O'Reilly Book Cover Maker

Earlier today, I posted the Google Photo Meme which was quite fun. While compiling the photos for the meme, I looked for the book cover featuring my favorite animal, the least weasel (if they weren't wild, I'd probably want one as a pet). While looking for that book cover, I stumbled across the O'Reilly Maker. It is a site where you can make the cover of your own O'Reilly book!

For anyone who isn't familiar with O'Reilly, they're a big publisher of techie books. Anyone who has worked on a web application in some capacity for any length, whether it be as a web designer or a programmer, they've undoubtedly either read or even bought a book from this publisher. So for geeks like me, this is hilarious.

Here are the two I created today (couldn't just settle for one!):

Programmer Ego

Code Snatcher

If you want to make your own, go to http://www.oreillymaker.com/. And if you want to show everyone your cover design, feel free to post a link to them in the comments!

Google Photo Meme

YAY! Another meme! Caramama has created a photo meme on her blog and it just seemed like so much fun that I HAD to do it.

Basically, you Google the answer to the questions below in their Images search (the first page of results only). Then pick an image from the results and put it here.

1. The age you will be on your next birthday.


2. A place you'd like to visit.


3. Your favorite place.


4. Your favorite object.


5. Your favorite food.


6. Your favorite animal.
This is a least weasel. I entered this in because the cover of an old O'Reilly Web Design in a Nutshell book I had was SOOO CUTE, that even after I had learned web design I held onto it for a very long time. Yes, just because of the cute animal on the front. I finally got rid of it last year in one of my organizational purging fits. Kinda sad I did now.


Here's the book cover:


7. Your favorite color.


8. The city in which you were born.


9. The town in which you live.


10. The name of your pet.


AND



AND THESE TWO



11. The first name of your love.
(put my DH's WoW screen name in)

12. Your nickname/screen name.
(screen name)

13. Your middle name.


14. Your last name.


15. A bad habit of yours.
(hangnails, pimples)

16. Your first job.


17. Your dream job.


18. Your current job.


19. A picture you find hilarious.


20. A picture that inspires you.


BTW, I found something else fun while doing this meme. If you want to create your OWN O'Reilly animal book cover, go to the O'Reilly Maker. When I have more time, I'll post my cover!

Lil' Monkey's First Day at Daycare

Today was lil' Monkey's first day at his new in-home daycare. I didn't get much sleep last night. I haven't been lately due to work, DH's snoring and my inexplicable inability to go to sleep! And as if he knew, Monkey woke up at 2:00 a.m. and then again at 6:45 (I was hoping for 7:30). He was fussy all morning leading up to me dropping him off. Perhaps he detected my anxiety.

As we pulled into the driveway of the caregiver's home (whose name will from now on be Miss D), I felt my chest tightening and my eyes were just on the edge of getting teary. I took him out of the car and we headed inside where her one little boy (who is 16 months old) and another little boy (I think he was around 2) were playing. I put Monkey on the ground as I explained what I had packed for him.

Nearing the end of my conversation with Miss D, I leaned down to pet the head of my little baby boy as he played with the other boys. I was happy that he was so eager to just jump in and take part in the banging of objects on the floor. As I backed away, he started to fuss (guess he caught on) and Miss D swiftly picked him up which appeased him straight away. She smiled at me and I just sensed that this was my cue to "exit stage left". We quickly wrapped up our conversation and I headed out the door. More like sprinted. I felt bad afterwards but I think she understood. Would Monkey understand?

I got to the car and stifled the tears a little bit longer until I was about halfway down last the dirt road that leads to her house. Then the water works. All the way to Arby's (about 15 minutes) when I decided that I better "get it together" prior to ordering my chocolate milkshake and egg and cheese croissant. Yes, it was 9 in the morning but this nutritional nightmare of a breakfast was my self-soothing agent at this point. (Although I have been craving milkshakes lately. If it weren't for the two negative pregnancy tests I've recently had I'd be worried.)

