Ghost Rider

I'm a sucker for Nicolas Cage in tough guy hero roles.

I also tend to enjoy movies based on comic books.

If it weren't for that, Ghost Rider doesn't have much to recommend it.

But, since those two things are what they are, I liked Ghost Rider.

There's honor, evil, love, greed, tragedy and triumph.

Due to a deal with the devil that he made years ago, Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt rider, has been indestructible. Now, it's time for the devil to collect, only Johnny's not going to go along willingly.

Sam Elliott and Peter Fonda played to type which to my mind is a good thing.

In an effort to appeal to the teenage boy element, it was a bit too graphic for me so I spent a fair amount of time covering my eyes.

Wild Hogs

This movie was stupid.

But I liked it.

The critics didn't and all of their criticisms are accurate.

But I still liked it. (and I don't usually like stupid.)

Since it was No. 1 at the box office the weekend it opened, I guess I wasn't alone.

A group of us at work were talking about seeing it and another co-worker said, "I heard it sucked." We thought she was kidding at first but when I googled it, I discovered that, yep, the critics were saying it sucked.

So we went anyhow.

And most likely because we had lowered expectations, we all enjoyed it.

Now, like I said, it was stupid. It was borderline homophobic, predictable and painful at times.

But it was fun. John Travolta's characterization of the uber-successful, model-marrying, now it's all falling apart, Woody Stevens cracked me up. William H. Macy's clueless nerd, Dudley Frank, was endearing. The road trip portions of the movie made Steve and me want to go on a motorcycle trip. There was an amusing cameo at the climax of the movie and a cute bit involving Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at the end of the movie.

It was filmed on location in Madrid (mad-rid), New Mexico, one of the towns on the Turquoise Trail which Steve and I passed through on our honeymoon.

So, in the world of thumbs up, thumbs down, it gets a thumbs up. In the world of number of stars, I'm at a loss.

So sad

Blogger: Permission denied.

This blog is open to invited readers only

It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation.

This is the message I get when I try to access The Company Bitch, one of a handful of blogs which I read regularly. This is a bummer.

I'm going to miss CB and her witty, wry observations about her work, Re-Boyfriend and her family.

And it appears that I'm not the only one:

Give Me My Blue Blanket.

Stephanie Land

yrun(two)dp?

Untitled In My Head

Life on the Couch

CB, will you let us back in?

At least AtomicTumor is still going strong . . .

Happy Birthday to Me

I just bought myself a dozen loaves of bread.

From a grocery store in New York.

I hope they fit in the freezer.

Wow.

Rachel starts Driver's Ed on Tuesday.

Bobby Yang Returns!

Sweet!!

Bobby's coming back to play at Highlands again on Saturday, March 31. If it's anything like his last show there, wow!

I have tickets to see Felicity Huffman in aspen soap that night too.

It's also the Red Onion's closing night.

And to top it all off, it's my birthday eve.

Party on.

Moving to Lagos, Nigeria

Bob & Lisa, my brother and his girlfriend, are moving to Lagos, Nigeria at the beginning of April for 3 years.

It's a move that has me and my siblings intrigued and has all of our parents concerned.

They went last month to scope it all out and Lisa's blogging their move.

I think that's cool and am looking forward to keeping up with them on their adventure.

Steve and I are wondering if they'll be allowed to have visitors.

Chinese Snow Removal

Hmmmm.

Oops, wrong ski

This is the ski I demo'd but in pink.

This one is the K2 Nancy; the one pictured in my last post was the K2 Phat Love.

What's the difference I asked? "Well, it's a whole different ski" was the helpful response.

This just after I was told that, no, I couldn't demo the Nancy today since it was already out. Of course, if he had let me take it last night like I wanted to . . .

Sorta took the wind out of my sails. At the very least, it cost the ski shop a sale unless the manager wants to beat the $499 price with free shipping and no tax that I found online.

Of course now there are more complications in that I just bought plane tickets to go to Sayulita in May so maybe I shouldn't spend the money on the skis. As much as I'd like to pretend like I can do both, probably not wise. Highlands does close four weeks from today and then it's one income for two months.

But we're not going to San Francisco for Spring Break . . .

But we still have to pay for Rachel's European Odyssey . . .

Went skiing today even though I couldn't demo the cool skis and it's amazing what a difference a sunny day makes to the conditions. Thick, yogurty stuff that was especially tough on my thin waisted Atomic Balanzes.

If I don't buy the powder skis, we'll probably have a good dump again before the end of the season . . .

So tired

Steve made (?) me demo some powder skis on Thursday and I was really wishing I was on them today. So much so that I'm going to demo them again tomorrow and am seriously considering treating myself to them for my upcoming "big" (ends in a 5!) birthday.

Today dawned clear and cold (say 0 degrees). Steve rode his bike to work for an early morning with a 6:45 am clock in so that the patrol could do the control work necessary to keep the mountain safe and get the Highland Bowl open.

With 29 inches of snow in the last week (most of it Wednesday - Friday), there was plenty of snow to control.

