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!!!