Once home it was hard to work. I was scatterbrained and realized how empty the house felt. Then my employer's VPN was down so I couldn't work on my "critical" project. Working on my other project proved tedious as well. So eventually I took a 45 minute nap. Couldn't sleep any longer than that. But at least by the time I got up, the VPN was working again.

I started to realize how my behavior while home has changed since having Monkey. I'm really conscious of my voice level and other noises. I quickly realized that now I can play music while working without headphones and the monitor turned up sitting on my desk in front of me. I can pee without having to worry if the flush will wake him up. I can get drinks and food without creeping up and down the stairs like a burglar. This is GOOD!

Then Miss D sent an update stating that Monkey went down for his morning nap with relative ease. I like Miss D.

After I ate my lunch and began working again, Miss D sent another update with pictures of Monkey in a high chair having some of his puffs. He was smiling. In another picture he was crawling around on the floor and looked quite content. Okay, now I love Miss D. This is fantastic.

By the time I had to leave our house to pick up Monkey, I was really getting on with work well.

As I went up to the door of Miss D's house to pick Monkey up, I wondered if he would be angry with me or not care or smile or what. She answered the door with him in her arms and he seemed to not recognize me at first. Once I came in, she handed him to me and he smiled finally.

Miss D and I talked about Monkey's day. He pulled a girl's hair (I'm pretty sure this was the hair of our dentist's daughter). He bumped his head. And Miss D's son, who is walking now, seemed to really like crawling on the floor beside him. Aw, Monkey made friends! YAY!

I feel better about this whole thing now. I think this will really help both of us expand and strengthen our relationships. Did I mention how much I like Miss D?

Ask Moxie's 60-day Challenge

CaraMama has posted about Ask Moxie's challenge and has asked her readers to join the challenge. Since my New Year's resolutions quickly faded from memory, this might put me back on track.

Here are my three things I plan to do for the next 60-days, starting tomorrow:

1. Go to bed earlier (and hopefully get more sleep)!
2. Go to yoga at least once a week, if not twice.
3. Drink more water, less caffeine (maybe quit the caffeine altogether if I can gain some headway on #1).

If you are interested in the challenge, visit Ask Moxie here and be sure to post your three on her comments board!

Good luck everyone!

So happy, yet a little remorseful

As I mentioned in a post from last week, we were going to meet with someone about taking care of lil' Monkey for a few days a week. We went to meet her last Friday and she is wonderful. More than we could have hoped for, really. Tom expected a woman just sitting on a couch stuffing her face with food while kids ran around the house, so his expectations were low to begin with. However, I had high expectations and she met them all.

She's cordial, flexible but not a pushover (we gathered this from a discussion of having to let a couple know that she could no longer watch their child due to their scheduling difficulties). Her house is beautiful, although it is located in a remote area whereby you'd need an SUV to get there (we have one, so we're covered!). It's on a large piece of property so we'd have no concerns about him getting hit by a car (once he starts walking and playing outside). Most of the kids she watches are either her own or from people she knows from church or the neighborhood. She's the kind of person, I quickly gathered, that I wouldn't mind knowing outside of the caregiver/parent realm and that is a good thing.

So I'm really happy we finally found a solution to my working schedule woes. Yet, I know I'm going to be sad on Monkey's first day there. I'm figuring on crying for about a half hour afterwards so I'm trying to not schedule any conference calls or anything for that time.

It's just odd for me to think about someone else giving him a bottle, changing his diaper, etc. on a regular basis. Not to mention, that even though I know she'll keep a really good eye on him, lil' Monkey will inevitably come home with a scrape or bruise from climbing or crawling or just playing with the other kids. I probably "baby" him a little too much here at home, constantly watching his every move, ready to catch him when he falls (he's been climbing a lot lately, stairs included). So I keep reminding myself, "This will be good." This will toughen him up a little about being so rambunctious with climbing, hair pulling or biting (hopefully this won't get him kicked out of her daycare).