After debating whether I wanted to get out of my warm bed to go out skiing in the single degree temps I was seeing during the 8 am hour, I put an extra layer on and caught the bus to Highlands. Today was the last Women's College so I decided to take advantage of the stellar conditions and get a little learning in too.

Hooked up with a class taught by one of my neighbors and as I told her at lunch, it was a perfect clinic. We started slow, going over some basics on some easier terrain but then it got fun when we dropped into Steeplechase and Temerity doing laps on the Deep Temerity lift.

Highlands was packed (for Highlands). At 1 pm, we skied up to the DT lift, only to find approximately 150-200 people in line down there. It was quite the scene but even so, we waited in line for 6 minutes.

6 minutes! How can you complain about that?

I was a bit sorry that I had put the extra layer on while we were skiing Temerity (hard work there) but was thankful for it again after lunch when we moved to the Oly Bowl side where the wind was quite fierce.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

I first heard of this work when a friend blogged about it. Shortly thereafter I was in a book buying frenzy at our local bookstore (which was recently saved from the developers but that's another story) so I went looking for and bought it.

Since this is nonfiction, it can't rightly be called a graphic novel. I'm not sure what the correct term is. Graphic book?

Anyhow, either way, it's an interesting concept. It's very efficient. As I started it, I thought about all of the narrative with which the author didn't need to bother. Not being much of a comic book reader, I found at first that I was ignoring the artwork, focusing on the verbiage instead. After a short period of consciously forcing myself to both read and look, it became more habitual.

The books were very effective at conveying the slow yet inexorable march towards the Final Solution. The troubled father-son relationship and the comparisons between Vladek and other survivors provided a perspective on the post-war repercussions and fall-0ut.

I would have liked a more satisfying resolution of Vladek and Art's relationship but then it wouldn't have been nonfiction, would it?

Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley

What fun!

Filled with larger than life characters and escapades, this novel successfully portrays a "merchant of death," a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, in a sympathetic light.

While I've been aware of this work since the movie was being promoted, I was caught unawares by the whole cloak and dagger aspect.

This novel is more about corporate infighting set in a lobbying firm which provides much fodder for juicy ironies.

Looking forward to seeing the movie.

Bad weather?

The Epic flag flying today at Aspen Highlands for the first time all season.

I woke up this morning, my day off, to a foot of new snow. My first thought was how glad I am to live in a place where bad weather is good weather.

I thought about how in a day or so, I'd be hearing about the horrible weather and interstate closures in eastern Colorado, the flight cancellations in Chicago and the ice storms on the east coast.

Not here. Here, we get a big storm and we're excited.

So I got up and went skiing.

Powder Day!

Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss

Read this last night. Yep. Picked it up at 7ish and finished it at 10ish.

So, it's a quick read.

That's probably the best thing I can say about it.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm not of the right generation (ie, my elbow skin doesn't pucker enough) or because I'm not from the right country (read, not English) but I found this book highly annoying.

I read the book feeling like the woman in the dentist's waiting room who shocked and outraged Truss when she said she was listening to the "hi-fi" that Truss wanted to turn off. There was so much of Truss' rant that I just didn't get.

There was a preoccupation with class that also escaped me. Probably the whole not being British thing.

Truss rants about rudeness but then disparages people who are "pro-social." She fusses about people who call her cell phone when she has bad reception but somehow can't come up with the solution of turning it off.

I guess I'm just not in tune with the Grumpy Old Lady school of thought.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Melancholy.

This book is aptly titled. All of the characters struggle with difficult circumstances and these struggles are portrayed in a way which is riveting. The novel takes place alternately in India and in New York City and deals with people who hail from a multi-generational history of loss.

In this way, it is disheartening.

And yet,

There are glimpses of joy. Amidst all the struggle, there are uplifting moments.

I come away, depressed by the intractability of the poverty, the culpability of the players in their circumstances, the conspiracy of history and colonialism but also encouraged by the human skill and desire to survive, to find solace and comfort in the small details even while the big picture seems overwhelming.

There's also an interesting video of Kiran Desai speaking on this book at Meet the Author.

Old news

Listening to This American Life this morning, I learned for the first time of an EPA decision in November of 2005 to cite the Blommer Chocolate Factory for clean air violations which would (did?) result in the factory installing filters.

According to Crain's Chicago Business, the downside of the filters (downside to most) is that they will also put an end to the chocolate aromas which, since 1939, have delighted tourists and commuters.

I can't say for sure that I was ever really aware of this phenomenon, living in the suburbs as I did, but I want to say that I was. Either way, it seems a loss. (and yes, I'm aware that not all would agree)

To my mind, this is yet another example of government intrusion.

The Chicago Tribune article and the This American Life segment both pointed out how the EPA has refused to take action on more than 7600 violations by Illinois power plants at the same time it was citing Blommer's with two violations.

Hmmm. Perhaps Blommer's needs more political clout and a better lobbyist . . .

Intrusive

Vermont lawmakers are considering a measure that would ban eating, drinking, smoking, reading, writing, personal grooming, playing an instrument, "interacting with pets or cargo," talking on a cell phone, or using any other personal communication device while driving. The punishment: a fine of up to $600.

