetically modified.

Students break open popular snack bags, pulverize the contents,
Extract the DNA, amplify the DNA using PCR technology (which I like to refer to as a photocopier for DNA, giving you a larger sample of a specific part of the DNA to refer to)
And finally, use a flash gel to determine whether the product they are analyzing has been modified.

Why do I like this experiment so much for high-schoolers? News flash! Every. single. processed. snack. food. we. eat. was created using "Roundup Ready" corn, created by a company called Montsanto.

Scary modified.

The concept was great - rather than farmers tilling their land for weeds, they use this special corn, douse their entire crop with Roundup (a Montesanto chemical product), then watch the weeds whither away as the corn crop thrives. Fantastic! Until the weeds cross-bred with the corn, creating super weeds. No joke. Read about it here.

O.K., now back to the fish:
AquaBounty Technologies is in the process of introducing a modified salmon to U.S. grocery store counters. According to their Web site the AquaAdvantage® fish -

Advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than traditional fish. AquAdvantage® Salmon (AAS) reach market size twice as fast as traditional salmon. This advancement provides a compelling economic benefit to farmers (reduced growing cycle) as well as enhancing the economic viability of inland operations, thereby diminishing the need for ocean pens. AAS are also reproductively sterile, which eliminates the threat of interbreeding amongst themselves or with native populations, a major recent concern in dealing with fish escaping from salmon farms.

So, theoretically, they have all of the answers to the issues faced with Roundup ready crops. No worries! All problems solved! And apparently the FDA agrees, stating in pre-meeting documents that the studies conducted by AquaBounty show that the gene is safe for the salmon, safe for humans and safe for the environment.

Oh my - an AquAdvantage salmon behind a non-transgenic Atlantic salmon sibling of the same age. (via)

Critics primary problems with the fish include food safety concerns - primarily to do with allergies - and, like the Roundup Ready crops, cross-breeding with conventionally grown salmon.

AquaBounty has answers to all of these concerns, but many scientists maintain that the data to back up these claims of safety does not yet exist.

So, what to do? This topic is so fascinating to me because I actually don't know where I stand on the issue.

We want to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. We want to be sure all of our population is fed and healthy. We want to keep our farmers solvent... but some become outraged at the idea of modifying our crops to grow faster, more efficiently and in more places. How do we expect to use corn or soy to power our vehicles if we are growing only enough to eat?

Same goes for animals - We have a seafood watch list a mile long of fish we are not to eat because we have over-fished and these populations are dying out. What if we could enhance the growing of these fish. What if this advance in science enhanced the diet of families in countries who eat only rice, because that's what they can afford? Hell, what if this advance offered families here the chance to eat fish instead of fast and processed food that are typically the only offerings they can afford?

I can definitely understand the looming risks of mega corporations pushing their brands of herbicides and perfected DNA strains for world domination in their products, pushing out the little guy and ruining the environment in the process...

But I can also see an opportunity for millions more mouths to be fed with corn that grows in harsher environments, due to genetic modification. I can see a faster-growing fish not only feeding hungry families, but feeding them a product that is not over-fished and endangered.

What do you think? Panic? Celebrate? Wait?

For now, I go with wait. See what FDA says about AquaBounty. And hope they decide to label the GMO salmon at the store so I, and others, can make the decision to consume for ourselves.

so i guess this is growing up...

2010-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Channeling that Dammit this morning... it's an angsty, why won't anything go right, why can't I get a leg up, why don't the grown-ups understand me, Blink-182 kind of a morning.

Hmphhh.

Car is overheating... just had to take it to the repair shop. Looks like my trusty Camry may be biting the dust. As much as I'd love a new (to me) Mini Cooper, I was truly hoping that I could make the current car last quite a bit longer. You know, save up for something nice. Jonathan suggested holding off till we figure out where we'll be when he graduates in December. If the new locale is urban, we forget cars altogether and get a set of Vespas.

Also, if you'd like to call and commiserate, or perhaps to offer to meet for drinks to drown my sorrows (and yours, if you're having any) don't bother! My phone doesn't work either! That's right. iPhones malfunctioning are actually quite humorous. Very "Danger Will Robinson! Danger!" short. short. buzz. blink. flash. blank screen. I would be chuckling a bit more about it if I didn't actually need my phone.

So, anyway, here ends the whiny portion of this blog post. I've come up with a solution. I'm going to simplify my life.

If you would like to talk to me, please invest in a fire pit for your back yard and brush up on your smoke signals. I'll also be accepting telegraphs and telepathic messages.

If I need to get in touch with you, I will be using the Pony Express. Or telepathic messages. Maybe I'll just show up at your house. I'll do my best to judge when you might be home, but if you're not there, I'll hang out in your neighborhood Starbucks. Or make friends with your neighbors. I've been meaning to be more friendly with neighbors, too...

I still plan to go to work, when I can hitch a ride, or when I feel up to biking. I've been meaning to take this getting into shape thing more seriously and biking 10 miles to and from work every day (weather and mood permitting) will really expedite this process, don't you think? The days I really can't stomach the ol' bicycle and nobody is headed my way on I-565, I'll just work from home. You know, with my quill and ink, since my personal computer is also from 2002 and going the way of the dinosaur.

I think that this plan should work out really well for me. Why do we need to constantly upgrade, anyway? What if all of these things breaking at once is actually a sign from above that I should slow down, simplify, be more green?

I'll start growing a garden with seeds that I'll take from my neighbors' plot (we'll be on speaking terms since I'll have taken the time to introduce myself after two years.) I'll cook like a locavore, i.e., I'll cook using what I can buy from Star Market (it's walkable!) and what friends bring to my house. I'll learn an instrument in my free time since I won't be rushing all over town to meet friends places. Hell, I might even save that gas money I'd have been using and take a big air trip every year or so. J can come too.

Well, good. It's decided then. Should my car cost more than, oh, $300 to fix, I'll just put my blinker on and turn out of the fast lane to start living my life as I've detailed above.

You'd all still be friends with me if I looked like this girl, right?

She's kind of cute in a "let's sing folk tunes by the fire" sort of way...

And again, if you need to contact me, please write down my coordinates for future reference: 34.745955,-86.555981. That is all.

Miss now Mrs.

2010-09-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

"Are you sure you want to change your name to 'Melanie Sollid-Penton'?" says Facebook.

Guess so... The name change process has begun.

Happy birthday, baby. This is definitely a big step, not a baby step.

Well, this basically sums up my writing mentality...

2010-09-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

I saw this via Frank Chimero via someone else on Twitter. I just read a few of his posts today and am already quite enjoying what he enjoys. And how he writes about what we both seem to enjoy.

Anyway, there was a link from a completely unrelated post of his (which contained someone else's description of a meal at el Buli, I don't even know what the post was about, I was completely beside-myself distracted by that description...But I digress! Whyyyyy is the internet so convoluted? If you already struggle with tendencies that could be alarmingly similar to ADD, it's quite difficult to finish even one article or post (or, ahem, action item) without falling into a rabbit hole of other fascinating information.)

Here's the link that I liked. This is how I write, and I had been feeling sort of like a lazy grammar slouch for not caring more about keeping up on that stuff. But now someone on the internet has vindicated me. Post below:

‘That’s not what I was taught at school’ are words we hear a lot. We’re always using our unrules to undo the things people were taught to do (and not to do) in the classroom. It’s strange, writing at primary school is all about stories, being creative and enjoying what you write. By the time you get to GCSEs you're clinically unpicking why a poem works instead of saying why you like it (and you're living in fear of red pen). Writing at school should get your brain buzzing, not be a chore. So things are changing starting here.

Five Unrules:

5. Write short or ‘fragmented’ sentences. Ignore Microsoft Word’s green squiggly line. A sentence can have seven words. Or two. It’s up to you. Play with the length of your sentences to add pace and rhythm to your words.

4. Split infinitives. They can be clunky but they’re not grammatically incorrect.

3. Use contractions (eg that’s instead of that is). They’re a good way to make your writing sound more personal.

2. Don’t sign off letters with ‘Yours Sincerely if you know the person you’re writing to or ‘Yours Faithfully’ if you don’t. ‘Yours Sincerely?’ It’s 2010. You don’t need to use stuffy formality like this anymore (or start letters with ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Sir / Madam’ for that matter).

1. And you can start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’. We just did.

And a bonus rule from Kurt Vonnegut:

‘Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.’

I totally agree that you should write how you speak. That is, if people find you funny or interesting in the least. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Nobody puts Baby in a corner!

2010-09-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

But apparently Dancing with the Stars will be putting Baby in a spray tan and a series of increasingly sparkly (and flesh revealing) outfits. Who cares about Bristol Palin?! The original novice-turned-awesome ballroom dancer is going to see if she can recreate the transformation from ugly duckling to glittery swan she played in her one mega-hit...

This will be epic. And if it's not, I will be highly disappointed.

I hope they don't make Baby wear this:

Not even a super-uber hot Pussycat Doll can pull that shiz off...

this is awesome.

2010-08-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

This reminds me of that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where the bad guy (Dr. Whats-his-name... can't recall) gets run over by the steamroller. That was traumatic to watch as a kid. This is in no way traumatic; more peaceful and sleepy than anything. Makes me want a nap. But the flat thing is what reminded me (via SF Girl by Bay) She's been posting some ridiculously cool things lately. I love my Google Reader.

Also, I think I relate because that's how I sleep now. The cat is all up in my armpit so I'm forced to throw my arm up above my head to have some personal space. The post has some other pretty cool embroidered... items. I'm not typically one for cute or embroidered anything, but I enjoy this twisted version. I also enjoy the messed up china. I wouldn't buy one for my house or anything, I just appreciate the idea of corrupting of innocent household items.

a rediscovered classic.

2010-08-25T14:53:00.001-07:00

After our own fabulous, relaxing, entertaining honeymoon in Vegas, J and I have been meaning to Netflix Honeymoon in Vegas. We finally got around to watching it together Monday night (I forget how nice it is just to sit down and watch a movie sometimes...)

I adored it - we relived our honeymoon a bit which was awesome as we both are beyond ready for another vacation... In addition to the nice memories, the movie was ridiculously silly and mood-boosting.

Elvis impersonators - black, asian, kid, skydiving and others... SJP in a string of awesomely bad (verging more on just plain awesome, actually) early 90s supertight dresses. Nic Cage in my favorite version of what he does, cringe-inducing and simultaneously endearingly sweet. Vegas, Hawaii. All of these things made for particularly awesome viewing.

Pure escapist pleasure. Check it out if you're feeling like a vacation. Or a sweet soundtrack of Elvis covers.

I'm going to try to keep this going with more frequent, but short and sweet posts with whatever happens to grab my attention. We'll see how this goes :)

Another Vegas shot or two, just because:

If you ever do find yourself in Vegas, please visit the Neon Boneyard. It was so incredibly cool; deconstructed Vegas. Vegas that was. Fun contrast to see what used to be (here) compared to what is now (on the strip.)

Collections.

2010-08-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

I'm starting one.

Previously, I've collected Beanie Babies (not my choice; have you ever had a collection that people start for you, you receive one or two of, then others see and assume you wanted all along?) and snow globes (these are actually pretty amazing and make a quite the Christmas display).

I have admired these every time I come across them in a book store or an Anthropologie, but I never knew there were so many. Maybe some are only available in the UK? At any rate, this to me seems like the most worthwhile collection. They're classics, so I really should read the ones I haven't already anyway. And they would be so. freaking. beautiful. on a bookshelf in a fabulous living room. The day our living room is big enough for a book shelf.

Behold:Originally spotted here. Books I'd be proud to display! (Unlike the piles of chick lit that stack up on my nightstand...)

old married lady.

2010-06-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Today marks our one-month anniversary as a married couple! I like being married. And as cliché as this is, our wedding was one of the very happiest days of my life. Had my dad been around, I'm sure it would have been the very best.

I was struck, over and over again, by the sheer awesomeness of our friends and family. I feel eternally grateful to them for all the amazing things they did - flower arranging, reunion organizing, hair styling, honeymoon arranging, accessory creating, and entire-wedding-day-including-shutting-the-place-down organizing. And most of the people who did all of this traveled from all over creation!

The best part about the whole bit is this: normally I would feel uncomfortable, obligated and slightly guilty about all of the work that people were doing for J and me. Odd thing was, this time all I felt was "the love." My nearest and dearest wanted to do this. They love J and me so much that they used all of their diverse and impressive talents in concert to start our marriage off with all of the support and good vibes they could possibly produce. It was blissful. The entire day. Weekend. Week. Experience.

I love J, but holy crap, how much to we both love our families and friends. Thanks everyone.

Telephone - three ways

2010-05-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who's idea it was to pair Lady GaGa and Beyoncé, but it was inspired. Telephone is the kind of video that makes people stop and watch on the big screen of a gay club instead of dancing while it rolls. Don't ask me how I know that.

Apparently I can't embed it (bah!) but check out the video here. You'll need it for reference before you see my totally awesome spoofs.

First, we have the soldiers of 82nd Airborne, stationed in Afghanistan. Way to find some way to perk up what must be a completely un-fun and most likely downright hellish military assignment. My friend Alex is in Afghanistan. Apparently she's the only expat girl to be found just about anywhere... wonder if any of these guys are single. Alex... the star is pretty much a catch:

Then - I think this awesome, but this might only be amusing to NPR nerds - NPR staffers did a send up inspired by the 82nd. I adore NPR for it's morning news and weekend programming and always secretly thought it'd be awesome to work there. I saw the building every Wednesday on my drive from work down to kickball on the Mall... don't the producers and directors look so young and FUN? I want to be friends with NPR people. The big names (Nina Totenberg - reading like it's a supreme court transcript - ha!) are pretty funny too. Although their dancing skillz leave something to be desired.

