A Midsummers Recap

July 25th is probably technically right smack in the middle of summer, yet somehow it feels like we are in the home stretch. It's been a fairly busy couple of months. I don't have any brilliant ideas for a post, so I think I'll borrow the bulleted list idea--from a blog I really like.


--Heading to our 2nd Phillies game of the season this afternoon. The seats for our last game were directly up from 1st base. WAY up. As in the next to the top row. At least I got a nice shot of the Philly skyline that we were right next to:


philly from 415

--Just got back from a long weekend in Portland, Maine. Highlight of the trip was spending time with my best friends, but a close second was the Wilco show on Friday night. I took a ton of pictures all weekend, with a few shots that I really really like. I was hoping for better shots from the concert, but between my lack of experience with my camera, the crowd, the dark, and the Magic Hat, I didn't get many good shots.


Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band







Better shots from the next couple of days after the concert:


Display at the place we bought much lobster, one of my favorite pics. (I think it would make a great puzzle.)






Lake Harmony


--We're leaving on Monday for Martha's Vineyard for a week. The first thing anyone who has been there says when I say I'm going is "It's beautiful" followed immediately with something like "Bring a sweater!" So I have no high expectations for hot, sunny beach weather. But hopefully I will be able to continue to improve my photography skills and bring back some decent shots.

Summer Concerts

For the first time in a long time, I have a few concerts coming up in my future.

The Decemberists with Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 (Tomorrow, June 6, at the Tower Theatre in Philly. Based on some of the concert reviews I've read, I can't wait to see them. NPR has a recording of a recent concert here, but I'm waiting until after tomorrow to listen to it.)

Wilco (twice in July--first in Wilmington, DE and then in Portland, ME)


After purchasing the Wilco tickets, I started to think about all of the concerts I've been to in my lifetime. Turns out it's not very many. Here are all that I could think of off the top of my head, in approximate reverse chronological order:

Ben Folds (This was maybe 2 years ago at Muhlenberg College. Since my daughter LOVES him, decided to make it her first concert. Only time I regretted that was when he did his remake of a Dr Dre song. Sort of made me feel like a bad parent sitting next to my 8 year old during that. Otherwise, as she was singing along with the rest of the songs, it was good.)

Elvis Costello w/ Laura Cantrell
Wilco

Indigo Girls
DaDa
Sun60 (Twice, I think, first in Baltimore and then in Philly.)
Toad The Wet Sprocket (3 different times, I think, in the late 80's/early 90's. Once was with The Gin Blossoms.)

Robyn Hitchcock w/Mathew Sweet (This one is kind of fuzzy, I'm pretty sure they were together. I think it was for Girlfriend for Sweet and Eye for Robyn, in Washington DC. At least part of that is correct, I'm sure.)

The Pixies w/Love & Rockets (at Penn State)

The Beach Boys (at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, with the roof open. I remember the roof opening part being mentioned in every ad, so I guess it wasn't done very often. Do they still open the roof? I can't believe that place is still used, actually. It seemed way too old 25 years ago.)
Bryan Adams (also at the Civic Arena)
Bruce Springsteen (at 3 Rivers Stadium. My main memory of this show is when Bruce first came out on stage everyone jumped to their feet and the guy behind me dumped his entire beer down my back.)

And my 2 earliest concert memories, both at the Civic Arena with my Dad, when I was pretty little, so presumably in the 70's:

Tony Orlando & Dawn
John Denver


I think if I had to pick a favorite from all of these, it would have to be Tony. Mostly because it is just one of the most vivid memories of my childhood. Also it was just me and my Dad, so just like all memories of things that just the 2 of us did together, it is extra special. Plus, it was Tony in his prime, and I just LOVED him. How could you not? Look at that stache'!



What's your best concert memory? What's your summer concert schedule this year?

Are You Ready For Some...Baseball?

Since football season is over, I'm focusing on happier times and getting ready for baseball. (And let's all be honest: football season is over for everyone except Steelers' fans. The game won't even be worth watching. Plus once the Steelers win it'll be their 6th Superbowl, and the fans will be unbearable to deal with. Gee, you'd never guess that I'm originally from Pittsburgh, would you?)

I actually had to remind myself a few times this fall that the Phillies won the World Series, and that once that happened I should have known that none of my other teams would go all the way. I was looking up trips to the national championship game the week before PSU inexplicably lost to Iowa. Superbowl packages were being scouted out after the Eagles beat the Giants. The World Series win had me actually believing that more championship celebrations were in my future. Oh well.

I was over at the IronPigs stadium earlier today, and even though the field was totally snow covered, it made me a bit hopeful thinking about baseball season.

Not Intended for Children Under...10?