I think they left out quite a few distractions.

There's the obvious tuning the radio or changing a CD. There's singing along with the radio or CD.

There's looking at your speedometer or any of the displays on your dashboard, even when or especially when you hear a loud clunk in the undercarriage.

Adjusting the heat or the defroster takes your undivided attention away from the road. What's the big deal about fogged windows anyhow?

Talking to your children while driving can be quite distracting. Wait, talking period is problematic.

Your hands should be at ten and two on the steering wheel at all times, no exceptions. You have a stick shift? Ban those too!

I'm pretty put off by all of the ridiculous paternalistic intrusions of government.

Bobby Yang

As I've mentioned in the past, the opportunities for quality free live music around here are astounding.

Last Sunday evening was yet another example. In Snowmass Village, The Samples were performing.

But better yet, at Aspen Highlands' apres ski, Bobby Yang, my former neighbor, was performing at ZG Grill.

Bobby started at approximately 3:30 pm and just kept on keeping on. He finished some time just shy of 10 pm.

Unbelievable.

Bobby, who's been called a heavy metal violinist, performs really high energy instrumental arrangements of many well known rock tunes and consistently rocks the house. I bought both of his CDs and like them both, but recommend the newer one, Yang It! Bobby Yang Live at Eddie's Attic, more highly since it better captures the energy he generates onstage.

Steve and I also saw him on Valentine's Day at BellyUp Aspen and he rocked there too.

The only problem with that show was that it was past our bedtime . . .

A literary evening

Our bookclub, which we once called "Lila's Bookclub" due to its lack of a formal moniker, has been revived. See, Lila moved to Las Vegas (we all wondered why) for a while and without her, the bookclub kind of foundered. But she's back and so is Lila's Bookclub. (She hated that name; maybe that's why she left?)

Our first book (in our most recent go-around) was March by Geraldine Brooks. Due to Steve's calendar dyslexia, I missed that discussion but highly recommend the book.

Most of us were not looking forward to the discussion of our second book, The Shadow of His Wings by Gereon Goldmann. Since bookclub is predominantly made up of co-workers, we have the opportunity to engage in pre-discussions and the consensus was that this book sucked.

However, being that none of us had picked the book, we were unsure as to whether this month's hostess (who had picked the book) would agree with our assessment.

There was an almost audible sigh of relief from all around the table when she started the conversation by remarking on how utterly disappointed she was with the book. She had been enticed by a jacket blurb which we all agreed made the book look promising.

We spent the rest of the evening lambasting the book and the author. It did, however, make for a spirited conversation and provided an opening to veer onto tangents about living in Germany, visiting Japan, and the emotional repercussions of war.

Immediately prior to rushing over to bookclub, Rachel and I went to see Lisa See, the author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I found her style and rapport with the audience engaging. She provided some great details about her family background and how it lead her to her storyline choices.

Next bookclub book is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which I've already read but I am eagerly anticipating the discussion.

Monday morning quarterbacking

Once again, I'm frustrated with a news story regarding a politician and the purported need for an apology.

Last time, it was the John Kerry flap.

This time, it's the insistent call for an apology from Hillary Clinton.

Seems that some people who would otherwise support Hillary are insisting that she apologize for her 2002 vote on the Iraq war.

Some guy who was interviewed on NPR the weekend before last insisted that although he agreed with absolutely everything Hillary was about, he could not "hear" her until she apologized.

I think this is a crock.

Talk about Monday morning quarterbacking. For people to be so shortsighted that they would judge an action taken 5 years ago by the current information and intervening events, I find disappointing.

It also solidifies my pessimism about the chances of success for either Obama or Hillary.

While I will willingly vote for either one of them, I don't have enough faith (especially after the last two presidential elections) in the American public to believe that either has a hope of winning in the general election.

The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama

Another enjoyable read.

Set in Hong Kong before and during World War II, this book, like Snow Falling on Cedars, gave me a here-to-fore unseen (by me) glimpse of people dealing with the consequences of war.

The Language of Threads follows Pei and Jei Shin, whom we met in Women of the Silk, as they flee the Japanese in China for Hong Kong. We watch as the two women settle into their new life, only to have their lives disrupted again as the Japanese follow them to Hong Kong.

Pei reminds me of Celie in The Color Purple, a lowly woman surviving and then triumphing. The parallels include, but aren't limited to, the lost sister and the means to success.

Getting to know you . . .

Welcome to the 2007 edition of getting to know your friends. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends, if you did not know them already.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 11 a.m.