Some Thursday enjoyment for you.

And if you do happen to be in a gay bar when this video comes on, you'll know what I mean. It's the new Single Ladies.

Outstanding in the field

2010-03-16T10:31:00.001-07:00

So, I found out about this program (organization? movement?) via a design*sponge post and now I'm riveted. How do we get these guys to come to Huntsville, anyway? Naturally, Alabama superchef Frank Stitt (of Bottega and Highlands Grill in Birmingham) has already participated... I know this thanks to OITF's handy Google map of everywhere they've ever had a farm dinner:

View Outstanding in the Field Dinner Site Map in a larger map

(I created one of these for our educators visits of all of the Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative hub sites across the state - love them!)

Anyway, thinking of starting a social media campaign to get them to visit Huntsville.
I'm thinking a Ledges/Mezza Luna collaboration. But of course I am biased. Nowhere in their FAQ does OITF break down how to get a meal in your area, so I'm going to go ahead and assume it's all contacts and convincing.

I would definitely save (and save, and save) $200 for an experience like this:

Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure - literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 we have set the long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. Occasionally the table is set indoors: a beautiful refurbished barn, a cool greenhouse or a stately museum. Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table.

Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table.

The dinners generally begin at 3 or 4 p.m., depending on the time of the year, and wrap up around sunset. As the days get shorter in the fall, the dinners last until candlelight is required. Length of each event is four to five hours, and guests often linger at-table well past sunset, reluctant to have the magical evening come to a close.

So, who's with me?! Let's get this campaign started so we can have a fabulous meal at a table like this one, in the DC area...

When I own a home

2010-03-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

The first thing I am going to do is find a room to paint turquoise. I've seen so much of it around lately. And you know how I feel about it. So ready to feel some personal investment in a house and to paint instead of just hanging things on the super plain white walls.

Some inspirations -(via Design*Sponge)

(via CB2.com)

Love the vibrant turquoise with the crisp white.

Perhaps even some wallpaper on a small accent wall (this price...oof.) -

That is all.

another reason to love tar-jhay

2010-03-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

though the store has the potential to completely torpedo my new commitment to a dave ramsey budgeting system (where EVERY PENNY is allocated before it's ever spent...blargh), target remains my all time favorite place to spend a lunch break or a sunday afternoon.

i've always thought their ads were cute, and appreciated the weekly specials in my inbox, but until this particular ad campaign, i hadn't noticed their advertising much.

pictured above: the "i just went in for tape" collection - heh.

behold, target collections

target gives you a completely bizarre and seemingly random collection of items you can purchase in the store. you name the collection something clever, then tweet your collection name to #targetcollection for the chance to win a $500 gift card. how fun is that?

and check out the ads they've created so far:

i KNOW this one, all too well -

and this one is pretty good too - best. discovery. ever. don't you agree? -

i won't spam you with all of them, but if you're feeling frisky, you should head over to their youtube channel and check 'em out. awkward valentine is a good one too.

i am so appreciative of clever, audience-participatory advertising... just makes everything more fun. and since i already am a target addict, at least they make my experience a fun one.

The Video Post.

2010-02-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

I came across (or rediscovered) three videos today that are inspiring in one way or another. I try not to limit my online sharing to things that I find inherently awesome and that I am relatively sure you - or some portion of you - will find awesome in some way as well.

So, first - WaPo (whose subsidiary, Slate, is one of my favorite sources for news and commentary) with their Scene In series - this one is Union Station, but I love the Dupont Circle one, too. Makes me really miss the district. I particularly love the dapper guy with the monogrammed cufflinks (he reminds me of my boss while I worked there) and the two little girls with the magic tape.

Unfortunately, this one won't let me embed - but visit the link, it's totally worth it.

WaPo also announces the new Pantone color of the year in the Styles section - Which, as it happens, has been my color of the year every year since, oh, 1999. Delightful!

O.K. Next video. The following two are of a similar, slam poetry ilk. Typography was brought to my attention by my old Auburn prof, Robert, who was linked to it by a current student. It's fun staying in touch with people who, without social networks, would likely be lost in space until some big reunion year, if that. Yay for the internet.

Also, I am totally guilty of what this video is railing against, you know? (heh.)

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Lastly, Canada! I've been completely fixated on Canadia with the start of the Winter Olympics, gobbling up Slate's Five Ring Circus coverage, and generally contemplating what it means to be sort of Canadian. (If you are not aware, my mom is a Canadian citizen. She married my dad in the seventies and after a stint abroad, moved to the U.S. She's been living here for 30+ years; never naturalized. Our little - legal - alien.) It's interesting, because aside from a visit every year or two, I haven't really explored that part of my identity. Probably why I'm so interested in people's takes on the Canadian people and their culture and lifestyle.

Which leads me to Shane Koyczan's take on his mother country in We Are More, which was commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission and was used in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

So, these are an assembly of things that I have been enjoying lately. Anything good I've been missing out on?

OCTOBER?! REALLY?

2010-02-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

A new low for length between blog posts. This is pathetic. I'm officially the worst. blogger. ever.

Truth is, I spend so much time banging away at the computer for work (we launched a new Drupal Web site in July, and I've been messing with that, oh, forever. Most recently incorporating an intranet for internal users) that I am pretty much over it by the time it comes to anything else.

What's been going on, other than computers? Not much, BUT...

I did go to the Salesforce conference in San Francisco in November. Amazing trip, both personally and professionally. I was able to meet up with my aunt and uncle which was a blast - lots of amazing food, a performance of Wicked, and a really appreciated mini family reunion. The Salesforce conference itself signified a looong road ahead of more Web wrangling. This time trying to integrate our relationship management system (Salesforce) with an eCommerce element that has yet to be chosen and the Drupal site. Oof. Equally as disturbing - J and I watched Up in the Air in the theater a month or so ago and the whole sequence where they crash the corporate conference was eerily reminiscent of the San Fran conference. Those conferences are ridiculous.
Christmas and New Year were awesome. Lots of amazing food and really nice times with everyone. Added some new ornaments to the collection and about 33 more strings of lights. Our living room was pretty reminiscent of Vegas. Which was delightful. Coming to find out I'm not really strong on restraint when it comes to home decor. Had great visits with long-lost, out-of-town friends. Ahem, Dustin.
The weather sucks. No, really. I'm so ready for spring and a bachelorette weekend to the beach for umbrella drinks and excessive sunning that I can't stand it. Damn you, Puxatawney Phil. Which reminds me of a good one I heard recently. "They should re-release Groundhog Day and call it Groundhog Day 2."
Wedding planning continues. I'm having way too much fun on ETSY.

There's lots more, but this is a good start for now, no? Zero to... one in three months. I'll work on improving. No promises, but perhaps this will get me kick started again.

Making science "sexy" with Francis Collins

2009-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Before I came to work at my job, and before Dr. Francis Collins was executive director of the National Institutes of Health, the then NIH Human Genome Research Institute Director delivered our opening keynote speech.

Collins, far right.

Collins is a rock star of science. He's an extremely dynamic and engaging speaker as illustrated at our 2008 grand opening. Collins spoke of the fictitious "Betty", a woman who experienced two alternate existences - one with the aid of new genomic-based therapeutics and diagnostics and one - decidedly more bleak - one without.

Collins speech inspired our Save Betty campaign, encouraging people to use resources like the NIH family history tool to be aware of your personal health history.

Anyway, Collins recently appeared on The Colbert Report, updating Stephen about advances in personalized medicine and explaining why Colbert might not want crab claws to replace his hands.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Francis Collins

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Michael Moore

Love how Collins isn't afraid to be a little goofy to access audiences who are normally uninterested and unengaged in the sciences. I never considered myself a science type, and I'm still not that way inclined. However, learning about the specifics of the kinds of research that go on in my institute, in my town has been fascinating. I more than likely won't be a scientist any time soon, but continuing a career path of communications and outreach for these guys becomes more attractive by the day.

Get it, Francis.

I Could Have Told You That...

2009-10-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Trav over at An Ocean of Noise just posted about Pitchfork's top 10 best songs of the decade. Sooo... who'd they list at number one?
BOMBS OVER BAGHDAD. Naturally.

I have been evangelizing this song for years now. Since freshman year in college, B.O.B. has been the obligatory pre-night out pump up song. I love it because it's pure cardio for those nights when you didn't have time to get a work out in before the debauchery. (Also, for those of you who have seen Zombieland - amazing - you know the importance of cardio in surviving zombie apocalypse...)

The high-minded types over at Pitchfork did go into a little more depth about why B.O.B. is so amazing. Other than the pure, jumping up and down cardio the song affords:

"B.O.B." is not just the song of the decade-- it is the decade. Appropriately, the contemporary hip-hop act most in tune with the Afro-Futurist philosophies of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Afrika Bambaataa, wound up effectively crafting a fast-forwarded highlight-reel prophecy of what the next 10 years held in store. The title-- aka "Bombs Over Baghdad", a phrase that sounded oddly anachronistic in 2000, sadly ubiquitous two and a half years later-- is only the start of it. In "B.O.B"'s booty-bass blitzkrieg, we hear an obliteration of the boundaries separating hip-hop, metal, and electro, setting the stage for a decade of dance/rock crossovers. We hear a bloodthirsty gospel choir inaugurating a presidential administration of warmongering evangelicals. We hear André 3000 and Big Boi fire off a synapse-bursting stream of ripped-from-the-headlines buzzwords ("Cure for cancer/ Cure for AIDS"), personal anecdotes ("Got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo") and product placements ("Yo quiero Taco Bell") that read like the world's first Twitter feed.

Yeah, I do suppose I like it because of all of those reasons, too. I do recall thinking that the repeating "bombs over baghdad" phrase was catchy, if slightly odd, in 00. And then thinking how oddly relevant it was (again) in 03, with Bush standing on that air force carrier announcing that the war was over. "Mission Accomplished." Right.

Anyway, the others in Pitchfork's top 10?

Daft Punk - One More Time
Beyoncé - Crazy in Love
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On
M.I.A. - Paper Planes

The others are from indie groups like Radiohead, Animal Collective and Arcade Fire - groups I typically categorize as high-minded and snotty. But with the selection of the top 10 I've listed above, perhaps I should give up my preconceived notions and download the others. Give them a shot. Have a dance party. Yesss.

Power music, electric revival
Power music, electric revival
Power music, electric revival....

Repeat 43 more times while jumping up and down, flailing your hands in the air, in your college dorm room.

I Gotta Feeling...

2009-09-28T14:23:00.001-07:00

That tonight's gonna be a good night,
That tonight's gonna be a good night,
That tonight's gonna be a good GOOD night!

I love this song. It's inexplicable. I know the Black Eyed Peas are totally cheesy. And pop-y. But I adore most of their stuff, and especially this little number.

Check 'em out on Oprah. J showed me this video last night and it completely made my evening. I, by the way, am 100 percent that one girl in the front - jamming out while everyone is looking at her like she's having a seizure. Hilarious.

There's a sharper version on YouTube (here), but I like this one because you can see the girl completely spazzing out before the others join her. Heh.

Erm, I hope this will counteract the intensity of my previous post a smidge. Considered removing it, but decided that that would be a cop out. A person can't be all sunshine and happiness all the time. It's all cyclical. And I'm on an upswing. :)

The Patrick Swayze edition.

2009-09-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have a great deal of faith in faith; if you believe something strongly enough, it becomes true for you. I would like to believe [...] that there's life after death -- because if there isn't, why are we here? I don't believe that just flesh and bones can contain from the point of view of physics this very real recorded energy inside of us. Whether it's true or not, we need to believe it.

...Said Swayze in his June 2009 interview with Barbara Walters - the first one he ever gave after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He was facing the cancer that kills four out of five people who are diagnosed with the disease within a year. He was skinnier than I have ever seen him on T.V. or in the movies - frail and jaundiced looking. Terrifying. And terrifyingly familiar.

Every time someone notable is diagnosed with the cancer that killed my dad, I can't help compulsively following the story.

Randy Pausch - the college professor who wrote The Last Lecture, becoming a YouTube and Oprah phenomenon before passing away this summer. Whose book my friend has loaned but which I have yet gotten the guts to read.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

There's also this guy on the radio, former journalist Leroy Sievers (had to look him up to remember his name) who I used to listen to talk about cancer in my car in DC and cry on my way to painting class in Alexandria.

And now, Swayze. Star of two of my absolute favorite movies as a kid - Dirty Dancing and Ghost. And of two of J's favorite movies - Point Break and Roadhouse (har har).

There's something cathartic about reliving stories like my dad's over and over again. Feeling the punch in the gut and the subsequent lost of wind to the lungs of hearing another person to have pancreatic cancer. Watching the news and RSS feeds for any news of the person's condition to hear how they're battling with the disease. Grieving all over again when the inevitable news of their death makes the papers.

And for me, casually asking the scientists and grant writers at the institute if they're ever going to do work on pancreatic cancer. There was a grant apparently, but it didn't go through.

I guess that's part of it - telling your story over and over again in the hopes that someday it will all make sense, then seeking out others like you who are going through the same scenario. And watching. And waiting. And wondering if this will be the person who triumphs over the disease.

According to the American Cancer Society, for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined, the one-year relative survival rate is 20 percent, and the five-year rate is four percent. And if Patrick Swayze can't make it, things don't look so good for less visible patients.

What a downer.

Something happened today, though. A group of Clearview Cancer Institute volunteers toured the institute came to tour. During my time with them, I learned that all of the group members are either cancer survivors or caretakers of those with cancer. And they are touring the institute learning what work we're doing here in the laboratory is on it's way to their clinic. This made me feel good - and also interested in looking into volunteering at CCI. More on that as I find out.