Plus, one of the things I learned from the Sippy Cup book was that mommy AND baby both need time apart. This will help us both appreciate each other more. Maybe he won't feel the need to rip all of my hair out while feeding. :) Maybe that's asking too much, but I can dream, right?

I'm IT!

CaraMama tagged me on her Six Quirky Things Meme! YAY! I love stuff where you get to know weird things about people!

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

I'm not sure I know 3 people with blogs to tag that either haven't already been tagged or have private blogs who probably don't want to be tagged. But here's my quirky list anyway:

1. Since I'm from just outside of Baltimore originally (the dreaded Dundalk area) and my father grew up in the city of Baltimore, I pronounce some words in an odd manner. DH takes opportunity to point them out often. The one he hates the most is "mir". For everyone who is not a Baltimoron, that's a MIRROR. Each time I say it, he says "What's that again?" And I say, "A MIRROOROOROOR!".
   
   Another good one is "fridgerator". You guessed it, that's a REFRIDGERATOR. He loves that one, too. At least I don't call sinks "zincs" but I do occasionally "warsh" my clothes (especially if I've had a few).



2. I'm a little OCD about locking things. For instance, the door to our house and car doors. I'm trying to break this habit (especially with the front door because our neighbors probably think I'm nuts). Sometimes, I'll check it up to three times because if I'm in a real hurry, I won't remember if I actually locked it.
   
   With the car doors, I usually click the keyfob twice. With my new car, I actually have a reason to do it because the second click will turn off the headlights if they are on!
   



3. I absolutely, positively HATE spiders. Hate them. Don't like to see them. Don't want them near me or in my house. However, I don't like killing them either.
   
   The other day, Monkey and I took a walk and I'm guessing that's when this little creature decided to hitch a ride because it came out of nowhere when I threw my coat on the ottoman. I jumped about three feet and of course, Monkey wanted to go right for it. It was HUGE! Huge being about 1 1/2 inches in diameter total, body was probably 3/4 of an inch long. I contemplated how I was going to trap this thing. Usually, I place a glass over them, slide a piece of paper underneath and then chuck them outside. But it moved to the edge of the stairs where it would have been difficult to do that so I ended up just killing it. Sorry! Please don't send me hate mail for killing the spider!



4. I love shoes but hate wearing them. As soon as I get in the house (and the houses of friends I've known a long time), I take them off. But I still like buying them for when I'm out and about.
   



5. Some people think I look like an elf. This was even prior to the Lord of the Rings movies, after which I now get comments that I look like Liv Tyler or Cate Blanchett (not so bad I guess).
   
   But in 9th grade during my art class, this douche nozzle (can't remember his name -- maybe Jay? -- but this name fits) announced to the class that I looked like one of the people from the Dark Crystal because my face "was flat and had no shape". Douche nozzle.
   



6. I really do LOVE Cirque du Soleil. Lame, I know. I've only seen 2 different shows (Corteo and O -- I saw O, twice!) but I'd love to go back to Vegas to see KA and LOVE. Plus, I'd still like to see Delirium and Wintuk! Maybe I can hitch a ride with DH and crew when they go to CES next year if one of the grandmothers will watch Monkey for a few days ... hmmm ...

Maybe the name of this post should be "I'm lame" because the only person I'm tagging is Baby-AMZ, but since TWO people run that blog, maybe they could BOTH post their 6 quirky things! Hint, hint. ;)

Book Review: Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay

As obnoxious as it might sound (or read) as I'm writing this ... I like to think of myself as a hip mom with wit, style and well, no, not class. Therefore, the title of this book (and the fact that Molly Shannon from SNL thought it was was good) made it instantly appealing to me. Plus, I like wine.

Now a little forewarning before going any further in this post. This book is not for the Sanctimommies out there. Those who are not comfortable with cursing might not want to read this book either. The author, Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, doesn't curse a whole lot but it's enough that some might be offended. Also, she touches on subjects some might not wish to address (such as sex) and is really BLUNT about other things. I plan on posting a few tidbits from this book, so beware!