2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Ghost Rider

4. What is your favorite TV show? Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Heroes, The West Wing

5. What is your middle name? Bridget

6. What is your favorite cuisine? Mediterranean

7. What foods do you dislike? Beans

8. Your favorite chips? Citrus tortilla chips from the Big Wrap

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Eye to the Telescope (KT Tunstall)

10. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Rav4

11. Favorite sandwich? Caprese panini

12. What are characteristics you can't stand? arrogance, condescension, and a sense of entitlement

13. What are your favorite clothes? jeans and a cami

14. If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would it be? Greece

15. Favorite brand of clothing? CAbi

16. Where would you want to retire? Aspen

17. Favorite time of day? Early morning

18. Where were you born? Chicago

19. Where have you lived? Chicago, Florida, DC, Maryland, Aspen

20. What is your favorite sport to watch? college basketball

21. Pepsi or Coke? neither. Fresca

22. Redsox or Yankees? Neither. Cubs (but only out of habit)

23. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning

24. Pedicure or manicure? Both

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Nope.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Congresswoman

27. What is your best childhood memory? Christmas Eve

28. Piercing? 4 - ears 3, navel 1

29. Ever been to Africa? No

30. Ever been toilet papering? Yes

31. Been in a car accident? Yes

32. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

33. Favorite restaurant? Takah Sushi

34. Favorite flower? Calla lilies

35. Favorite ice cream? - Haagen Dazs coffee

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Subway

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? 0

38. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Paypal's dispute resolution center

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Costco

40. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Rachel

41. Last person you went to dinner with? Kim, Anne & Dewayne for a business meeting at Boogie's Diner.

42. What are you listening to right now? NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday

43. What is your favorite color? i can't pick one.

44. How many tattoos do you have? two, for now.

45. What time did you finish this blog post? 1:07 pm MST

46. Favorite magazine? Smithsonian Magazine

~Bridget

Can't win for losing?

It turns out that in addition to being good for the environment, compact fluorescent light bulbs are bad for the environment.

Ain't that always the way?

CFLs contain mercury and should be recycled to avoid mercury exposure and contamination.

However, only certain facilities are set up to recycle CFLs. I checked earth911.org and found out that my closest recycling center is in . . .

Phoenix.

Granted, CFLs are supposed to have a two year warranty so I guess I only have to drive the 708 miles to Phoenix once every couple of years to properly dispose of my hazardous waste . . .

On the upside, a friend tells me I can get dimmable CFLs at buylighting.com.

Hmmm, if they break in transit, who's responsible for the mercury cleanup?

Good Google, Bad Google?

I might piss off a friend with this post. If so, I apologize in advance.

Google has a plan. Well, Google actually has many plans but this plan specifically has to do with digitizing books, lots of books and making them searchable.

As a internet-phile and as a former student who did a lot of researching in her time, I find this idea very attractive. I remember sitting on the floor in the library with books stacked up around me, searching indexes for what I thought were very intuitive search words and totally striking out. I might be exaggerating but through the haze of memory, I recall the time spent on researching as being largely wasted.

So little return on my investment of so much time.

Google proposes to digitize books, make them searchable and provide snippets,

basic information about the book, similar to a card catalog, and, in some cases, a few snippets -- sentences of your search terms in context.

What a boon for researchers, educators, enthusiasts and the authors and publishers whose books are found by these researchers, educators and enthusiasts.

I find what I'm looking for much more quickly and then I still have to buy the book or go to the library to get full access.

And yet, publishers and authors are concerned. They're worried about copyright infringement.

I'm afraid I don't understand why. I've read the complaints and the concerns (as well as a defense) but I don't get it.

Or perhaps I just don't agree.

As Google has proposed the project, it seems like a win-win. I get much quicker information about works that I didn't even know existed and authors and publishers get much wider exposure.

Perhaps my assessment is simplistic. But it seems pretty straightforward to me.

Love Letter to My Husband

From AOL's Best and Worst Valentine's Dates:

What Others Are Saying

• "The guy I was dating last year accidentally sent me the flowers meant for the girl he was cheating on me with. What a Valentine's Day."
  -- Sacsquared

I have a story like this one. Talking on the phone on Valentine's Day to a guy I was dating (had been dating for years), working out the details of getting together. Hang up. Phone rings almost immediately. Guy asks to speak to another woman, a woman whom Guy had totally denied having anything to do with.

Hmmm.

I say, "Oh no, you didn't!" and hang up. So much for that Valentine's Day . . .

I wish I could say that was the last time that Guy (or any other guy for that matter) cheated on me.

I was a little too forgiving of trifling men in my younger days.

But I am happy and proud and blessed to be able to say that, in my wiser and more self respecting nowadays, I have a man I trust, a man who values me, a man who is faithful.

Valentine's Day, which was once a day of pain, is now and has been for the last six years a day of joy and love.

Thank you, Steve. I love you.

People to People

As I've previously mentioned, Rachel has been invited to be a Student Ambassador with the People to People Ambassador Program. She will be participating in the European Odyssey, which will take her to France, Italy and Greece, and includes a homestay in France.

The group that Rachel will be traveling with is based out of Grand Junction and one of the requirements of the program is attendance at monthly meetings in Grand Junction. Due to our aforementioned misadventure, we missed the first meeting so Sunday was our first meeting.