In lieu of favors at our wedding, J and I will be making a donation to the American Cancer Society for our loved ones lost, my dad and his grandmother who died of brain cancer a few years ago. A friend walked for my dad over the summer in a Relay for Life in Ohio and sent photos of his luminaries along the track. Things like these help; and talking, and following the stories of others.

If you ever want to hear about my dad sometime, ask me. I'll gladly tell you all about him. Or tell me about your story. Something about the telling and re-telling helps us process, I think.

I want to have a co-ed Patrick Swayze movie-viewing party to honor the life of another who should be celebrated for his living accomplishments more than the grace with with he faced death.

Yeaaaaah Swayze:

Miscellany

2009-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hello there, blog.

I seem to be leaving you in the lurch all the time lately, don't I? I really do feel guilty on one level. But on another, a neglected blog means a busy and full real life. So yeah. That's a good thing. What have I been up to...

View from a deck at the event space.

Lots of tours and layout and web at work. Lots of plotting and scheming outside of work for this little event we have coming up in May. Got quite an impressive amount of work done this week on that front.

Ordered a wedding dress
Picked a venue (um, gorgeous?!)
Ordered bridesmaid dresses (Aqua on super sale at J.Crew. I am trying to be a good, recession-conscious, bargain savvy friend...) The J.Crew customer service rep informed me via email how nice "my girls" are to work with and how great my friends are. I couldn't agree more, Veronica. But hearing someone else appreciate them in the way I do makes me feel even better.
Made an appointment for deposits on the food, photographer and venue.

I am so looking forward to this low-key, understated (gorgeous, fun) observation of the start of our marriage and most of all recognizing this huge event in our lives with our nearest and dearest: Veronica's "best friends ever" and family from all over. And family friends.

We start "how-to-handle-your money-now-that-you're-attached-forever-and-ever classes" early next month and pastoral counseling sessions start in December. Is it strange that I'm looking forward to this? I guess these are so attractive to me because I really feel like we're entering into this with eyes open, and minds open. Ready to not just love each other unconditionally and eat lots o' good food, but aware and ready for the real world stuff. The paying off grad school loans and saving for retirement stuff.

Can't remember who - whether it was mom, dad or both, who always said something to the effect of, "money can't buy you happiness, but a lack of it can make you miserable." I want us to be real happy, like comfortable in our lives happy. And I have faith that this will come together for us. With lots of work at it.

Hrm. Aside from financial rants, other interesting things -

Headed to San Francisco in November! I booked airline tickets yesterday and will be spending some time out West. Half with the fam and the rest at a Dreamforce conference. Exciting.

Also, my friend Michelle started a blog! She's too cute and I loved her inaugural post about creative uses for leftovers. Totally keeping an eye out on her for posts like this... extremely useful. She's an entertaining writer, too. Check her out!

Still totally enjoying Glee. For those who haven't watched yet, please do. I am aware that I have a fixation with anything dance and/or musical-related and that not everyone dies over SYTYCD like I do. I can honestly say that this show will be a perfect Wednesday night pick-me-up for anyone. Musically inclined or no. Campy and hilarious. And current/relevant. Quality viewing.

Heading to the Monte Sano art fair this weekend. I love it up there (even more now... :) and the art show is always a blast. It's become one of the first signs of fall here, probably because it's a bit cooler up on the mountain... delightful.

So, blog, again - I apologize for the abandonment. But as you can see, I've been a busy lady. I think less frequent, more action-packed posts are acceptable. And they are going to have to work for a while. This is a fun hobby. Not another job duty. Thankfully.

Me and my zombie alter ego.

2009-09-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks. Social South was amazing. I met a ton of people that I look forward to keeping up with in my circle of social network friends. I reunited with some great old friends, including Katie and my Style & Design teacher Robert, who taught me everything I started out with about Web design. All in all, a great weekend of new and old friends paired with novel and familiar concepts in the world of SM.

Immediately upon returning home, J and I took engagement photos. We're not usually huge on over-hyping life events (a few photos at the wedding itself would have been fine for us) but a good friend of mine, Meghan, is quite the hobbyist photographer. Anyway, Meghan took some fantastic engagement photos that she posted on her Web site and we got to keep. Win/win!

Here's Good Melanie:
The pictures were lots of fun, but quite honestly, neither J nor I are the most comfortable with these intentional, posed photo sessions. I was feeling a bit... hm, precious, after we got our really cute, newspaper announcement-worthy images.

Enter the Thriller dance. Huntsville's Dixie Derby Girls roller derby team hosted a Thrill-HER (uh, MJ, anyone?) themed final home derby bout for the 2009 season and put out a call for Thriller dancers. About 10 of us responded. We practiced hard though, had a blast and performed for the masses (seriously, about 700-plus people) on Saturday, August 29. It was incredibly fun. And now I have a new party trick. Everyone needs to know the Thriller dance, I've decided, to be a functioning part of society. Ironic, since MJ himself was a bit touch and go at the end. Let's remember him fondly in his pre-creepy days...

Here's Bad Melanie:

My makeup job was AWESOME. A girlfriend happened upon a professional makeup artist out the night before the dance. My face was covered in liquid latex. I had craters and bruises and it looked like my nose had rotted off. My mother was horrified. Like I said, awesome.

Here's the video. Two full minutes of MJ-80s-hayday-fabulousity. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, the vid was originally posted on Facebook. Hope everyone can get there...

SoSo 2009

2009-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

...is not the name of a conference featuring all things mediocre.

According to them,

SoSo stands for Social South - the Deep South’s Social Media Conference. It’s your chance to hear nationally recognized social media professionals at an affordable and easy-to-get-to location.

Their tagline is "Deep Fried Social Media", which cracks me up. The conference is next Friday and Saturday, so I'll be roadtripping to Birmingham for the weekend.

Other good things about the conference?

It's close - Birmingham. And I get to reunite with (and crash with) my good friend, fellow blogger AND Auburn classmate, Katie!
A whole slew of my Twitter friends (I WILL NOT use the term Tweeples) including @burhop, @lorimillerwhnt and @southernplate will be in attendance!
My Style & Design in Public Relations messages teacher and social media mentor, Robert French will be presenting. This will be the first time I've seen him since college as well!

Tracks include:

Social Media Tools – You’ve probably heard that you have to be on Facebook or Twitter, but has anyone told you why? This track explores not only the why, but the rest of the tools out there.
Social Media Communications – Talking to your clients though social media using traditional media language won’t work. Track 2 explores why and how to change your message.
Social Media Strategy – Learning the tools of the trade and the new language is just the first step, without a strategy neither have much of an effect. Track 3 explores how to tie the two together into something effective.
Social Media Case Studies – Are you a business in the Southeast that is seeing results from social media? We want to hear your story – apply here to present it at Social South.

Looking forward to learning how to wrangle all of the social media outlets we use at work into one cohesive message that will drive traffic to our Web site. Also looking forward to seeing old friends. Social media is a funny thing for me because I've been neck deep in these applications since I was a sophomore in college, but that doesn't necessarily make me the best manager for outreach and business uses. I think that a meeting or two on the topic will help me reign all of these outreach efforts in to form something more functional.

SYTYCD recap: eight years late.

2009-08-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

I was just skimming back through my "recent" posts and realized how compulsive about So You Think You Can Dance I was in the beginning and then how I totally cut it out.

I guess I was too busy Twittering about it.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Jeanine came out of the clear blue after being paired with that awkward hip hop guy that everyone loved to take the win. I'm glad she did, even though I was a bit partial to Kayla. That girl could dance... not the brightest crayon in the box, maybe, but a killer dancer. Those lines!

I was so excited about the season at first and then there were a few episodes in a row where I was underwhelmed by most of the performances so I kind of lost my momentum. That said, I do have some definite favorite dances of the season. I'll try for a top five:

Kayla and Brandon's final four Broadway number to Bye Bye Love. Stellar dance, and I love that song.
Kayla and Jason's zombie dance. Bad ass. The make up smearing, the crazy partnering and that neck lift...
Jeanine and Jason's sex dance. Rawr. I downloaded the Jason Mraz album on iTunes after watching this number on repeat (thanks DVR, thanks Kristen) during the finale episode.
Kayla and Kupono's Addiction Dance. This one made me tear up. It was so unflinchingly intense and to me was way more powerful than the breast cancer one. (Sorry. It just was.)
Karla and Jonathan's contemporary. I just finished saying that basic contemporary numbers are boring. But this one was so familiar and beautiful to me... and Falling Slowly from Once is one of my all time favorite songs.

Not much longer to wait for another season of SYTYCD. I'm unsure how I feel about that. It's exciting in a way, but part of the fun for me was the anticipation for an entire year for the following summer. And I despise the first six episodes or so of freaking auditions. Arghhhh. But it's okay. Glee comes on in September too, YIPPEE!

Paradores!

2009-08-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hi. I haven't posted since June 25. Holy crap. I need to pick up the pace. So here begins a spate of new posts.

I recently got engaged to a fabulous guy. One of my favorite things about him is his willingness to check out uncharted territories. He's a great traveler too - good sense of direction, go with the flow attitude about experiences - which makes life awesome. What bugs both of us is that we have never been on a large scale adventure together. I've spent the summer in London, visited Norway and Paris, all while in college studying abroad. He's been to China, seen pandas and walked the Great Wall, all with other friends while I worked in DC.

Naturally, we want to have our first major adventure together for our honeymoon. I'm thinking a tour of the Spanish paradores.

Paradores de Turismo de España are a chain of Spanish luxury hotels. They were founded by Alfonso XIII of Spain as a means to promote tourism in Spain, with the first opening in Gredos, Ávila in 1928.

A profitable state-run enterprise, the hotels are often in castles, palaces, fortresses, convents, monasteries and other historic buildings. They stretch from Galicia in the North West through Catalonia to Andalusia in the south of Spain, the Canary Islands and to the Spanish cities in North Africa. (Thanks, Wikipedia)

My parents met in the south of Spain. My mom was traveling with girlfriends, fresh off of a stint in Australia and my dad was stationed in Rota, Spain with the U.S. Navy post-Vietnam. They knew each other for approximately three months before my mom went off to Norway on a road trip with my dad's cousin. When she returned (by plane) he greeted her at the airport, and there it was decided that they'd get married.

So, Spain has definite appeal to me. What better place to start a marriage, than the Mediterranean coast? And on top of that, in the country where my parents met, and kicked off a happy 30-year marriage? There must be something in the water there.

My parents always used to talk about driving up the coast and having fancy dinners at the paradores - paella and fresh fish. Yum. And it looks like they're still at it with the food (uh, YUM!?)

The other day I began my online parador research and discovered the amazing, comprehensive and completely tantalizing Web site. Seriously considering going to the courthouse to push this marriage thing through so we can honeymoon next week. Ha. There will be some saving of the money before any of that happens, though. But if we do decide to go this route, I will have a goal to push me through the bitter Alabama winter: sunny May skies in Spain. :)

Here's what I'm thinking for the vacay: the site offers rates for routes, scheduled for either three or seven days. (Hello, did I not say that their site is amazingly comprehensive? It's an internet planning addict's dream). All of the routes are themed - culture, nature, WINE, legacy trails through other cultures... Anyway, one of the seven-nighters is a coastal trail. All the way from the northeast corner of Spain, down the Mediterranean coast to the southern tip.

They say on the site that this route takes visitors to some of the best beaches along the Mediterranean coast in Alicante, Murcia, Almería and Malaga. This area is well-known for its tourist attractions but still harbors many pleasant surprises.

I like it. Beach vacation plus culture in Spain. Beach honeymoon meets global trek. And they drive on the right side of the road, don't they?

Don't they??

By the way, I promise this isn't going to be a wedding planning blog from now until May. I have lots of other exciting stuff going on that I'll be posting about, including a Social South new media conference in Birmingham next Friday and Saturday and a trip to San Fran for the Dreamforce (Salesforce users) conference in November to learn how to integrate my work's Facebook, Twitter and other social media efforts with our Web site as well as with our non-profit Salesforce software. Interesting stuff. AND I just signed up for Santa's Village PR again. Whoooeeeee, here comes fall and winter. May will be here before I know it...

My 25-year life status report

2009-06-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

This post needs a little back story:

My mom has her masters degree in counseling. As in, secondary school-age kid counseling. She's an education manager now, but she still has these pesky guidance counselor tendencies, and being the child of this made me the subject of lots of life goal related experiments...

Which brings me to life goals. Mom has never been the type to push my brother and I in any particular direction (we weren't expected to be virtuosos at the piano/violin/viola/fluglehorn/all of the above at age 2 1/2. Nor were we coached into oblivion at soccer/tennis/racketball practice. But mom did like for us to have goals. Not set in stone "I-WILL-be-a-hedge-fund-manager-making-six-figures-by-thirty" goals, but nice things that we'd like to achieve in our lives.

So, here's the card that mom had me create a long time ago and rediscovered during her kitchen remodel. I wish I'd dated it, because I can't recall exactly how old I was when I made this list. Judging by my handwriting, the fact that the pen was pink and my spelling... I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 years old. Classic.

For everyone's enjoyment, here's my quarter century check-in on my 11-year-old self's life goals. Let's see how I'm doing, shall we?I will answer them in the order in which they were originally penned (wonder if this was a prioritized list... it would be pretty darn random if it were.)