Wilder-Taylor covers typical mommy topics such as going to mommy groups, dealing with the Alpha Mom and sex after baby from her point of view. Although in some instances she's giving advice, this book isn't a reference book by any means and she's clearly kidding in some parts.

Below are a few bits I found very amusing (I won't post too many so not to spoil the fun should you read it!):

ON BABY MONITORS --

"Some people get the video monitors so they can keep an eye on their baby, as though they're working the night shift at 7-eleven and their baby's a potential shoplifter."

ON BABY EINSTEIN --

"I have to say, watching a puppet in a raspberry beret speak with a bad French accent is downright frightening -- unless you're buzzed, then' it's hilarious ... "

ON PACKING A DIAPER BAG --

"I know a lot of women still stuff steamer trunks like they're going on the Gilligan's Island 'three hour cruise,' secretly thinking they might be stuck somewhere with their baby for eight seasons."

Overall, the book was a delightful read. But there were a few instances when the comedic timing was a little redundant for me. I'm obviously not a comedian but have been to enough comedy shows and followed enough comedians to know a little bit about what makes funny, funny. As I was reading, I'd sometimes, hear the ol' "Ba Da Dum" drum roll after her punchlines in my head and that was the first clue maybe the comedic timing was getting a little old. HOWEVER, don't let this turn you away from this book (if you can put up with the aforementioned cursing and bluntness anyway). It's really funny and I seriously LOLed more than a dozen times. Once was while flying to Florida. I had my headphones on while reading and didn't quite realize how loud the laugh really was. That was embarrassing! The book also made me realize that I have a lot in common with yet another mom on this planet (which always feels good) and she made me think about some things in a different light (for instance, why going to Mommy and Me groups can be beneficial).

If you do buy this book, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

BTW, IF you read this book and you know me personally, I'd like to know which type of mommy you think I am. I think I lie somewhere between the dreaded Alpha Mom, Drama Mama and Freshman Mom (if that's possible).

Is this meant to be?!

As many of you know or have gathered from my previous posts, I've been having a little difficulty managing my work schedule and well, the rest of my life. Here's a quick recap, in case you're new to Cirque du Bebe or haven't visited us in a while. We've decided that getting someone to come to the house is not only a little scary (because DH doesn't want to leave lil' Monkey alone with them) but also a major pain since we'd be in charge of payroll and taxes for this new employee. Then I decided that maybe putting together an exact schedule in Excel would help me focus on a proper schedule and strive harder to get Monkey to stick to one. This plan blew up within a day.

So as I was scanning through one of the freebie local newspapers that litter our mailbox twice a week (looking for houses, in vain), I noticed the Child Care section and the ads within it. There were several ads but one in particular caught my attention.

The lady tends the nursery at her church, she is state certified and licensed and has, most importantly, an opening for P/T care (most want your kid there F/T). Without thinking, I called her late this afternoon at what was probably the most inconvenient time for her -- around the time parents would be picking up their kids. I didn't mean to call at a bad time but she handled it well, took my information and asked if she could call me back in the evening. I gave her my information and anxiously waited for her to call later. I just had a feeling about this one and desperately hoping I was right.

She called at 6:35 which on a normal Wednesday night would have been a nightmare for me since it's raid night for DH and he usually gets home just in time to give Monkey his bath and then head off for the game. But for some reason, DH got home early (could it have been my comment yesterday? probably.) and he was taking care of Monkey's solids and finishing up dinner. Perfect! I could talk on the phone with the lady and not have too many interruptions!

As we talked, everything she said was great. Certified CPR/First Aid. Check. State license whereby the state checks in every 3 months. Check. Opening on Wednesdays so I can attend the tech meetings at work. Check.

NOW HERE'S THE GOOD PART! As we were talking, she said "Do you know the NAME OMITTED Family Dentistry?"