I must say that I'm pretty impressed. It really is educational tourism. The kids have assignments which basically force them to learn about the areas that they'll be visiting. The meetings include activities to help the kids get to know each other before they travel and activities to help prepare the kids for travel and give them an idea as to what to expect. (Rachel has to bring a packed suitcase to the next meeting.) The leaders clearly put a lot of time into putting this all together.

There are kids in Rachel's group who have already traveled with P2P and are going again which, as far as I'm concerned, is a good recommendation.

Go Google!

There I was, listening to Robert Siegel of NPR's All Things Considered extol the virtues of compact fluorescent light bulbs and fussing out loud to the radio about how CFLs aren't dimmable.

I know this because Steve's been wanting to replace all of our light bulbs with compact fluorescents. He installed a new fixture in his studio and equipped it with CFLs. I find the light a bit bright and harsh so was hoping to put the fixture on a dimmer when, to my dismay, I discovered that CFLs aren't dimmable (thankfully before I purchased the dimmer switch I had in my hand). I checked every CFL in Lowes or Home Depot or wherever I was.

So, I'm feeling pretty smug, thinking this is a pretty significant shortcoming that NPR is neglecting to mention. I'm feeling so smug that I'm planning out a blog post about how NPR's segment totally missed this very important detail. I poach the CFL image above from the NPR website and then, in a cautious moment, decide to google dimmable CFLs.

Lo and behold, they (there's that they again) do make dimmable CFLs.

Well now. Ain't that somethin' to chew on.

Not that I know where I can procure them. But at least I know they exist.

Bad boy good guy

I read today that they (the ubiquitous they) are making Speed Racer into a movie (to be released in March of '08)

I find this very exciting.

When I was a kid who wasn't supposed to watch TV on weekdays, we would sneak and watch Speed Racer. I loved Speed Racer.

Of course, I really liked Racer X, the bad boy good guy. Speed Racer was a little too much of a goody goody.

If Mom wasn't home, we would set up our homework and after school snacks on the kitchen table and crowd around the small kitchen TV, all the while keeping a keen ear out for the sound of the garage door opening.

It was a good day when we made it all the way through an episode.

"Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer, he's a demon on wheels. He's a demon and he's gonna be chasin' after someone. " -- from memory; I'm so proud of myself.

The Upside of Blogging

Blogging serves a multitude of purposes. It can be therapeutic or entertaining or boredom relieving. It can keep friends and family up to date. It can provide an outlet for ramblings.

But twice in the last month and a half, yet another upside of blogging has presented itself.

For those paying attention, blogging also provides clues as to desires.

In August, Rachel posted about how much she likes the triquetra. At Christmas, her dad and step-mom surprised her with a triquetra necklace. She wears it every day.

More importantly to me, Rachel has also posted multiple times that Giordano's Pizza is her favorite pizza and I have posted about how hard it is to get good Chicago pizza in Aspen. Well, yesterday we got a special delivery, a frozen pizza from Giordano's! It's an awesome thank you gift from one of our recent houseguests.

We'll be cooking it up tonight!

Boohoo

Sitemeter is malfunctioning.

The links aren't working so I can't see from where my most recent visitors hail.

So sad . . .

Pet peeve

The fact that it's snowing in LA & Tennessee doesn't refute global warming!

Especially with the crazy winter we're having this year, I'm getting so tired of people saying that this weather phenomenon or that weather phenomenon disproves global warming.

They all need to really watch An Inconvenient Truth, not just pretend like they know what it was about.

According to the rocket scientists at NASA:

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.

So, cut it out already!

Cool pix

On January 25, a photo exhibit opened on Aspen Mountain, the RedBull illume Image Quest. The opening was timed to coincide with a free outdoor concert by Everclear.

The exhibit consists of 50 photographs by "45 of the world's top action and adventure sports photographers," each mounted on one of two sides of a cube illuminated from the inside. The 25 cubes were set up on Aspen Mountain, on five different levels with an impressive set of stairs leading up to the exhibit.

It is all quite visually stunning. From the sight of the lighted cubes from town (or my front porch) at night to the view of town, still all lit up with its holiday finery to the photos themselves, illuminated from within, it's a unique feast for the eyes.

They are conducting voting for a People's Choice award on their website (and via text message). I voted for my favorite:

Fear Itself

Boston's mayor, Tom Menino, threatens. among other things, to ask the FCC to yank Turner Broadcasting's license.

Does the FCC issue licenses to cable networks?

We've got Lite Brites which were up for weeks in numerous cities all of the sudden being pegged as IEDs by the vigilant in Boston?

I thought the people who created IEDs went to great lengths to hide them as opposed to lighting them up and drawing attention to them.

But the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Russ Knocke, was quick to praise Boston officials' response to the terrorist threat.

Are these people all morons?

I did appreciate how sceptical the judge who arraigned Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens was about the ability of the assistant attorney general to make the charge of placing a hoax device.

Someone told me once that the measure of a successful advertisement was whether you remembered the name of the product afterwards.

As someone who had previously never heard of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I have to say that, by that measure, this advertising campaign was successful.

Bandwagon jumpa

For the first time in over four years, our American flag is no longer flying in front of our house.