Speak Japanese: Negatory. I do remember dribs and drabs of my college level French. Heck I even conjugate french verbs in my head from time to time if I get bored. And I DO know how to order "two beers" in at least six different languages. Perhaps if I learn how to do that in Japanese I could partially claim this goal. (Nice! "Beer Please" in 26 languages?!) Japanese? Check. Bee-ru ip-pon ku-da-sai?
Be a better dancer: Awwww, this one is really sweet! At some point in my life, I reached for the stars, see?! Since this was written at age 11 - and I started dancing at age five and stopped at age 18 after high school (and Ann's Studio of Dance) graduation - I can fairly say that, yes, I believe I did become a better dancer! And while I was always more of a "let's stick her in the back because... she's tall" kind of a dancer, I do think I improved over the years. And while I may not be prima ballerina material, all of that dancing did make me a much better dancer at parties (woot!) and improved my overall posture and carriage, this was quite a good expenditure of so much of my time as a kid. Dancing? Check.
Be come (sic) an author of books: So, I might not have become an author, but my writing (and *ahem* spelling) skills sure have improved over the years! A couple of hardass English teachers in high school and Journalism 1100 at Auburn certainly did whip me into shape here. My first story as a volunteer for The Auburn Plainsman even made the front cover! One day I might even buckle down and attempt a novel... I'll get back to you on that part of this goal, but.... Writer? Check.
Learn more about geogaphry (sic): Again with the spelling! At least I improved upon that. Hmmm... geography improvement, hey? Well, I've been a lot of new places since age 11. I've visited Europe and hit many more states. I've become more and more aware where global places of interest are by following the news... and following the news is a good citizen thing to do, right? So. While it could use continued improvment, I have definitely learned more about "geogaphry". Geography? Check.
Get my bedroom painted: We didn't "paint" my bedroom, we did better. I somehow convinced my parents to put up a giant, full wall width mural of a deserted island beach on my bedroom wall. I managed to (a) get my mom on board with my rather out there decor scheme and (b) get my dad to actually put that puppy up on my wall. There were a lot of expletives coming from my bedroom that weekend. I'm obviously still using those persuasive skills I used to get what I wanted in a new field - PR! Perfect career choice for my skill set, I think! And, I still do enjoy design and again, can't wait to get my bedroom painted... in a house I own. I'm so tired of white rental house walls! Painting? Not exactly. But what I got was something much more involved and AWESOME. Bedroom? Check.
Have my own little garden: As in, not part of my mom's massive garden... hel-lo! And lo and behold - I DO have my own little garden! It's a rental house garden, i.e. all in pots and hanging baskets, but it's gorgeous, in full bloom this summer and I completed it myself! Nice one, Sollid. Garden? Check.
Be an "A" (scribbled out "B") student: BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So, who wants to bet that my mom was looking over my shoulder on this one and encouraged me to reach even further for the stars? "Hmm, that's great Mel, but don't you think you could probably make all A's? We don't want you selling yourself short, now. This is a goal list, after all." So, thanks mom, for making me botch a goal. How's a B-and-a-half student? Half A's, half B's the occasional C in an Algebra course? I came out all right didn't I?! Geez. Decent student? Check. I'm giving myself this one. Argue with me. Dare ya.
Make two new friends: I've made WAY more than two new friends, but this is still one of my favorite things to do. I made all new friends when I moved away to D.C. and had to or totally forefeit a social life. I continued to make more new friends when I moved back to Huntsville as a part of the workforce and wanted to meet other young professionals (I hate that term, I need to coin a new, less yuppie-sounding one) like me. Thank God for friends, they make being a grownup bearable! Friends? Check.

Thanks, mom, for finding this note card. And for making me write it in the first place. I really like the person I was back then - in all of her spastic, nerdy, do-goody glory. And I especially like that, by reading back, I am coming to realize that I am still in a nutshell my 11-year-old self. Because she was pretty awesome.

mini vacation: 21c Art Hotel

2009-06-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ever since I heard about 21c on NPR during my morning commute to work last winter, I've been dying to check it out. Finally, in June, thanks to a combination of factors including J having an unheard of weekend off work and me being employed (whoo!) we're heading to Louisville (Louhvul?) Ky. for the weekend. A minibreak, if you will. And I couldn't be more excited...

Really what makes 21c different from all other hotels is it's vast private art collection, amassed by owners Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. This is modern art: crazy paintings of men caressing mannequins, conceptual films with accompanying dioramas. Red penguins everywhere. Modern art, like my favorite - the Hirshhorn - oh how I would love to work there...

Our agenda for the weekend:

leisurely, five hour drive from Huntsville to Louhvul with a potential stop in E-Town (as Mr. Addis calls it)
if we can swing the work schedules, an organic wine dinner featuring french bistro food at 610 Magnolia
perusing the downtown Louhvul art scene, including two(!) glassblowing workshops
more eating, at Proof on Main, 21c's on site (and apparently fabulous) restaurant and wine bar
troll the Urban Bourbon Trail
music and dancing?
and brunch. no vacation is complete with out at least one brunch.

This "itinerary" should pretty much sums up my idea of a perfect vacation. Leisurely road trip, eating, eating, wine, eating, dancing, distillery tour, eating. Repeat.

Woohooo Friday!

Lull.

2009-06-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

What a long lapse between posts. I've been busy, both at work and personally (entertaining out of towners... Nashville in photos part deux coming soon). I'm also extremely irritated about the way my blog is looking and haven't had time to update and beautify it. Work Web site takes precedence over personal blog, obviously.

I think the perfect way to get back into the swing of things is to discuss my summertime obsession. SYTYCD (#sytycd on Twitter!)

After an amazing first week of couples competition, yesterday's performances were kinda underwhelming. My early favorites had slow performances... still liking them better than the others, though. Everyone else seemed to love the waltz and spastic popper Phillip, who I can't stand and find painfully goofy.

Other general impressions:

Love Kayla, but so does everyone else. She'll be fine.
Also love Caitlin and I'm a bit more concerned about how she'll do this week. On an unrelated note, am I the only one who thinks she looks like Amy Smart? Like her partner too. That Bollywood number last week was incredible.
The only major change of heart I've had between last week and this one was for Jonathan and his partner uhh... whatsherface. They were AWESOME. I had him totally pegged as a mediocre ballroom dancer, then in comes this incredible choreographer from SYTYCD Canada and her infallible "Falling Slowly" song choice and brings the couple back to life. I feel badly that I don't remember the girls' name (Karla...there!)
Speaking of Karla, she's fast becoming another of my favorites, she made absolutely no impression on me last week and suddenly comes out of the woodwork with the contemporary number. And lo and behold, she's also an accomplished hip-hopper who dances in a crew! Fun!
So, other recaps have been calling Lil C's reviews rambling and incoherent, but I was pretty impressed with his philosophical reviews of dances. And his amazing vocabulary. Nice.
Love Melissa and Ade, too. But didn't fully appreciate their performance the first time, changing my attitude after the reviews and the recap. Is this bad? At least I can claim that the bf came home during this and I felt compelled to talk even though I'd really rather have just shushed everyone till it was finished...

Had to add this photo because (1) it's HILARIOUS. This dude looks so young.. and (2) because he and his partner are first dancers of the season to win me over from skepticism or pure dislike.

At any rate, it'll be interesting to see who leaves tomorrow. These reality shows are awfully time consuming with the two night performance-then-elimination format and if I watch them at all I typically skip the performance night and watch the group numbers, recaps and special guests on the results show. But this show is my drug and I can't seem to do that. Addicted.

I do kind of wish that they'd keep the show to once a year. I think that the buildup of waiting SO long between seasons is part of what makes the show so great (you know, that and the enthusiastic, talented - HOT - dancers and fun costumes and music). But as with all things, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I hope this multiple seasons per year thing doesn't kill it for me. Also, I would really like my Wednesday and Thursday nights back. My social life would suffer if this happened twice a year. :)

I really, really, REALLY want to take couples dancing lessons. After the start of this show and a fun Nashville visit, I'm convinced.

ANOTHER new favorite show

2009-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Glee... I'd been meaning to watch this one after seeing some previews online and totally forgot about it. Fortunately FOX has the sneak peak episode online in it's entirety - complete with a player that plays the entire show, not annoying seven minute segments. Only a few, FOX related quick commercial interruptions, too. Nice.

Glee doesn't come until the fall but I loved the preview episode. After watching SYTYCD, I was on a musical/dance high and Glee did a great job of keeping that going. The series doesn't air in full until sometime in the fall, but I'm thinking it will be a nice nicotine patch for the end of the dancing show.

This kind of entertainment totally improves my mood. I love shows like that - ones that totally distract you from reality, sucking you in to some other universe where everyone is an amazing dancer, the music is great and there are sequins and glittery costumes everywhere :)

SYCYCD!

2009-05-21T08:59:00.001-07:00

My show starts tonight! Best dance show on T.V... best reality show on T.V., in my opinion. It's been a crazy, stressful month(s) but with this show signals the start of summer and consistently entertaining Thursday night entertainment until fall. Woot!

It's not just me!

2009-05-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Stumbled across this article - How Bea Arthur helped my body image - today on HuffPo and cracked up.

Author Leslie Goldman writes in her piece about how even though she's not particular masculine or muscle-y, she's always identified herself with Arthur's character Dorothy on Golden Girls.

As a tall girl growing up, I often felt much...bigger. Bigger than the other girls, bigger than the boys, too big for tapered Guess jeans or cheerleading uniforms. And for some bizarre, warped reason, I always identified with Bea. I thought I looked like her. She was tall and slightly manly looking and when I watched her sipping coffee in her Florida kitchen, chastising Rose (who I now realize I am so like, it's scary) for making some inane St. Olaf remark, I thought, "That's what I look like. I'm going to wear shoulder pads and floor length caftans and look like Bea Arthur when I grow up." I am not fabricating this -- ask my mom or my husband. Of course, I could have looked to any number of tall actresses or models. Cindy Crawford, maybe? But my sweet little lost mind chose Bea.

I find this whole bit hilarious, mainly because I feel exactly the same way. The only difference is that this chick is 6'1 sometimes. In heels. Blake Lively is probably approximately the same. I, however, am six feet even. No shoes. If I bust out the hot shoes (or more likely borrow a friend's, because I rarely buy heels taller than three inches) and go out, I am positively ginormous. Like, 6'5, a-head-at-least-above-everyone-else-in-the-bar tall. Goldman hits the nail on the head when she brings up a Blake Lively interview:

I'm not alone in my Tall=Big Girl Syndrome. Recently, I read an interview with my Girl Crush, Blake Lively, in Allure, and was shocked (but strangely relieved) when she admitted, "I feel like a tranny a lot of the time. I don't know, I'm...large? They put me in six-inch heels, and I tower over every man. I've got this long hair and lots of clothes and makeup on. I just feel really big a lot of the time, and I'm surrounded by a lot of tiny people. I feel like a man sometimes."

Please don't be mistaken. This is not a "poor me, the tall girl" post. My body image is just fine, and women like Lively (though I suspect she's not the brightest crayon) and Charlize Theron and Aisha Tyler do us six-footers proud. And I can inconspicuously gain quite a bit of weight and still look A-OK. It's none of those things.

But... when we go to the drag show, or the high heel drag race in Dupont Circle, I do end up cracking a lot of jokes about getting confused for a competitor. And can you blame me?

Which of these things is not like the other?

No reason for this particular tangent, other than that I find it hilarious and refreshing that there are those out there in the same predicament. Hooray for tall (mannish....?) girls! Kidding! Sort of.

Two musical projects putting a spin on the norm

2009-05-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have been all over the place for the past few weeks - planning for DNA Day, then for our first annual fundraising gala. It has been a wild, but wholly professionally fulfilling, past month. I've seen all kinds of things that have inspired me to post something but I haven't had a chance till now. Perhaps this combined "why-music-is-awesome-and-can-change-the-world" post will be more powerful anyway.

As you've probably figured out by now, most of my blog fodder comes from my daily commute to and from work listening to NPR. I really should link them on here. Anyway, this comes from two different stories I heard on the station over the past couple of weeks.

One features Ben Folds (formerly of Ben Folds Five and the epically depressing song Brick that you may remember from the late '90s). Folds decided to compile an entire a capella album of his greatest hits after seeing a YouTube clip of an Ohio University a capella group covering Brick.

Not surprising, considering how the All Things Considered segment described Folds' stage shows:
His dynamic live shows often found Folds leaping on top of the piano, dividing the audience down the middle, and conducting them in two-part (and sometimes even three-part) harmony.

Folds broadcasted the news that he was compiling an a capella album, selecting performances from different university a capella groups across the country via YouTube submissions. The results are pretty impressive, and while I typically shy away from a capella (it reminds me of my younger days and that group from Where in the World is Carmen San Diego...) this could be something to buy on iTunes.

Ben Folds, while depressing at times, could really stand to be livened up and I bet a bunch of peppy and talented collegiate a capella groups could be just the ones to do the livening. Wonder if they covered Rocking the Suburbs on the album... (awww man! Sure don't. Ben?! What happened?)

One album I DEFINITELY downloaded, right away after hearing the piece was the Songs for Peace album - a compilation by a group who call themselves Playing for Change who edit street performers worldwide into one track of a popular song.

Anyway - video of Stand By Me goes viral, producers continue to record mashup-type songs performed by street performers around the world, and they eventually create a CD.

My favorite thing about being in Paris and London were the street performers. There were sidewalk artists and musicians on the street. One girl drew The Birth of Venus in colored sidewalk chalk only to have the effort be washed away by the next rain or street cleaning. One guy played the saxophone by the Thames while balancing on a rope he'd tied between two trees.

In Paris, I heard the Beach Boys and blues standards in the Métro and a bunch of Chilean guys played Hotel California on a pedestrian bridge crossing the Seine. I'm sure I'm idealistic and silly for thinking so, but the idea of bringing these performers from all over the world together shared songs really resonates with me. Singing along with an overplayed Eagles song in Paris may have been cheesy, but it was one of the best nights of my life.