I think my heart actually stopped, "Yes!" I replied, "They're OUR dentist!"

She said, "Oh then you know Greg? I babysit his kids for him." WOW. MY DENTIST takes his kids there! I mean, what more could you want?! I have to think that this was MEANT TO BE!

Monkey and I are going to meet her on Friday to see the house and see how he reacts and stuff. I'm hoping everything works out with this. I'm so excited!

Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for us that this is a good fit for us! YAY!

SWF -- Something Worth Forwarding

In effort to throw a bit of water on any flames I might have started with my Incendiary Viral Crap post, I'd like to start a new email phenomenon. I'm calling it Something Worth Forwarding (SWF).

Here are the rules for SWFs:

1. Each time you get an IVC, hit reply all and send SOMETHING WORTH FORWARDING to all of them with the acronym SWF at the beginning of the email. For instance, if you get an IVC, hit the reply button, enter some text containing USEFUL information (for our example, it's about junk emails), then change the subject to read "SWF: remove junk mail from your inbox".


2. It CANNOT contain anything relating to "Pass this onto 10 friends or ... " -- that is unless you're completely kidding and making fun of those types of emails.


3. It CANNOT be a petition of any kind.


4. It MUST contain helpful information that people can actually use in their lives. The information should be something every person, regardless of religious or political beliefs, can act on or participate in. I realize this is subjective but give it some serious thought as to whether you'd truly find the information useful.


5. When forwarding a SWF, click the forward button but before pressing send, please delete the addresses of everyone it was forwarded to previously which show up in the body of the message.

Occasionally, I will be posting SWFs here that I have forwarded onto those sending IVCs so you can have some fodder for your next SWF!

Please don't grow up

I went to lunch with a friend today and it was good to get out of the house to converse with her. Both being mothers, the majority of our conversation was about our children and parenthood. We touched on the subject of what age we like or think we will like the most during our children's lives.

I can't say I know exactly what age I will treasure most or feel is the best age group, but I can say that the first 2-3 months were torture for me after lil' Monkey was born. The adjustment to our lifestyle changing, not knowing what I was doing as a mother, learning how to breastfeed, getting him on a schedule, etc. were just trying on DH and I. Plus, I think all of the struggle didn't seem *gasp* worth it since he wasn't really doing anything at that point.

When started showing us his first social smile and recognizing us, my attitude and outlook on life with child changed a little. Each day became a quest to make him smile. Then when he started giggling, the quest changed to find stuff to make him laugh (which BTW, his father is so much better at than I am and I'm SO jealous).

With each new milestone now comes new challenges in babyproofing and lil' Monkey is just growing so quickly that you can now see the little boy about to emerge and less of the baby. As I checked in on him tonight, shortly after he went to sleep, he was lying there in his crib with one of his favorite bedfellows, the hammer. He was sleeping on his side with his arms stretched out in front of him, grasping it with both hands. He's so cute in that position; one we've seen a lot lately. I wish I could somehow put a silencer on our camera and take that shot without waking him.

It's at these moments I wish I could freeze time just for a bit and enjoy this tiny baby boy for a little while longer. I love you lil' Monkey and no matter how big you get, you'll still be my lil' Monkey. (But I promise I'll stop calling you that by high school ... maybe.)

Incendiary Viral Crap

I have a BIG pet peeve that someone in my family has been irritating even more recently. This pet peeve involves these incendiary, viral emails. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones meant to piss you off so much about some hot button political or religious issue that you just HAVE to send it to everyone you know. From here on out, I'm calling them IVCs -- short for INCENDIARY VIRAL CRAP.

This relative has sent me a few of these in the past few weeks. The latest caused me to write this post.

The IVC in question has a subject of "The New Dollar -- Don't Accept These". I knew just looking at the subject I WAS going to be pissed but not because of the warning or advice inside the IVC. I opened it and yes, it made FALSE claims about how the new U.S. dollar coin does NOT feature "In God We Trust".