We have replaced it with a Bears flag.

I will freely admit that, being TV-less, I have not followed the Bears regularly in years but as a born and bred Chicagoan, I claim an absolute right to take full ownership in the Bears' current Super Bowl appearance.

I clearly remember their last Superbowl appearance which occurred while I was a law student in DC. Even though I had not lived in Chicago for approximately 5 years at that point, the ties were still strong and I followed the team all season (the football pools we first year law students engaged in were a strong incentive).

This year I was so excited when the Bears won their trip to the Superbowl that Steve and I seriously considered spending $1000 to fly to Santa Barbara for our friends' Superbowl party.

Go Bears!!!

X Games Silver!! or How I helped or Why I'm a bad person . . .

Amidst all of the chaos which was my life last week (I exaggerate, it really wasn't all that chaotic but it's such a good lead in), our houseguest from Montana, Kevin Connolly, (one of our many houseguests) won the silver medal in the X Games on Saturday.

Very cool.

I got to hold an X Games silver medal. It's heavy. Which accounts for how Lindsey Jacobellis' lip got split during her medal ceremony. But that's another story.

Kevin is pretty incredible. He was born without legs and has had quite the adventurous life. He has hitch-hiked through New Zealand and is currently a student at MSU in Bozeman, Montana.

We went out to X Games on Saturday, just us and 70.000 other fans (Saturday was Winter X's record breaking attendance day), to watch the mono-skier competition, two qualifying heats and the final. The first heat consisted of an individual skier against the clock and during this heat, it became clear that the course was taking a toll on the monoskis, with lots of falls. (Interestingly, there were even more falls and injuries the next day during the Skier Cross qualifying runs.)

The second heat was supposed to be made up of the top eight finishers from the first heat but not enough competitors were able to finish.

In addition, the US Disabled Ski Team were late arriving due to travel problems involving the Aspen airport (another story for another time but suffice it to say that a lot of people are having problems with the Aspen airport this season!) so they only had time to slip the course, not actually run it.

Due to these complications, the second heat was modified so that it was two races with three skiers in each race. Kevin was racing Kevin Bramble, his arch rival, and Sarah Will (the race was a combined men's and women's event). Kevin C. took the lead out of the gate but was then passed by Kevin B. who opened up a slight lead. Remembering how many skiers had fallen in the first round, I started yelling, "Fall! Fall! Fall!" at the video monitor which was focused on Kevin B leading the three skiers much further up the mountain. No sooner did I utter the third "Fall!" when . . .

Yep, Kevin B. fell. We went crazy. Pete, Kevin C.'s support crew, turned to me, exclaiming, "You made that happen!! You're a witch!!" Laurie, another of our houseguests, got the whole thing on video.

The crazy part of it was that the first two finishers from this heat advanced to the final so there was no reason for Kevin B. to be going all out like that. He was passed by both Kevin C. and Sarah and was done for the day.

In the final, Tyler Walker led start to finish but Kevin C. kept the pressure on and took silver, coming in only 0.062 seconds behind Tyler.

Here are some more pictures of Kevin:

Wow, I suck! Part Two or Where there's smoke?

Introductory note: In these situations, I clear all correspondence, facts, conversations and courses of action with my bosses.

Dear Bridget's Boss:

I just wanted to let you know that I did enjoy working with you. All I can say is that I am very glad that your administrator, Bridget, doesn't run my office. She has unbelievably poor customer relations as far as the big picture. She is adamant about being right and not listening which is fatal for any office. I think you should know about it because I have great respect for you.

I felt my bill to be exorbitant and I feel that I was overcharged. The bottom line is that I have to feel that I am treated fairly. I don't want to be lectured by an administrator about what happened based on notes that could have been written a month later. Ultimately, Bridget feels proper protocol is to threaten me with collections over $230. Small consideration and a big loss for your office to make me feel like I am heard and to end up losing potential business which would translate into income for more than tens (sic) years. In the end to also be lectured by Bridget that Bridget's other boss would never have told me a price is just an outright lie that I am unable to swallow.

I feel you need to know how she handles these issues because I am SURE I won't be the first or the last customer to take their business elsewhere over her determination to be right and refusal to hear the customer. Maybe you won't care but I would want to know as a fellow business owner.

Sincerely,

Bellyacher

Footnote: Bellyacher paid bill in full.

Question: Why would Bellyacher want to continue to do business with an organization which Bellyacher feels is so deceitful ("notes that could have been written a month later" and "just an outright lie I am unable to swallow")?

Good morning!

When Steve left for work this morning, he told me he had left me a list.

I thought, "Oh great, what's he want me to do?"

Here's his list:

Someone in this room I love
You are my treasure trove
Home on the range and stove
You told me drive, I drove
out to the old orange grove
You told me dive, I dove
under 'Pair of Eyes' Cove
You fit me like a glove
You told me heave, I hove
You make my bloodstream move
I used to own a Nov . . . a?
I have nothing to prove
If we're not home, we roved
The mystery's been solved
You tell me weave, I wove
You are my treasure trove
Someone in this room, I love

Nice!!