...I'm pretty sure it was the best night because I felt connected to people in a completely different continent because the late July evening was beautiful, the stars were out, the breeze was blowing, the Eiffel Tour was glittering... and we - a mishmash of nationalities, ages and backgrounds - all knew the words to the same damn song.

I love social media at times like this. Watching a YouTube video and listening to some .mp3s won't exactly replicate the feeling of that night on the Seine or those Métro rides, but they will certainly do 'till I can get back out there again.

Susan Boyle, i love you. Part two.

2009-04-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

Let me count the ways.

Apparently, Susan Boyle is not only immensely talented, but she's her own woman as well. I seriously can't get enough of this woman.

Ever since she's been thrown into the international media spotlight with her Britain's Got Talent performance, everyone from Tina Fey to Larry King have been speculating whether Boyle would make an almost inevitable princess transformation.

Love that she says that she feels no need to change her personality for the show. Exactly right, why should she change.

Best to you, Susan Boyle, with or without the bushy eyebrows! Nice leather jacket, too. :)

DNA inspired artwork - good combination.

2009-04-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Of all of the cool things I've seen go on at work since I started last June, I think this is my favorite. Conceptualizing science into art competition was an amazing one, thought up by our Educational Outreach department. We bought the winner ($1,000 prize, for those interested in participating next year...) and get to keep her piece at HudsonAlpha. The other five finalists will have their pieces for sale during the exhibition.

From our site:

The HudsonAlpha DNA Day Art Competition was created to highlight the natural connections that exist between the scientific and artistic fields. Artists from across Alabama were invited to submit works inspired by the human genome and its relationship to health and disease. Kimberly Hart, a Huntsville artist and educator at Greengate School, created the winning submission, Code Cracked. Hart noted that the inspiration for Code Cracked was from a newspaper article describing the sequencing and interpretation of an individual’s DNA:

“The article said in the next few years everyone will be able to decipher his or her own DNA and we will be able to have a complete record of the traits we have inherited from our parents. We will all have ‘a genetic mirror’ of ourselves. That phrase made me think about my own genetic traits and how they shadow me like a reflection.”

Finalists include Gary Anderson, for Teamwork; Gail Bryant, for Life Grows Where the River Flows; Jamie Stautert, for Pieces of Life, John "Jahni" Moore, for The Grand Symbol; and Mark Blevins, for Dominoes.

Come check them out for yourself! Hart’s work - as well as those of the finalists - will be available for viewing during DNA Day activities on April 24. Artwork will be displayed at the institute as part of the DNA Day Art Exhibition until May 29.

Displayed are some highlights - check out the rest of the photos in our Facebook gallery!

Susan Boyle, i love you.

2009-04-15T12:24:00.001-07:00

I'm not the biggest fan of elimination reality shows. Especially American Idol - except for that one season where the girl who got kicked off unbelievably early took it all after the show. There's just something painful to me about watching people who are serious about achieving their hopes and dreams by way of Simon Cowell getting it all crushed. On national TV, no less.

I kinda hate it, but I was even thinking to myself that she was going to be another weirdo who goes on these shows and warbles away. While it makes me cringe to see these people get made fun of post performance, I also kinda wish they would have had the presence of mind not to go on at all.

So this morning, my friend @griffingotgun posted this video of Susan Boyle on Twitter.

It starts badly. She's kind of frowsy. She's smiling way too much, a little uncomfortable, 47 years old and unemployed. She wants to be a superstar and Simon is warming up for a good destruction session. And then:

Susan Boyle Sings on Britain's Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 @ Yahoo! Video

Susan Boyle shows EVERYONE what's up. This video makes me sooo happy.

Well Susan Doyle is not your typical Professional singer. She’s 47, has a cat named Pebbles, and has never been kissed. And of course, the audience was quite skeptical with much cat-calling and eye-rolling as Susan introduced herself and spoke of her dream to be a professional singer.

[...]The 47 year old charity worker from West Lothian, drew smirks from the audience when she revealed that she wanted a career like that of West End singer Elaine Paige. But after her jaw-dropping performance and gorgeous voice, who knows what is possible for this sweet-demeanored singer? [source]

Happy Wednesday :)

Now I need to see an unexpectedly good dancer on my favorite summer reality show. Everyone loves an underdog!

on burning cds

2009-04-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

During high school and college, I was the mix CD queen. You knew you were part of my inner circle if you got a hand decorated CD from Melanie. Making one of these CDs took me upwards of an hour, painstakingly selecting songs for optimal flow, no listener track skippage and the ultimate CD-listening experience. It was both an art and a science.

Then there was the decorating.

I know from personal experience that it is exceptionally hard to keep track of a CD jewel case and sleeve, so I always relied on the CD itself to convey the message I wished to share. Using a rather impressive array of colored sharpies, I would write the track list - songs and artists on the CD. I would use my (minimal) remaining space to illustrate... usually some sort of palm tree or beach motif. Or stars. Or hearts. And then add a personal message:

Dear Kristen/Greg/Jonathan/Jenn/Michelle/Chris,

Happy Graduation/Birthday/Valentine's Day/break up/reunion/got-your-braces-off
You're the best!

♥ Mel XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Those CDs, while exceedingly cheesy, were quite popular. I loved getting inspired by an occasion (I especially remember making ones for all the girlfriends before we went off to our various colleges) and fitting the music to the mood.

Lots of these are still lying around in various friends, boyfriends and siblings car consoles, CD-R holders and desk drawers and are pulled out to relive that month in our lives: headed to college after high school graduation, first valentine's day in a relationship, pick-me-up CD for a best friend during finals, big brother's 21st birthday.

To me, the mix CD is more thoughtful at times than a handwritten letter - and this coming from a writer. While both are used express the mood of an occasion, music is powerful. Hearing the first strain of the hit rap song of 2002 brings back dancing around the dorm while getting ready to go out your first semester of college. The chorus of Wonderwall brings back sitting on that pedestrian bridge in Paris, singing along, in English with kids from all over the world, enjoying the July evening in the City of Light.

They say that smell is the most instantaneous link to memory, but for this hyper-allergic writer, sound is just as equally powerful.

On that note,

Dear Christina,

Congratulations, love! You're getting hitched. Let's take this weekend to symbolically recognize all of the time up till now that this group of girls has spent together. Let's celebrate the current gorgeous, immensly intelligent (and charming) and successful - working for Calvin Klein in Manhattan - you, by taking trip back to less complicated times. Here's to you. And us. And what we have become through all of those fun times.

♥ Mel XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

track list:

Outkast - Bombs Over Baghdad
Destiny's Child - Bug-a-Boo; Bills, Bills, Bills
Any crappy rap song from the early '00s
Blink-182
Oasis
OAR
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
The Beatles
Britney Spears
anything Gwen Stefani and No Doubt
TLC
Missy Elliott
Ludacris
Nelly Furtado
Jimmy Eat World
...and more

Yeah, yeah... laugh it up. Most of this is pretty passé by now, but at the time, that was our music. Embarassing as it may be now, this weekend these songs will take us back to the happiest, easiest times of our lives. Before jobs and rough economies. Before committed relationships and car payments. Now that I have the CD burner back up and running, I might have to get back into the practice.

It's like what they said about mix tapes before we made the switch to burning CDs - all of the effort had gone out of the endeavor. There was no longer copying one song at a time using two tape decks. Now, there's no more dragging and dropping, labeling and burning. There's just the iPod cord and the on-the-go list, all downloaded remotely. I might keep up this dying art for a little longer, if just for the happiness a palm tree and some x's and o's provide a friend. Congrats, Chris.

Mail goggles and other life savers

2009-03-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

This just in: Google creates idiot-proof Gmail. Love it. Too bad even though we use Gmail for work, I feed it through Entourage. Potentially even considering switching back to it's pure form 'cause these features are priceless:

Five second send delay - in case you spot an awkward typo or accidental.
"Are you sure?" reply all - so that (potentially snarky?) response intended solely for the sender doesn't reach all of those unintended recipients.
The ever popular "Mail Goggles" (Doesn't this sound like one of their April Fool's jokes?)
Facemail... corresponding photos with emails showing up in the to: line so that you don't accidentally autofill the wrong name...
Attachment check. I do this at least three times a week. "Hmm. Sorry - here's the attachment." And I always catch it seconds after the darn thing sends.

[...]the lawyer for Eli Lilly who wanted to e-mail her co-counsel Bradford Berenson details of a negotiation but instead sent them to Alex Berenson, a reporter for the New York Times. The result was a front-page scoop revealing that Eli Lilly was talking with the government about a billion-dollar fine for improperly marketing its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa. (And so much for the effectiveness of those lengthy legal disclaimers at the bottom of corporate e-mails.) - from Slate

Because sometimes doing something as easy as activating "Undo Send" in Gmail Labs under Settings, and you’ll see a new “Undo” link on every sent mail confirmation. Click “Undo,” Gmail grabs the message before it’s sent and take you right back to compose. Woohoo! Check out the full post here.

Now if only they'd create similar features for Facebook...

The cooking and eating post.

2009-03-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've been catching a lot of interesting food stories lately:

Cultural Tourism D.C., one of my go to resources for things to do in the city (sign up for their e-newsletter if you're planning on a trip anytime soon), had an Embassy Chef Challenge as part of their fund raising gala last night. What a cool idea for a fundraiser... CTDC hosted all of the embassy chefs in a judged competition where they presented hors d'oevures, main courses and desserts. The panel of judges were

Chef Carla Hall, Alchemy Caterers and "Top Chef" finalist

Chef Rock Harper, Ben's Next Door and winner of "Hell's Kitchen"

Chef Ris Lacoste, ris (coming summer 2009)
Chef Kaz Okochi, Kaz Sushi Bistro
Chef Michel Richard, Michel Richard Citronelle and Central Michel Richard
Gail Scott, author, Diplomatic Dance: The New Embassy Life in America
Chef Art Smith, Art and Soul
Joe Yonan, The Washington Post Food Editor

So, pretty much, all rockstars - especially Michel Richard. Such a clever gala idea. Need to keep this in mind if I ever work somewhere that's not all science, all the time... The event was open to the public. I'd be interested to see what their attendance numbers were.

And in more local news, Frank Stitt of Bottega, Highlands Grill and Chez Fon Fon, among others has been nominated for (another) James Beard Award. Highlands Bar & Grill has been nominated for Most Outstanding Restaurant of 2009. I'm more of a Chez Fon Fon person, purely for financial reasons, but this news has inspired me to save up and check out the nominee next time I'm in Birmingham. Apparently the Highlands Web site is frantically being rennovated... which I find comical from a marketing standpoint. "Crap! We've been nominated! We need to get this site going so people will want to come visit." Wonder if they offer some sort of prix fixe menu...

Last food thought for the day... Slate ran a piece about the dilemma of what to do with the random veggies people get in their CSA (community supported agriculture - doesn't everyone know that? Cause I didn't have to look it up or anything...) boxes at the end of winter. Which, while comical, highlights the fact that instead of having a similar dilemma, I have the problem of having no veggie box at all. I wonder if we get those in Huntsville. I did a cursory Google search without a satisfying result.

I think I've heard a rumor about veggies getting dropped off at Lowe Mill, but have been unable to find anything about that on the internet. Maybe you need a password or a secret code or something there on Saturday mornings. Like a vegetable speakeasy or something. Now that would be exciting. The thrill of the chase. It would take so much work to get them that you'd be thrilled to figure out how to cook a bunch of turnips. Well, maybe not that excited. But I digress... If I find something out I will post it.

Is it time for lunch yet?!

Ca$hville in photos

2009-03-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling more visual than literary lately. So, here's Nashville in photos. Friend Michelle told us about cheap Opryland Hotel rates. Once we got there we were able to upgrade our room to an atrium view... lovely. If you get the chance to go, you should try to finagle an atrium room. It made the stay.

View of the Cascades from our room balcony.

Balcony view #2 - the waterfall. We originally were in a third floor room and asked to move because we were directly at eye level with everyone walking by on the walkway. Awkward.

We (and by "we" I mean "I") took a lot of time farting around in Opry Mills. Found a bunch of cute stuff... Just about made J terminal until we hit the end - the Bass Pro Shops outdoor store. That place is huge. And terrifying. Totally packed with taxidermy critters of all shapes and sizes. While J was examining the kayaks and gear I spotted this little beaver vignette that someone cleverly enhanced. It's hard work hacking logs with your teeth. Every beaver needs a value-sized Diet Coke to quench its thirst every once in a while.

So, the outdoor store was just terrifying on the whole. Behold, the biggest effing catfish I have ever seen. Apparently it's not unusual for them to get this large. Who knew? I was sharing my newfound knowledge with a kickball buddy, who then told me about catfish noodling (!!!) WTF. One more note about the great outdoors. J informed me that all the stuffed (and live) critters were strategically placed to remind shoppers what the real outdoor camping/hiking/fishing experience is like. And on that note, I've decided that my as yet unrealized camping career will never come to fruition. How about a block party instead? Or some bocce. These outdoor activities are more my speed.

Eventually we made it out of Natureland (alive and unscathed by the ginormous bottom feeding fish). After another prolonged wine and cheese session on our balcony, we headed out to eat. When in Nashville, check out Sunset Grill. We had an amazing prix fixe three course meal there for $20. It was quite the recession friendly vacation.

I am thoroughly enjoying traveling in this economy! You can do so much for so little expense. I'm thinking girls' weekend soon. The end.

Vanity Fair does West Side Story

2009-03-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Another fun post. This one reminded me of two things:

A consistent appreciation of almost Vanity Fair photo shoot I've seen... enough so that I finally realized I should just go ahead and subscribe to the magazine. I need a replacement for the recent lack of Domino in my life, anyway, and
How much I need to re-watch West Side Story. Consider it added to the Netflix queue. (Which my movie picks seem to be dominating lately... sorry J.)