I Am Legend is on HBO this month, and I just recently finished watching it. I say "finished" because the first time I sat down to watch it it started to freak me out and since I was planning on trying to sleep soon, I decided to Tivo the rest of it and watch it later. It took me a few more nights to get through the whole thing. Not because it was a bad movie, but because it was seriously creeping me out, and watching something that makes my stomach all tight and my heart pound right before bed doesn't generally lead to a solid night's sleep for me. Once I got past the scene where--*spoiler alert if you haven't seen it, but it's not like you can't see it coming*--the dog dies, I did relax a bit. That was just something that was building and the anticipation and dread of waiting to see what happened to her put me totally on edge.

In a discussion at work the other day about the movie (after everyone finished laughing at me), someone casually mentioned that her son loves the movie and probably knows every line from it. Her son is just a few weeks younger than my daughter who is NINE. We also talked about horror movies in general, and several of the movies that were brought up I remember as being pretty scary when I saw them as a teenager (Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls). I would never let my daughter watch them now, but again, my friend with the 9 year-old boy thinks nothing of letting him watch scary movies like these.

I think part of her logic is that he is a boy, and boys view that kind of scary, gory stuff differently. That may be true, but I still think there is a certain basic maturity level that should be present before a child is exposed to certain things. Trust me, my daughter is WAY more mature than this kid, and there is no way she is viewing some of the stuff he might be allowed to see.

When I was a kid I was never allowed to watch R rated movies. I don't think PG-13 existed yet. When we first got HBO I remember sneaking down to the basement to watch some movies in the middle of the night. I kept the sound really low and stood right in front of the TV, ready to shut it off if anyone came down. (Pre-remote days, of course.) My parents might have been a bit extreme, as by junior high I'm sure I could have handled at least some R rated films. But I think I'm glad I wasn't allowed to watch them at age 9.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of horror movies, I still think this quiz is really cool. After 7 minutes I only had 21 out of 50.

Wild Wonderful Web

The internet has become so much a part of most people's everyday lives by now, that I think we sometimes take for granted just how great it is. This week alone there were numerous tricky and important questions that we asked the almighty internet:

1. How do you get chewed gum out of the pocket of a pair of shorts that have just been washed and dried? (This totally worked, by the way.)

2. Tomatoes are taking over the kitchen, what ELSE can we do with them? Decided not to do this, but tomato jam isn't too bad.)

3. Is there any chance I can get PSU tickets for just one decent game this year? (Answer: Yes, if I'm willing to pay a LOT for them.)

4. If I'm not going to a Penn State game, will I maybe get to see the Phillies in the playoffs? (Answer: An optimistic "Yes!", because that's what Philly teams do to you--make it to the post season, THEN crush your hopes.)

5. Will the Eagles beat the Steelers this week? (Answer: Yes. We should have won the Cowboy game on Monday night, and the Steelers are nowhere near as good as....I can't even type that the Cowboys are good. Monday's game took my hatred of them to a whole new level. Let's just say that after Monday's game I feel like we can beat the Steelers. If you aren't from PA you might not appreciate this take on the game, but I liked it.)

Isn't the internet handy?

PhotoHunt: Strings

This was a tough one. These are technically chains, but I think that is in the same family as strings, right? This is a shot from Ocean City, New Jersey, June of this year. I had to take about half a dozen shots before I timed it correctly to get my kid as she swung (swinged? swang?) by me. She is the one on the left, having fun, but concentrating on squeezing her toes to hold her flip-flops on her feet.

Photohunt: Beautiful

From the iPhoto library, circa August 2003. It was the first year for the birds in their new stadium. I remember seeing that our seats were in the 200 section and expecting them to be really good. Little did I know that at Lincoln Financial Field the 200 level is the same as the 700 level used to be at Veteran's Stadium. The same because we were almost at the very top of the stadium, and because the 2 children with us (aged 3 and 4) did not deter anyone around us from yelling, cursing, throwing things, and fighting. (Click the link if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) Remember, this was just a meaningless preseason game, too. Ahh, Philly. A beautiful thing. Is it football season yet? I'm ready!! E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!

You Know, For Kids

Ever since we got to try out the Wii Fit at a recent outdoor music festival, we've been dying to get it. It took a couple of months, but Amazon finally came through. After just 1/2 hour with it, I have decided that I totally love it. There are 3 reasons:

1. My Wii Fit age is 7 years less than my actual age.

2. The Wii Fit as a scale is NOT the same as the scale in my doctor's office. Let's just say I'm going with Wii Fit as my scale from now on. (And if adding the extenders to the bottom to take into account the thicker carpet would correct this, I'm pretty sure I lost them.)

3. In Wii Fit, I can hula hoop like a madwoman. I cannot hula hoop in real life. Never could, not for more than about 6 seconds. In the world of Wii, I can have multiple hoops going, while still leaning and catching more. Kinda like this picture, only with a much higher score.



I've set my goal, and I gave myself 2 months to achieve it. Hopefully I will still love my Wii by then.