Housecleaning

We need to have guests more often.

The last few days have been a frenzy of domestic activity. We have friends coming to visit and we've been busy styling the house.

Steve returned from Hawaii with a spartan mentality. Our house is hardly spartan. He had just spent 3 1/2 months, living with the bare minimum and he had gotten comfortable. He returned to our small, cluttered life and was immediately overwhelmed with all of our stuff. He's been weeding out clutter ever since.

Housing in Aspen is very expensive. Space is costly. So we all live in small spaces. Our house is approximately 1400 square feet. 3 bedrooms/2 baths with a loft office. It's awesome for us. Rachel has her own room, Steve has an art studio, I have an office. We each have our space.

But it's small. We also live in a place where we do lots of activities. Activities take lots of gear and lots of toys. We have bikes, we have skis, we have kayaks, we have camping gear, we have rafting gear . . .

We juggle the gear. What season is it? Time to cycle the gear. Bring out the ski stuff, put away the camping stuff. Our storage space is like a puzzle. It all fits but if you want something, you have to untangle it.

I need that, so I have to move this and this and this, get that and then put back this and this and this.

But guests are good. We look at our space with a fresh eye. What's necessary? What works?

We need to have guests more often.

Come visit.

Small Town Perks

Aspen styles itself as a very green place to live.

Among the many reasons this is so is the Roaring Fork Valley Vehicles program.

RFVV is a car share program which allows my husband and I to completely cut out the cost of a second vehicle. For $10 per month, I have access to one of six vehicles, 2 sedans, 3 station wagons and a pickup. When you use a car, you pay for time and mileage but gas is included. There's no car note and no hefty insurance payment. There is a nice easy toll free reservation system.

RFVV was a life-saver today. For $70 (the full day rate), my mom and I were able to take the car share car the 260 miles round trip to Grand Junction to pick up my poor little "Miss Eliza Doolittle" (Rachel's name for the Toyota).

So convenient and so green all at the same time . . .

Only $500!

I had basically convinced myself that the problem with the car was major, really major.

I was thinking $1500 or so.

Did I have any reason whatsoever to think this??

No.

But I must have been sending some serious subliminal pessimism to my husband because he spent Sunday evening googling new cars.

So my reaction when Max from Integrity Auto told me yesterday that it was the water pump and the timing belt was, "Really??? That's all?"

"Only $500?!?"

Adventures in Babysitting

I was going to next write about my fabulous day of skiing yesterday, a day so cool I kept saying, "Wow, I feel like a good skier!"

But instead I'm going to tell the story of why my poor car is 128 miles away and I'm $100 poorer (so far).

Oh well, the skiing thing probably would have been boring anyhow.

Rachel has an awesome trip scheduled for this summer and in addition to paying a lot of money to make it happen, I also get the privilege of taking her to once a month meetings 2 hours away.

The first monthly meeting was scheduled for today. There have already been an orientation meeting which we missed (we weren't informed of it) and an interview which we attended, but the first monthly meeting was today.

Since we weren't invited to the orientation meeting, I've been feeling a bit in the dark so it was important to me to attend today's meeting even though we're in the midst of a winter travel advisory. We even got an email from one of the trip leaders giving us permission to beg off due to the weather.

But I was trying to be responsible and so off we went.

The roads had been bad for the first hour plus and we were a bit behind schedule. We had about 15 more minutes until the meeting was supposed to start and we were probably closer to 20 minutes out when there was a thump under the hood (on I-70 doing 75 mph).

The car immediately started decelerating. The oil light came on followed quickly by the check engine light and then the alternator light. Fortuitously, I was at an emergency pull off so I coasted in and noticed that the power steering was dead too.

Hmmmm.

Of course I had neglected to renew my AAA membership last July and it had expired. I had just sent in a check last week to renew it but knew that they wouldn't have it posted yet. I have a handy little phone book under my car seat but it's for Aspen, not Grand Junction.

I called AAA and was told by their automated operator that the hold time was 20 minutes. 20 minutes to find out that I wasn't a member? I hung up.

I called my husband because there was so much he could do from work up on a ski mountain.

I called the Grand Junction Police Department who patched me through (don't I sound official?) to a tow truck guy. No sooner did I leave a message for the tow truck guy than I decided that it was stupid (not to mention potentially more costly) not to try AAA again.

This time I called the membership line and got through after a fairly short hold (remember that if you're ever calling AAA roadside assistance). I found out that since I had had a renewal mailed to me I had some sort of a grace period during which I could receive assistance and they would bill me full fare if they didn't receive my membership fee.

A short while later after a brief confusion over my location during which Rachel and I amused ourselves with a Gilmore Girls dvd, Aaron from Pro Tow arrived.

Rachel who has never been in a tow truck was having flashbacks to the John Ford Noonan character in Adventures in Babysitting.