Anyway, here are some of the highlights. I recognized lots of faces... some of which I couldn't exactly place. I sense more Netflix adds in my future. Sorry J.

J.Lo as Anita, Camilla Belle as Maria and that guy from Lost as Bernardo

love this scene...

I totally agree with J.Lo's quote in the piece... Anita was always my favorite character, too. She had the best outfits by far. And dance moves.

Check out the rest of the slideshow!

Beware the Ides of March

2009-03-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ever since we started reading Shakespeare in school - pretty early, because as I recall... Julius Caesar was one of the first plays that was hit, I've been thoroughly amused by my birth date.

I mean, it's no St. Patrick's Day, but I still appreciate the quirks of being born on the Ides of March. I'm a pretty upbeat person and appreciate the irony of being born on the day that Caesar was assassinated by a group of pissed off colleagues.

I follow @someecards on Twitter - HILARIOUS e-cards that my friend Morgan got me into when we were roommates - and found this gem of an Ides of March card:

They just think of everything, don't they?

God's gift to women

2009-03-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

In case you were unaware, Sunday was International Women's Day. Slate did a slideshow of famous women in the literary world. Stories of women gathering to observe the occasion (that I had no idea even existed) worldwide popped up on my Google reader all day long.

And then comes this article from The Independent about the Vatican getting in on the act.

As International Women’s Day is celebrated, the Vatican had a novel message for the women of the world: give thanks for the washing machine. This humble domestic appliance had done more for the women’s liberation movement than the contraceptive pill or working outside the home, said the the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano.

"In the 20th century, what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women?" questioned the article. "The debate is still open. Some say it was the pill, others the liberalisation of abortion, or being able to work outside the home. Others go even further: the washing machine."

Lovely! I mean, I get that the Vatican would not be any sort of proponent for the Pill. Or legalized abortion. Those are all topics that I fully believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion about...

But what about suffrage?! Or the right to equal work for equal pay - a privilege for which Alabama's own Lily Ledbetter fought all the way to the Supreme Court?

I'm uncomfortable with the word feminist because of the spectrum of different meanings it insinuates. But really - WTF? You don't have to be a feminist to find this laughable... or insulting?

Recovery.gov

2009-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the massive U.S. economic stimulus plan has a Web site? And a logo?! I did not, until just now.

Going to have to check this out further when I am not up to my eyeballs in work projects because I am woefully under informed as far as the stimulus package goes.

Upon initial glance, though, I'm impressed with the site. I'm sure that a lot of it is pure PR, but as a PR person myself, I'm appreciating the language used on the site, timelines and graphs.

From recovery.gov:

This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent. Learn what steps we're taking to ensure that you can track our progress every step of the way.

The site includes, among other things, a scrollable timeline with milestones, a place to share recovery stories, a link list of state specific recovery sites (only available in 12 states so far...), the full bill for reviewing and a message from the president.

Checking it out more thoroughly soon... What does everyone else think? Do you buy this? Are you skeptical? At this point for me, any sign of transparency and progress is better than nothing at all - and the approach taken here with an interactive Web site updated regularly is a great way to start.

Italian lawmakers are sleazier than ours!

2009-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

I have been a negligent poster lately, mostly because I don't have a second to think about anything not work related, and when do come up for air, the last thing I want to do is spend more time on the computer.

This was too good, though. And it makes me feel better about our entire political system here in the U.S. - bank bailouts, bipartisan bickering and all.

On my way home from work yesterday, I heard this lovely piece about how Italian members of parliament were protesting a proposed fingerprint ID voting system because...

...they would actually have to be present to cast their votes. Um, SERIOUSLY?!

These guys apparently skip all the time (probably to conduct steamy affairs with Sophia Loren lookalike mistresses - in my head, anyway) and have their buddies lean over the table to hit their electronic voting button for them. Lawmakers are concerned that they will have to spend too much time in the chambers. The lawmakers. Don't want to waste their time. Casting their own (the public's?!) votes. And making laws. The lawmakers.

But they've reached a great compromise! In return for being so flexible and compliant with, oh, agreeing to complete their civic duties as lawmakers and being there for all the votes, they get an extra hour long coffee break each day! And a two hour break on Wednesdays! Gah, we all know how pesky those hump days are - they definitely call for a two hour break to make them more manageable.

So, let's not feel too badly about our politicians... It'd be interesting to see what state of affairs Italy is in right now. If they're better off than we are, perhaps we should consider coffee breaks for all!

Fingerprint voting not popular in Italy’s parliament (1:00) | PRI's The World

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The Silver Lining: now with comments!

2009-02-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

I hate chalking my inherent spaciness up to hair color, but sometimes I do struggle with very simple things. In my defense, I am a ridiculously good speller and communicator, and not to shabby at analyzing literature, popular and otherwise.

Ask anyone who knows me well - it's the small stuff that trips me up. Uh, like enabling comments on the blog I've been writing for the better part of six months.

Sorry about that.

But, now, with the help of Katie (guiding me through the blondness that she too understands so well) the lines of communication are open! Comment away! Criticize my taste in home décor! Differ with my political leanings! Offer advice for my next press conference (coming up on April 23, more on that later)!

Seriously, some days I suspect I need a brain transplant. I've already posted my request for a donor on Facebook and got two offers for barely used ones...

For future reference, when Blogger offers the option to embed your comments under the post, just say "no". Because apparently "embedded comments below post" actually means "hide comment field and disallow any feedback on your blog". Pop up windows all the way from now on.

More social media musings coming soon, including Rick Liebling's Periodic Table of the Social Media Elements - the grail that will help me begin to explain all of this to my colleagues.

Social musings... and TIME on FB and fogies

2009-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

Among other things for work, I have been tasked with analyzing the major social media outlets and recommending which of them I feel would be a good fit for our organization, and at what level of participation.

Between Facebook, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Digg, countless Ning communities, Twitter and the countless other outlets out there, I've come to a couple of major realizations:

In order to remain current in social media you have to be one of two things (1) young, with time on your hands and the confidence to play with each new wave or (2) an early adopter.
Becoming an effective early adopter of every. trend. out. there. requires time. Lots and lots of time. Like, full time.

While I am a devotee of social media (thanks initially to Robert French and a little class called Style and Design in Public Relations Messages), I do get overwhelmed. This is not my full time job. This is one aspect of a much larger job - and as the designated "social media girl" I am the only one officially charting these waters at the office for the organization.

Questions I'll work on - and pass along here - as I find answers:

What new media outlets are the best for organizations? Specifically, non-profit, science heavy organizations? It seems to me a lot of social media (Twitter, online communities and others) are best utilized by individuals unoficially tied to an org.
How much time out of my work day should I spend on these outlets? On which should I concentrate most of that time?
Other than reading Mashable and Twitter... and about 500 marcom pro's blogs religiously, is there a good, consistent way to stay current with the latest technologies?

Staying current is key, and I am aware of this - but I also want to tailor these outlets to work for me (as an individual) and more importantly, for my organization. Any ideas or suggestions for a new approach? I'm overwhelmed!

...

Oh yeah - and I think I'm quitting Facebook soon -

TIME Magazine on Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies

My favorite is number three:

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don't. (See pictures of Beer Country in Denver.)

Funny, while I'm slightly irked about the fogies overrunning Facebook, I am envious that they (aside from the occasional, unphotographed, indescresion) have outgrown this phase. I have not.

Enjoy!

And, if you have some pointers for me about the former, please help!

Photo from the mentioned Time article.

Mimosa, anyone?

2009-01-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

How fitting that the Pantone color for 2009 is mimosa, a bright, yellow-y color reminiscent of a favored brunch refreshment?

Yellow signifies hope (sunshine, rays of light) and change (the changing of seasons - daffodils in the spring; fiery leaves in autumn). According to the Pantone Color Institute's official Color of the Year release, "Mimosa embodies hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change."

Pantone Color Institute, I appreciate what you're trying to do for us with the pick-me-up color, I really do. It's a noble effort to do your part to ensure sunny skies in 09. And I like the color.

But this is particularly painful for me at the moment because without the home décor Bible, I have no inspiration for decorating with this vibrant yellow! And, with the economy in the state that it is, I'm afraid to spend to much dough on buying new mimosa-themed ensembles for work because I might not have a job by year's end!

So, Pantone, thank you for the effort - really. But I'm just not emotionally ready to embrace the 2009 Color of the Year. Quite frankly, I'm in more of a thundercloud gray mood, myself. Or at most, pea soup green.

I will perk up soon. I just need to finish mourning for my favorite monthly and recover from my exhorbitant speeding fines that I paid for last week.

Another pay period, another day. I will find another magazine or store to inspire me... (Helloooo, CB2! At least I still have you.) And I will carry on as my usually sunny (although really more preferential to Process Blue) self. And I think I could thoroughly enjoy a mimosa accessory or two (love that pillow).

For now, however, I just need a drink. Mimosas, anyone?

Domino Downfall

2009-01-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

This year, I thought I was being clever. For Christmas, I shared with many of you one of the happiest things to reach my mailbox each month.

I thought, "How wonderful! I might be the person responsible for my friends receiving something inspirational, engaging and entertaining every month... something - possibly the only thing - that's not a bill! So many of you live so far away, this would be the easiest thing to order and have delivered! I'll get them Domino Magazine - the best darn home décor/lifestyle mag out there!"

Little did I know that the whole operation would be defunct one issue after the beginning of their gift subscriptions. And my renewed subscription!

~~I am remaining optimistic about this rumor being just that until someone official confirms.~~ (See my P.S.) But this particular trending topic in my Tweet Deck could very easily be true - this story details the hits shelter magazines are taking with the slumping economy. First we lost Blueprint (tear), then Oprah at Home (didn't even know about that one, honestly...). Then there are the job cuts at Southern Progress - with their publications and also the news that they are looking to sell their At Home houseware party brand. Some of us know about this one all too well, too.

This is all sad, but the loss of Domino saddens me the most. I mean, they had some style pages in their magazine, too! And a great website! Everything I saw in its pages inspired me! And they always had the best subscription gifts.

So, the point of this letter is to apologize if your Christmas present from me fails, like the rest of the global economy, this year. This was never my intention, and I am as sad as you that (if?) we won't be receiving Domino this year, or ever again.

This is more embarrassing than the time I offered to buy all of my friends gas station cappuccinos on that road trip only to realize at checkout that I'd left my wallet at home.

Friends, please forgive me the ill-fated gift of Christmas/Hanukkah 08.

I can only hope that I will be able to redeem myself next year.

Deepest Apologies,
Melanie

P.S. - After posting... It's confirmed. Women's Wear Daily confirms Condé Nast closed the mag this morning.

25 things

2009-01-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

A friend tagged me on Facebook on Monday. I was insanely busy Monday until today, and still have lots more to do, but decided to use this to loosen up the ol' writing brain cells.

Usually this list would have been pretty comical, but this is a bit heavier than normal. Lots of stuff on my mind, I guess. This should help get me in writing mode for that scintillating piece about genomic research for cardiovascular disease that I'm about to have to write. Let's just say the subject matter of the list below is a tad more familiar.

25 things:

1. I. Forget. Everything. I would forget limbs if they weren't attached. But Michelle thinks this is because I have more important things on my mind to worry about trivial matters like wallets and keys and sunglasses.

2. I read blogs and travel alert emails during the day and become fixated on things. Currently - round-the-world airline tickets with upwards of 10 stops in exotic locales. Before that, 21c Art Hotel in Louisville, KY. look it up. (these things will happen, eventually).

3. My brother always gets the most answers right in those retarded "how well do you know your ____ (friend, sibling, significant other)" surveys. even more than my best friends and significant others.

4. I believe that people are inherently good. Resolutely. If something bad happens I still won't let that shake my faith in humanity as a whole. I think people respond favorably to me because of this.

5. I picked black baby dolls at the toy store when I was little because I thought their hair/skin was prettier than the white ones. And they always had the better color dress, even though it was usually the same outfit.

6. I typically have a pretty wicked sense of humor.

7. I worry sometimes that my spaciness makes people think that I'm not invested in them as a friend. I try to make up for this by being there in the serious crunch situations.

8. On a related note to the above, I feel sad about having lost touch with some of my oldest friends, and it makes me sad.

9. Babies and small children stare at me.

10. I smile genuinely, often. Sometimes because something's funny to me, sometimes because I know something you don't, sometimes because I'm just really happy, and sometimes because I feel like the act of smiling will make me happier. People always think I'm up to no good as a result.

11. I never used to cry at movies, but I've started within the past few years.

12. I think I am allergic to the world, because I swear there's not a time of year that I'm not sniffling and sneezing.

13. I deal with stress and sadness by going to bed. I think that this makes me less likely to take my frustrations out on innocent bystanders.

14. Losing my dad has made me that much more close to and fiercely protective of my family. One of the few things to come out of something so sad was that we have become even more tightly knit. Had to close ranks, I guess.

15. I love art, but I think a lot of it is that I love the open, spare atmosphere of the places in which art is housed.

16. I ignore everyone when I read and finish books (when I have uninterrupted time) in a matter of hours.

17. I love using all kinds of different words, from huge, SAT ones to sound-effect ones that I make up.

18. I am a recovering spaz. Just ask those who knew me in high school.

19. I can't swim under water because if I get water in my ear it goes straight to my BRAIN. Kidding... but it still sucks. What a buzzkill, not being able to swim under water.

20. I am a public relations/communications person who has an awfully hard time schmoozing people I've never met... I'm awesome at parties, but in some other social situations I am a total tard because important people intimidate me. Working on it.

21. I slid off the side of a sand dune on a four wheeler and almost died in Oregon. But I got a t-shirt for it. We didn't tell my mom until years later.