As Seen On TV

Since we got Tivo a few years ago, I rarely watch commercials. Even if I'm watching something "live", I find some reason to pause it for a few minutes and end up being about 15 minutes behind. Just enough to be able to utilize the fabulous 30-second skip feature and blow past all of the commercials.

When I am forced to watch commercials, the infomercial types are my favorite. Not just the 30-minute type, but even the normal length ones that tout amazing products. I admit that I own several of these "As Seen on TV" products. And there are a few that I want. There are also a few that I don't ever want.

I Have These

Turbie Twist Purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond many years ago for the bargain price of 2 for $10. Works just as advertised, although I only use it immediately after the shower, I don't wear it hanging out around the house.

Wen My most recent purchase, I found a big selection on Amazon so I decided to splurge and try it. It's very unique, and although it does make my hair feel really nice, I'm not sure that it's worth the price--around 3 times as much as my previous shampoo. Also has a strong menthol thing going on, so it feels like smearing Vicks Vapo-Rub all over your head, which is a bit odd until you get used to it.

OpenX I couldn't resist this purchase, found somewhere last year while Christmas shopping. I thought it would make Christmas morning and all of those maddening plastic packages a bit easier to deal with. It works basically as advertised, worth the $10 I paid for it I guess.

One Touch Can Opener I got this as a gift, and I must say it totally works as advertised, and I use it all the time.

Aqua Globes I saw these at CVS a few weeks ago and figured why not? Looking at my jungle of tomato plants, you might think that my houseplants are thriving. Not so. Aqua Globes seem to have helped, although you clearly have to use them in the proper sized plant or the results won't be so great.

Slim in 6 This is the only product I remember ever ordering after watching the 30 minute infomercial. I was at my Mom's house and couldn't sleep, and there isn't much on at 4:00 am. Not that it makes it much better, but I didn't call the 800 number, I did go to the computer and order it online. It sat unopened in my closet for about 9 months, then this spring I remembered it and tried it out. It's basically an exercise DVD and some resistance bands. For $75. One of the bands broke after 3 weeks of daily use, and when I emailed them about it they wouldn't send me a new one.

I Want These

Peticure This is brilliant. Have you ever cut a dog’s toenails and cut a teeny bit too short? Do you know that it just bleeds for half an hour and there is nothing you can do? Anything that can help me avoid that fiasco again I’m all for.

ShamWow It’s made in Germany, and you know they make good stuff. (??)

Tobi I only iron when it is absolutely necessary. This makes getting wrinkles out look fun!


I Won’t Be Buying These

PedEgg This probably works just fine, but seeing the egg filled with flakes of dried foot skin dumped into the trash-can in the commercial is just too gross.

Inner Health Sole Pads Maybe these work too, but I don’t really want to see all of my body’s toxins on a pad I pull off of the bottom of my feet. Other than socks, shoes, and pedicures, I don’t really need much else for my feet I guess.

I have a feeling that there are many people that like these types of products WAY more than I do. Any that you'd care to recommend?

iPod Meme

I saw this meme and thought it was interesting. Lately everything I write just ends up as an unfinished draft, and I can't quite get a complete post about any single thing done. So I thought this might be interesting, and would motivate me to get my iPod over to the computer for some much needed updating.

I followed these rules, but I did delete some of the questions. (Just the ones that pertained to dating and generally being single.)

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

To make it more interesting, I also did a google image search on the song titles, and used an image from the first page for each one, without using any album covers or pictures of the artists.

Q: What does next year have in store for you?

Seven Seas of Rhye--Queen

(On the Greatest Hits album, I decided to look it up. The Wikipedia description of it is pretty interesting.)

Q: What do you say when life gets hard?

Those Bold City Girls--The Shins

Q: Song that reminds you of good times?

Afternoon--Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers

Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?

The Ballad of the Little Man--World Party

Q: Song that reminds you of your first kiss?

Bob Dylan's 49th beard--WILCO

Q: Your favourite saying?

Only the Stones Remain--Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

Q: Favourite place?

Men Just Leave--Glen Phillips

Q: Most Missed Memory?

Is Anything--The Judybats

Q: What song describes your best friend?

F-Hole--Squeeze

Q: Where would you go on a first date?

Madonna of the Wasps--Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

(My shuffle seems to always go heavy on Robyn. If you don't know him, go here, and about halfway through he tells what this song is about. That's pretty much Robyn in a nutshell.)

Q: Drug of choice?

Nothing Left to Borrow--The Jayhawks

Q: What song describes yourself?

Train Going Backwards--Dramarama

Q: What is the thing you like doing most?

Cruel To Be Kind--Nick Lowe

Q: The song that best describes the president?

The Everyday Story of Smalltown--XTC

Q: Where will you be in 10 years?

Anna Begins--Counting Crows

Q: What is your state of mind like at the moment?