Aaron (who was nothing like Handsome John Pruitt) dropped the car at Integrity Auto Repair (with a name like that, how could I go wrong??) and then was kind enough to take us to the airport where we happened upon a High Mountain Taxi (Aspen's home town taxi service) driver picking up some riders who had gotten stranded at the GJ airport since the Aspen airport was closed (I told you there was a winter travel advisory). (wow, that's all one sentence!)

Did I mention that Gay Ski Week starts today?

We had a quick (as quick as a 2 hour ride can be) and conversational ride back to Aspen whereupon I discovered that the sleazy taxi driver was secretly charging the tourists less than he was charging the low-paid, hard working local. Or at least it was a secret to me.

So I called him out on it.

We missed the meeting, are sans vehicle, are in the dark about the extent of the damage and are unsure if Integrity Auto Repair is even open tomorrow (what with it being a federal holiday).

And the adventure continues.

I'm really not sure why I'm so calm about all of this. It's kind of out of character and scary . . .

Dueling banjos?

One of the things that makes Aspen more interesting than, oh say Vail, is that Aspen has a history. Aspen, the ski town, is just the latest incarnation of the settlement in this locale.

Aspen was a mining town, a bit of Wild West anarchy, which was only slowly tamed.

At least some of the local residents still embody that rebellious spirit. The miners at Smuggler Mine are a fine example.

Smuggler Mine (where one of the largest nuggets of native silver, weighing in at 2,350 pounds, was found in 1894) is just above town, in very close proximity. The McMansions have slowly surrounded it. The locals hike past it every day as they "go up Smuggler." It's right there.

Every Fourth of July, at 6 am, the miners at Smuggler Mine fire off a cannon. A big, booming cannon. A shake the windows kind of explosion. More than once.

A few years ago, due to complaints, the miners were told not to do it anymore. There were articles in the paper about it. There was controversy. (Now realize that it doesn't take much to create controversy in any small town, let alone Aspen.)

And at 6 am on July 4th, there it was, the first of those window shaking, sleep interrupting, dog frenzy inducing, car alarm erupting cannon booms. The miners were thumbing their noses at the authorities and at all the newly minted Aspen residents who just didn't appreciate tradition.

I cheered. Then rolled over and went back to sleep.

All of this comes up because last night was Winterskol. Winterskol was started in 1951 in an effort to improve tourism during a slow time in the ski season and it has traditionally been an irreverent, crazy carnival. In recent years, it has lost some of its luster but the highlight still is the fireworks display.

As I've written before, Aspen has more than its share of fireworks. But the Winterskol fireworks top them all and this is due to the miners at the Smuggler Mine.

Every year during Winterskol, as soon as the fireworks display over Aspen Mountain concludes, the miners answer with an equally stunning fireworks display over Smuggler Mountain. Every year, they are coy about whether or not there will be an answer and every year (so far), there is.

At my house, we watch the Aspen Mountain fireworks from the front porch and then we rush to the back balcony to watch the Smuggler Mountain fireworks.

I'm waiting for the year that the volunteer firefighters on Aspen Mountain answer the miners back. And get yet another response . . .

A special invitation

They're opening a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Aspen, like tomorrow.

Last night and tonight, they were doing a little dress rehearsal.

By little, I mean that they filled up the restaurant with invited guests and fed them all for free.

Feeding a restaurant full of patrons Ruth's Chris cuisine at no charge is quite a proposition.

Last night I was one of those invited guests. Actually, I basically rode in on the coattails of a friend who really was an invited guest.

It was awesome! There were four of us, all women, and we had a great time. They had a New Orleans band (I don't mean New Orleans style, I mean a band from New Orleans) parading around the restaurant while we waved our handkerchiefs in the air in the style of the Second Line. We ate something like $350 worth of food and it was all fabulous.

We started with the Barbeque Shrimp, Seared Ahi Tuna and Sizzlin' Blue Crab Cakes.

We moved on to the Sliced Tomato & Onion Salad and Caesar Salad.

Next we had the Filet and Shrimp, Grilled Portobello Mushrooms, Petite Filet and T-bone, with a side of Sauteed Mushrooms.

We finished with the Warm Apple Crumb Tart, Chocolate Sin Cake and Creme Brulee.

Quite the marketing event.

Market to me like that anytime!

A day to relearn a love of skiing

Last Friday, a friend called me to see if I wanted to go skiing on Saturday, more specifically to see if I wanted to do a Local's Clinic (think ski school).

I had not been skiing yet this season. The mountains opened before Thanksgiving. I didn't even get my pass until the middle of December.

Let's just say that I've had no interest.

So, I said yes.

And immediately wondered why. And wondered why frequently in the next 19 or so hours before I met my friend at Highlands.

I had exit strategies, all kinds of exit strategies. George Bush, eat your heart out, I had multiple exit strategies.

But . . .

We got on the lift. We took a run. It was fun.

We found a class. Our instructor was good and his pointers were helpful. It was fun.

The snow was fabulous, pure ego snow. It had snowed something like 19 inches in a couple of days. It was fun.

The morning was clear and although it was cold, there was no wind, so the high altitude sun kept us warm. It was . . .

a day to fall in love with skiing all over again.