22. I love decorating my house and farting around in it with Jonathan. He is officially the best roommate I've ever had. :)

23. I've been to Norway and sailed in a fjord. My cousins even went waterskiing at 11 pm when it was still light.

24. Dancing is my favorite.

25. When I get bored, I translate everything people around me are saying into french. Keep in mind I only got to second level French in college and that was five years ago. It's hilarious in my head.

Tweeting a plane crash... mobile phone photographing a terror attack

2009-01-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

...Or, how citizen journalism combined with social media continues to out report mainstream media.

The first time I remember regular people witnessing and recording newsworthy events with camera phones and pushing those images out through social media was during the terror attacks in London in 2005. Oddly enough, I was there. Two days after I arrived to Middlesex University outside of London for summer marketing classes, it was announced that London would host the 2012 summer Olympics.

The following morning, London erupted. Metro stations and city buses exploded with homemade explosives accompanied by homegrown terrorists. Young men from UK soil, brainwashed into demolishing their countrymen and women, systematically blew up local London transportation hubs.

After calling my mom and J to let them know that I was, in fact, alive and well (at 6 a.m. their time, before they even knew anything was amiss... "Uh, don't worry. Everything blew up here. I'm fine. Sorry to spring this on you first thing in the morning....") we all parked in front of the news, looking for answers about what happened, how many were killed... and why. The photo at the left is one that sticks in my mind from the days following those attacks... Passengers trapped in the tube after a tunnel caved in.

The news was thoroughly disappointing. They knew nothing. All they covered were statements from public officials and interviews with stunned victims and witnesses from the attack. The most compelling new information was consistently provided by those on the scene, snapping images with their phones and emailing them to friends and contacts from all over the world. These images, when they finally reached the news media, were far more informative than anything that London journalists were able to gather with their cutting edge video and camera equipment.

What's happened recently is one step beyond London.

Not only are witnesses and victims alike taking photos, but they are going further than emailing their captures to one friend at a time... They are posting images to social media outlets like Twitter in real time.

From an Information Week blog:

Within minutes there were hundreds of Tweets about the crash, complete with pictures from eyewitnesses and even one person who was on a NYC ferry headed to the crash site to pick up passengers.

Crash photos linked from Twitter were circulating all over the world before the story was even picked up by any of the major news outlets - and I'm talking websites, not just televised news! NYTimes.com, CNN.com, FoxNews.com... NOTHING.

Hell, back in December when another Continental flight skidded off of a Denver runway, crashing, a passenger live Tweeted the incident (this is actually kind of funny.... from The Guardian)

14 December, 4.06pm Whew! Christmas shopping pretty much done. 100% online except for a couple of gift certs.

20 December, 5.25pm Holy fucking shit, I was just in a plane crash!

5.58pm This was crash No 2 for me. Maybe I should start taking the bus.

8.22pm You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can't even get a vodka-tonic. Boo.

11.22pm [From computer at home] Sorry for the radio silence, but my battery died in the middle of all this and I just made it home.

11.57pm Pretty exhausted at this point, so I'm heading off to bed. Good night!

21 December, 8.29am Waiting in the continental club for the "replacement" flight. Noticing I'm a little sore.

5.25pm I'm sitting as close to the exit as possible this time.

7.57pm Touchdown! Crowd goes wild!

All I can say is that if something this traumatic ever happens to me, I hope I have this guy's sense of humor about the scenario. And Tweeting it?! I barely have enough going on in my life to keep tweeting on a regular basis anyway. I guess a crisis might spice things up a bit...

Bakula's baaaack!

2009-01-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

Holy crap! Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap fame, is back to primetime next season as Chuck's dad in, uh, Chuck!

I watched that show last season but lost interest after the writers' strike. This, however, might be the gimmick that brings me back to the show...

I LOVED Quantum Leap! My brother and I were all about that show! That, ChiPs and Charlie's Angels (sorry for implementing you in that one, Greg, but you know it's true...) Granted, all of my memories of the show are the supersweet pool game in the intro where he had this hologram guide to sink all the balls... and his hologram friend who was always smoking a cigar. And that he often was either in a woman's body and then, hilariously in drag. He was always stopping people from committing suicide or abandoning a child or shooting someone... Funny what you remember about shows you watched when you were young.

Anyway, he was the best! (Well, after MacGyver)

Can't wait to see him back on T.V.

Seriously... meh.

2009-01-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

As it happens, the official Merriam-Webster word of the year is bailout.

The rest of the top 10 are as follows:

2. vet
3. socialism
4. maverick
5. bipartisan
6. trepidation
7. precipice
8. rogue
9. mysogyny
10. turmoil

Well, isn't that just the sunniest word wrap up you've ever heard?! Gah, new year, new buzzwords, better economy, I say!

None of my words made the MW.com list, but the gist is most certainly the same.

I am going to find something happier to post about soon. Until then, you should read Katie's musings - she's been leading quite the entertaining life lately. I honestly can't say anyone has fallen through the ceiling of my brand new house. Though, I can't say I've ever bought a house, either. I have some catching up to do!

Greetings from the future Texas Republic!

2009-01-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

From the WSJ and CitizenSugar:

According to Igor Panarin, the US is going to disintegrate by June 2010, breaking into six portions under the control of various other world powers.

A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

This is hilarious of course, for lots of reasons. Numbers one and two being that Canada would gain control over the Midwest and Mexico the Southeast. I love Canadians, really. And I know that out of all of the US regions, Midwesterners are probably the most mild mannered. However, I have a hard time envisioning Canada taking part of any takeover, hostile or otherwise. Unless it was a takeover of a Tim Horton's. Or perhaps a hockey riot. But even that one I'd be surprised to see....

How we'll be divvied up:

California Republic: Formed by the Western states, this area would be controlled by China or be under Chinese influence
Texas Republic: A cluster of states in the Southwest would go to Mexico.
Atlantic America: Eastern states, from South Carolina to Maine, will join the European Union.
Central North American Republic: Northern Midwest and Great Plain states will go to Canada.
Hawaii: The state will become a territory of China or Japan.
Alaska: Putin will rear his head into Alaskan air space, making Russia the proud new owner of the great state of Alaska.

This is mainly a comical post. However, this last piece of info. is a bit of a buzzkill...

The professor says he's convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union -- 15 years beforehand. "When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him," says Prof. Panarin.

Finishing out 2008 in photos

2009-01-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

Typically, when I want to mark memorable occasions, I take lots of photos on my snazzy digital camera (thanks, J!). I take tons of carefully posed photos and calculatedly candid ones to recreate as exactingly as I can the mood of the day or event.

Ever since I got my iPhone (again... thanks J. That man keeps me in the technology, that's for sure) I've discovered that my phone's camera roll depicts a much more realistic and organic perspective on my daily life.

So, with that, I present you my fall and winter 2008 in photos. Looking back, it was really quite lovely. And looking forward, I can't wait to take more meaningful snaps in 09.

September 2008 at the Auburn/Mississippi State game. Amazingly fun? Yes. Depressing loss? Also, yes. And, I know the photo is trippy looking. I like it specifically because of this.

A visit to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. on the way to Nashville for a tourist trip with the family and visiting Canadians. Of course, this stop inspired to drink only Jack at the honky tonks in Nashvegas. Led to an interesting weekend...

Enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and lots of friends. Even got a "brothers" reunion in - this happens less and less often as the years progress.

The Revival Tour at WorkPlay in Birmingham. The lead singers of a of my favorite bands played solo, acoustic, folk-y sets. Amazing. Moving.

Spent time with my mom and brother (and the other set of siblings in the house, Nisse and Loki - above. They. chew. on. everyting. And use each other as furniture) over the holiday season. Lots of nice meals and Food Network/HGTV watching and great company.

Received lovely, just-to-be-nice, flowers at work from J. Made my week, and they lasted such a long time!

Decorated my very first Christmas tree. I know I blogged about turquoise and lime green decor. It looks way more green and blue, now. I'll take a new photo and repost soon.

Since DC was an "event", and a reunion and lots of other things, I actually took real camera photos. This will warrant it's own post soon, I'm sure.

Happy New Year, everyone!

NPR's eggnog public service

2008-12-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

So, I SCHEDULED this to post during Christmas. But of course that didn't work. A little bit of final holiday rambling in early January...

Did you know that homemade eggnog is made with raw eggs?

Me neither.

I haven't consumed eggnog since the time when I was very small that my dad spiked my holiday beverage with pink liquid amoxicillin. You know the stuff I'm talking about... Not sure how everyone else was, but it didn't matter to me what flavor they tried to make it - bubblegum, cherry - it always was retch-inducingly disgusting. Anyway, nog did nothing to mask the flavor and the two in combination were a taste I will never forget.

I think that any attempt to work myself back around to getting back on the eggnog bicycle should be done with the best of the best. Homemade stuff.

NPR agrees, and takes it a step further - researching the potential dangers of drinking eggnog with raw eggs and determining (with the help of a microbiologist, no less) that nog is safter with alcohol, and plenty of it. This development encourages me to get back on the eggnog bandwagon...

Listen to the story here

And check out the experiment, which you can try at home!

Personally, spiking eggnog with lots of booze sounds WAY better than spiking it with pink medicine.

Pre-Christmas family extravaganza

2008-12-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

So, today at lunch I'll be shopping for the first ever Pre-Christmas family extravaganza at our house.

We're thinking that Christmas Eve and Day will be a flurry of family related activites, so we're going to add one more to the mix tomorrow. A Christmas pre-party, if you will. Christmas' cool younger sibling celebration, perhaps. Um, yeah sorry. I'll stop there.

Anyway, I'm excited - J will be handling the big part - carnitas (yummmmy) braised in orange juice and various and sundry mexican spices.

I'm helping out with the additions, mainly, a salsa bar. And guacamole and queso and other dippy awesomeness. It's all going to be fresh and I'm looking forward to the adventure. Even though our only blending device is a hand blender (not a Cuisinart or an actual, live blender) I think that should cover my salsa making needs... right? Right?! Here's hoping.

So, fresh tomato salsa, salsa verde and a corn and black bean number will be available for garnishing the carnita awesomeness. Also whipping up a guacamole and a Velveeta queso (sweeet!).

Best of all will be the pomegranate margaritas and the (tentative) dulce de leche with ice cream! Sounds like a lot of boiling but I'm interested to see how it will work out.

That's the menu for our festive pre-Christmas extravaganza... A lot of it's kind of experimental so there's no telling how it will all turn out, but we're (and by we I mean J) pretty talented in the kitchen and if all else fails, the pomegranate margaritas will take the fams' minds off of the food. :)

I shall report back.

How I Met Your Mother does 08

2008-12-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

So, Entertainment Weekly has the How I Met Your Mother cast restaging the memorable moments of 2008.

Two highly entertaining things that I need to visit/watch more often: EW.com and HIMYM (Katie is on to something.)

Here are their top five:

The boys as the 2008 Men's Olympic swimming relay... Nice bod, Jason Segel. You look just like that hot blond guy.

The new Indiana Jones installment. Robin Sparkles actually cuts quite the intimidating Cate Blanchett.

The SATC movie. Take that, Mr. Big! I haven't seen this show in so long... are Robin and Ted together again yet?!

HIMYM boys as the Jonas Brothers and girls as the groupies. I may have questionable taste in entertainment sometimes (cough, Twilight... cough cough, Gossip Girl...) but at least I don't really know who these guys even are.

Aaaand finally - no 2008 retrospective would be complete without Sarah Palin.

Well, I think that was a fabulous way to end the week. Thank you for that, Barney and gang.

Revisiting favorite places

2008-12-17T06:56:00.000-08:00

There's not really much reason for this post other than to show off one of my favorite places in DC - Sidney Harman Hall, home of DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company.

It's gorgeous. And I'm going to attempt to make a stop there during my upcoming visit to see The Twelfth Night.

In a semi-related thought... I have so many favorite places in big cities for various reasons - great entertainment, amazing architecture or interiors, good memories. I get nostalgic and make plans to revisit, but as far as some of the beautiful places go, I'm pretty amazingly lucky with my own place of employment - it's an inspiration in its own right. And my house, while modest, is adorable now as well with my lit up tree and increasingly fun decor.

Life here is pretty nice, too... Trying to learn to cool my heels and enjoy where I am while casually planning for the future.

The past was fun. The present is fun. The future will be amazing. All in all, I can't complain.

Meh.

2008-12-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

So, I did find a news piece during my Hotdogger writing last week that announces the introduction of the Simpson's-coined phrase, "meh" into the Collins English Dictionary 30th anniversary edition.

The greatest part about this news piece is that it actually explains "meh" purely by its existence.

Let me clarify. If any dictionary I've ever heard of added meh to its lexicon, I would be impressed. If meh were recognized as a word by, say, the OED, or even Merriam-Webster, that might warrant more than just an expression of indifference or boredom.

I s'pose these are all media stunts by dictionary PR people... (dictionary PR people... interesting... meh.) but at least Merriam-Webster has some national clout. They are the ones responsible for determining the word of the year, after all - which was w00t last year.

Merriam-Webster creates a list of the 10 most popular words of the year... new words enter the lexicon when MW editors "read and mark" news sources to find new words, define them, and track their usage. If a word looks like its starting to catch on in popular vocabulary, then editors consider adding the word into the MW lexicon.

The top 10 are voted upon by MW.com web visitors and aren't necessarily included into the official dictionary - (like w00t or facebook) but others are already part of the english language... like terrorist, or insurgent.

Sure, it's gimmicky, but I really like their top 10s - they're like a barometer for the national mood of each year.

The lists for the past few years really are interesting. For example, in addition to w00t, 2007 featured conundrum, hypocrite and charlatan. Hmmm, time for another election, perhaps?