My Old School--Steely Dan

Q: How will you die?

Motor of Love--Paul McCartney

I Need a Red Shell

If you heard someone say "I need a red shell" what do you think they'd be referring to?

Although there aren't any red ones here, you'd probably think of sea shells.


(Photo courtesy of the gorgeous beaches of Sanibel Island, Florida.)

Well, the red shell that I'm talking about looks more like this:


If you've ever played Nintendo, and any Mario game, then you recognize the red shell. I've already talked about how great I think the Wii is. Well, now that the newest version of MarioKart is out, Wii is even better.

When you play you are a Nintendo character (i.e. Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, etc.) driving a cart or a motorcycle (with names like the Super Blooper or Sugarscoot). The game comes with a small steering wheel that you put the Wii remote into. The race courses are places like castles, the jungle, a gold mine, and lots of other places from other Mario games. So obviously it doesn't seem "realistic" when you play.

Yet for some reason, after playing the game for a couple of weeks, it sort of changes the way you feel when you are driving your own car. I first realized this when I was a passenger and my husband was driving and muttered under his breath "I need a red shell" in response to the heavy traffic we were in on the highway. (A red shell is an item you pick up while racing that you can hurl at people in front of you. It hits them and knocks them into the air, allowing you to gain on them.) A few days later I found myself in similar traffic, and I honestly had the same thought cross my mind--if I just had a red shell, I could knock this annoying minivan in front of me out of the way.

I've seen recent news stories about concerns over video games being too realistic. The premise is that playing violent video games leads to aggressive and violent behavior in children. I wonder if playing MarioKart could be linked to incidents of road rage in adults?

I Hear Voices

Some of the blogs I like have posted about their issues with annoying sounds. I have a pretty sensitive sense of hearing myself, but not so much for strange noises. I can recognize any celebrity voice, whether it is in a commercial, or in an animated movie, or as a narrator in a film. Sometimes I know who a voice is as soon as I hear it, other times it takes me a bit to figure it out.

I remember seeing The Incredibles in the theater and obsessing over who was the voice of Syndrome. I had to figure it out by the end of the movie, before the credits. That was a kind of tough one, but I did it.

Thanks to my precious TiVo, I rarely am forced to watch commercials. But when I have to, the only ones I pay attention to are those with celebrity voices. George Clooney for Budweiser, Gene Hackman for Lowes, I can name them all.

Despite the proven history of my ability, my power is still met with doubt. Sometimes, I can't prove who a voice is, especially with commercials. But I just know I am right. The most recent that comes to mind is the voice in Hyundai commercials. I am certain that my statement of "That's The Dude" is 100% accurate, even though I cannot definitely prove it.

I found two fun online games, if you want to test your own ear:

Celebrity Challenge

Animations Anonymous

Amazing 3D Sidewalk Art

I only watch a couple of TV shows on a regular basis. Currently the only ones I can think of are Lost, and a longtime favorite, CBS' Sunday Morning. There was a really interesting story this morning on artist Julian Beever, and his 3D sidewalk art. The only "real" thing in this one is the artist himself.



The work needs to be viewed through a camera lens in order to get the full effect. Even though it's just chalk on a sidewalk and it will be gone as soon as it rains, because the real art is the photo of the drawing it lasts forever. The pictures are amazing, but I would love to see his work in person. My favorites are any that have water in them.





It's hard to believe that these are just ordinary, flat sidewalks.

You can see many more on the artist's webpage.

We Love Wii

There's a reason Wii is the hot gift for the second Christmas in a row. It is awesome.

We're Nintendo fans from way back. I have no interest in any of those blood & gore, super-realistic games about war or stealing cars. Give me Mario busting blocks with his head, going down pipes, and hurling things at Bowser any day. Or MarioKart--one of the most fun games ever.

We moved up from our Game Cube to the Wii last year as soon as it came out. After a couple of weeks of obsessing with the sports game that comes with the system, we moved on to other titles. I said I don't like war/shooting games, but I have to admit I really enjoyed Rayman and shooting plungers at deranged rabbits. Probably the first game I ever totally completed, I'm proud to say.

My current obsession is the long-awaited Mario game: Super Mario Galaxy. I have read that real "gamers" find it a bit too easy, and that unlike past Mario games it doesn't necessarily get harder and harder as you go on. There are difficult levels to be sure, but mixed in are some really easy galaxies. Which is exactly why I am enjoying it so much: I can actually do it! And I'm progressing at a pretty good clip. I did actually sit down to play a couple of weeks ago on a Friday night and the next time I looked at the clock it was 3 hours later. And my left thumb was numb.

It's snowing here, the roads are icing up, and all I can think is that it would be a perfect day to be in front of the TV going after more stars. Hopefully by the time I get home tonight the Wii won't be taken over by someone trying (as he has been for the past YEAR) to finish Zelda...