2006 highlighted more war words - insurgent, terrorist, vendetta, sectarian, quagmire and war were all chosen by MW.com voters. On a lighter note, voters selected the Colbert-coined truthiness and google as a verb. (Gah, these voters are late adopters...)

2005 was the year of the natural disaster - top words included refugee, contempt, pandemic, tsunami, levee and inept (cough, FEMA, cough). The top word of '05 was integrity. Interesting.

I like how these top 10 lists are a a retrospective of their years...

Wonder what 2008 will bring - I'll bet on a few:

recession
depression
downturn
economy
hope
change
joe six pack
main street

I wonder when we'll ever get a nice, happy year again. There hasn't been one for a while... but I like hope and change. They would have sounded so lame and Pollyanna a few years ago, but by now we're all so sick of this we're ready for some optimism. Anyone else? Guesses for 2008?

I love words, but sometimes the best descriptor is not disgusted or fatigued or even desperate. Sometimes a simple meh best describes how over the state of everything we are. And a word like w00t describes how ready we are for something new.

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener...

2008-12-09T13:35:00.001-08:00

Sent to me from J, with the oh-so-enthusiastic (enthusiasm being wayyy out of character for him) message:

I think I just found you the perfect Job! it involves traveling meeting interesting people. and it is looking for someone with a BA in PR!!!! I would totally come with you!

Oh dear. My boyfriend wants me to be a Hotdogger. As in, a brand ambassador for Oscar Meyer, roving the lower 48 in the Wienermobile, spreading good hot dog cheer to Americans young and old. And yes ladies and gentlemen, the Hotdoggers have a blog. Sweet. And kind of hilarious.

In store visits, radio and T.V. spots, promotional and charity events... the whole nine.

One of the main requirements (beyond having a degree in a communications related field - check) is being insanely perky and being quick with the hot dog and bologna puns. Puns I could probably handle. My sense of humor verges on the embarrassing most times. I really don't think I could be perky all the time though. Pleasant and polite? Yes. Goofy? Yes. Perky? Meh. (I'll be back to meh in another post. Best. Word. Ever.)

Perky makes me think of Camp War Eagle counselors, or Mousketeers. And both of those groups are kinda terrifying. I like to think of myself as happy because I just am, not happy in the weird Disney-on-uppers those camp counselors. And that's probably precisely what the hot dog juggernaut is looking for.

ANYway - for those who are interested... bachelors in some PR type field, perky, willing to travel for a year. What do you get? A "competitive" salary, keys to the Wienermobile for a whole year, and all bills and expenses paid.

Maybe I work harder on my perky and brush up on my reverse- and parallel parking-skills for large vehicles. This could be pretty fun after all.

One of those days

2008-12-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough week, and now that it's coming to an end, I am relieved. And exhausted.

Exhausted enough that this morning when I was brushing my teeth and dribbled a glob of Aquafresh smack on the front of my shirt, I was unable to face the idea of trying to figure out what else to wear. So instead, I gave the spot my best with the Tide to go pen, which J so kindly noted might actually bleach my dark shirt. No dice. I proceeded to walk out the door this morning with the offending (now off white) blob still front and center on my shirt.

I'm wearing my scarf all day today. But if I do get too hot and am forced to take it off, and someone points out the stain, the official response will be, "Oh crap! I didn't even notice! Don't you hate it when that happens?"

It's one of THOSE days. Don't say you haven't done it before.

Two more thoughts on the holidays and I'm done for today -

(1) This one came upon me as I was drifting off to sleep last night and I think it's genius. Even considering starting a campaign to make the idea take off.

Thanksgiving once a quarter. Genius, right?! Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday because you get the huge meal, but you don't have to express your gratitude or appreciation with additional presents. Just the food.

I think that people should (not necessarily feel obligated, per se, but if it has to come to that, so be it) feel inclined to spend time with their close friends and loved ones more than once a year to reflect on things for which they are thankful.

November Turkey Day could still be *main* Thanksgiving, complete with Macy's (they shouldn't have to blow up the inflatables every quarter) and long distance visits. But I think mini get-togethers with local friends and closer family should happen more often.

Additionally, I would totally be up for multiple Thanksgiving feasts per year. It's almost unfair that you only officially get that food once yearly, isn't it?

(2) I think I am finally old enough to decorate my own house for Christmas. I'm not fully ready to commit to the ginormous tree and outside lighting extravaganza (if ever) until I am actually a homeowner.

However, now that I'm a bit older I think I could manage a small tree and some lights.

I'm thinking lime green, aqua and silver, mercury glass type stuff for my theme. Who knows where I can locate some acid green ornaments?!

One parting shot for Christmas music inspiration - Jack Johnson and co. has come out with a Christmas album! I just downloaded This Warm December, which features Jack, G.Love, ALO and other surf-y sounding regulars. Additionally, 25 percent of this collection's sales are going to support music education for youth. Nice. I will report back.

-Fin.-

wish list

2008-12-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

We found this print in the Portland airport about a year after my dad died, and I brought it home. It has wonky looking people on a bike riding over some mountains with these words:

I wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills
For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road
For the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end
But, mainly, I wish you could have been there.

I have the best family ever, even though we are tiny now, numbering only three. Regardless of our size, we have been through some heavy stuff together and have emerged stronger and more tightly knit than before... which was a hard feat to accomplish.

It sucked. But I think I learned the most crucial life lesson of all from loving someone so much then losing them way to soon - life is hard. People leave and die. People get sick and bad things happen to everyone eventually. What counts is how you are there to help other people through their hard times. Because, as I've said - they will happen to everyone eventually.

As these terribly bad, saddening things happen to my friends as the years progress, I can at least appreciate that my pain and slow healing will help someone else process pain, and begin to heal, slowly.

At this time of year I think of my dad, both his birthday this week and his death closer to Christmas. Now, I think of Christina's mom whom we lost last year. And Katie's dad who passed last night. And Alex's mom. And Jenn's stepdad, who is in the hospital now.

Sometimes there's too much sadness, but I am reminded daily that this pain has miraculously strengthened the relationships of those left behind.

So, Dad, Bea, Edith, Jim - we all wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills. Jimbo, keep up your strength, and get better soon, because it will be our voices scattering your names across the road as we continue on our ways. Love you all.

Capital punishment - turkey style

2008-11-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Cookthink, a favorite of mine, (type in ANY ingredient, dish, cuisine or mood and it will pull recipes for you!) provided the content for this Thanksgiving themed post, by way of another favorite, Washington City Paper.

Did you know that Ben Franklin advised that killing turkeys by electrocution is the only way to go? And here I was debating the ways of preparation post-mortem.

Spirits, at the same time, are to be fired by a spark sent from side to side through the river, without any other conductor than the water; an experiment which we some time since performed, to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be killed for our dinners by the electrical shock; and roasted by the electrical jack, before a fire kindled by the electrified bottle: when the healths of all the famous electricians in England, France and Germany are to be drank in electrified bumpers [tumblers], under the discharge of guns from the electrical battery.

Whaaaaa?

Good old Benjy. What an innovator. You know, I think he was kicking around during a similar time frame as when Alabama became a state (1776...1819... just work with me). Wonder if they'd be interested in trying out Mr. Franklin's technique in the kitchen over at Alabama's Constitution Village after they take all of the Santa stuff down and things get calmer.

I think I shall pitch the idea. Living history at it's most exciting. Who needs wool spinning and (wool) dying when you have turkey electrocutions! Maybe they can have guinea fowl guillotines as a side attraction!

When improv troops attack!

2008-11-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

I have been staring at an InDesign project. All. Week. Long. I am tired of moving images over three pixels because someone has decided that it looks a little "off". But that's not the point.

The point is that I needed something hilarious (or even just something, ANYTHING else) to look at for a minute. Today, my trusty Fodor's newsletter, always good for a little escapist relief on Thursday, provided humor as well.

In a piece about NYC travel, they mentioned this Improv troop's random greeting of strangers returning home from international flights at JFK International Airport...

Welcome Back from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

How nice would it be to return home from a long flight (and probably an even longer trip) to a whole crowd of people with flowers, balloons and a huge banner welcoming lil' old you back?! At first, they targeted only people who had drivers picking them up, which made me a little sad. I mean, when have I ever been picked up at an airport by a driver... um, never.

But then, the in-laws of a newlywed couple returning from Europe got in on the act. As the troop prepared to pack it up for the day, they came up and asked if they would do one last welcome party for the young lovers. Freaking hilarious.

Gah, I love Fodor's. And now I love ImprovEverywhere, too. Happy Thursday! One more to go, if you have a normal week. Or, if you're me, you'll be working on Saturday night, too. :( I need to find more funny vids to help soften that blow...

There will ONLY be one.

2008-11-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

Twilight post, that is. Unless something else comes up that compels me to write.

I'm still kinda in the closet about my fascination with the teenybopper series, so I will make this short and sweet. Besides, Southern Soap Opera has this covered for all of us...

I read the first three books of the series after hearing a piece on Meyer on NPR talking about Twilight and her adult sci-fi book, The Host, that was released over the summer. See?! Hearing about Meyer on NPR makes it better. Orrr not. But regardless of how I got started, I did - and I am not the only fanatic over the age of 15. Twilight has become a phenomenon of pop culture, and it's worthy of the notice.

I picked up Twilight on my way to the West Coast for a two week vacation this summer and finished New Moon and Eclipse at airport gates, on lake shores and in rental houses before the trip was over.

I loved the dark, rainy Forks atmosphere (and that I could actually picture the scene as we've taken many a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC), I loved the whole normal girl being more incredible and talented than she gave herself credit for and I loved the message that (Mormon) Meyer sent to her actual demographic that you don't have to um, hurry, love. And the boys were cute. Hot vampires and werewolves...... (NERD ALERT! gah, I amaze myself sometimes.)

Not only does NPR agree, but Vanity Fair does too! Hooray -

"...the undisputed golden calf of the vampire cotillion is Stephenie Meyer’s “The Twilight Saga,” a blockbuster bloodsucker series that has helped fill the yearning void left by the boarding up of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter wizard shop. Commercially, “The Twilight Saga” has given book publishing a blood transfusion, with sales topping seven million copies worldwide; it’s also a global sensation, translated into 20 languages. The physical properties of the books themselves may explain their popularity. They’re thick, chunky, promising a fat read—you don’t so much curl up with them as gulp them down."

Still not getting the draw? Here's more of the article. And photos of the beautiful people acting in the movie. That last part should help the few remaining detractors...
So, it's not just me, then. It's Vanity Fair. And NPR. And all of the morning news shows by now, I'm sure. And Katie. :)

My first press conference.

2008-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

So, this morning was the big press conference for my involuntary (kidding... sort of) volunteer PR gig at Santaland.

Now, this is not my first crack at media relations. My first crack at media relations was a failed media day attempt at my job that actually pays. So, naturally, when I was approached to wrangle local media to meet with Santa and find out more about the exciting new additions to the event in 2008, I was a bit hesitant. I mean, really - convince the people that won't come tour a brand spanking new, hi-tech genomic research facility that has the potential to employ hundreds of local residents that they need to chat it up with Santa and write about it?!

But, as I am tied to the museum who puts on Santafest both emotionally and relationally - and because I realize that I am not quite a seasoned PR pro yet, and that any experience could benefit my PR repertoire, I said yes.

And so ensued the emailing and emailing and emailing... and calling and calling. And the dropping off of battery-operated christmas light-lit wreaths with "Santa's Magic 3-D Glasses" so that reporters could get a taste of what the big event would be like, pre-conference.

And the brushing off. And the vague answers of "we might send someone by... when was that again" and "I don't usually cover that sort of thing". And I prepared for another no-show event like the one I have already repressed.

Happily, people did come! This was the most attended press conference they have had to date, apparently.

So it was a win-win for everyone involved. I made some additional media contacts, healed some old media-related wounds and gained a lot of experience in press conference organizing. And Santa-rama got radio, t.v. and print news attendance - and (yay!) a confirmed story in tomorrow's paper.

My takeaways from the event:

For "fun-filled community events for the whole family" like this one, overload on the cute. Message the events as an opportunity to meet (insert VIP here - Santa, the Easter Bunny, Ben Franklin?!) and ask questions.
Local media in a small- to medium-sized town will cover a kid hugging a life sized gingerbread cookie character with local community leaders looking on, smiling, before they will cover actual news.
People love their local radio personalities. If you can get your sponsoring radio station to send their jocks out, people will come.
Always. Have. Food. I'm not sure if this actually attracted people, but I did slide in my (multiple) invitations that there would be food. I'm betting it did. That would help sell it for me...
Press kits might actually still have some benefit. I hand delivered those Christmas-ey wreaths and information and people really seemed to like them.
I have a very low tolerance for cute.
I am so happy the weekend is here.

So, that was that! Mission accomplished! My volunteer gig has readied me to get back on that media event bicycle in my own place of employment. I just need to make sure I can get my new friend Santa to come to work next time we have the next one. A person in a penguin suit wouldn't hurt, either...

Wanna work for Obama?

2008-11-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

Better not have a blog, have ever written in a diary, have any questionable material on your Facebook account, have a spouse or significant other who lobbies or works for Fannie, Freddie, AIG or any company involved in the recent bailout...

While the first bit is common practice throughout the entire work world now, something makes me think President-Elect Obama's vetting process might be a tad more scrutinous.

Check out this NYT article outlining the changes Obama has made to the Presidential hiring process. (login required).

My personal favorite?

Under “Domestic Help,” the questionnaire asks the immigration status of applicants’ housekeepers, nannies, chauffeurs and yard-workers, and whether applicants have paid the required taxes for household employees.

Welcome to the new age of politics. I'm so glad that my help is all documented and accounted for.