Now, as I usually do with IVCs, I headed straight to SNOPES.COM (which I've advised this person to do on NUMEROUS occasions) to find out the truth. AND AS USUAL, the email was complete BS. "In God We Trust" IS STILL FEATURED on the coin. It's just on the side of the coin now so it's not as predominant.

You know, the Internet can help us enlighten ourselves and be this great expanse of knowledge for our benefit. OR it can be a vehicle for hatemongering, ill-informed word vomit that drags us into the pit of idiocracy.

I mean really people, don't we have much more to worry about than what is printed on our money? And I know the arguments, "This country was founded on God.", "Our forefathers meant for it to be that way", "The majority of our country is Christian, so shouldn't it represent the majority because majority rules?" HOW ABOUT THIS? I think our money should say, "Cash rules everything around me" because it's appropriate for every American, including myself. We can't live without it, we can't survive without it. Don't even try to fool yourself for one moment by thinking otherwise. Even if you live simply, there's always someone to pay for the shelter you reside in, the clothes on your back or even the materials used to make them or the car you drive to work, etc.

So if you're looking for truth, how about telling it like it is? Say it with me, CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME. I guess it's just easier for people to just forward the email instead of questioning its ligitimacy and finding the truth.

Whew. Did I just contribute to the flame? Probably and for that I apologize.

NOTE: Isn't lovely that Ann Coulter comes up as a link in the Free Dictionary's definition page of hatemonger?

ANOTHER NOTE: The argument about "our forefathers wanted it that way" is incorrect. In 1956, Congress changed the motto to "In God We Trust". The original motto, "E Pluribus Unum" is Latin for "Out of many, one".

LOST: Sawyer nickname? Real life nicknames?

I think, if I remember correctly, a couple of the few readers I have are LOST fans. So I thought some of you might enjoy this little game: Sawyer's Nickname Generator.

My nickname was Grimace the first time and Avalanche the second after changing a few entries. Both seem kinda lame if you ask me. Especially since Grimace is the big purple guy from the McDonald's commercials.

My hubby used to call me Doo Doo Brown because I like the song and was trying to explain it's significance to the Baltimore dance scene when we first met. I'm pretty sure he thought I was silly and after listening to the song had a new appreciation for all of the facets of my personality. I think I still like Doo Doo more than Sawyer's nicknames even though it's spawned new names like Poopyface. Romantic, isn't it?

BTW, NO ONE but my hubby is allowed to call me Doo Doo or Poopyface!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Politics Wed: New Schedule

I'm all about schedules now although Monkey and I both can't seem to stick one and quite frankly a weekly post about the Presidential Race just isn't in the cards. I should have known better to tackle something like this and I apologize to any readers and especially my Journalism professors for the lack of quality in these posts (I'd be totally embarrassed if a prof read one!). Plus, since the primaries are almost over and since my primary is over, the "Chesapeake" Primary or whatever they're calling it, I'm going to be a little selfish and start only posting Politics Wednesdays stuff once a month. Most likely the beginning of the month or maybe if my schedule still doesn't permit, only "that time of the month" since it's been a quarterly experience since I gave birth (TMI, sorry!).

Just as final word to our original assignment, the candidate who I was supposed to vote for according to my candidate quiz results in the beginning, Bill Richardson, is obviously not a contender any longer. Just before the Chesapeake Primary, I re-quizzed myself and came up perfectly split between the two remaining Democratic contenders (yes, I'm an Independent but that's what the results were). So then I researched both of their sites on the issues I care about most: Education, Families (specifically Working Mothers and the Middle Class), and the Environment. And while they had some differences, there wasn't anything too striking (at least IMO) that separated the two of them. Therefore, RIGHT up until I actually got to the voting booth I had no idea of who I would vote for, Obama or Clinton? Obama or Clinton? Obama or Clinton? I asked lil' Monkey who he would vote for and he just stared at me blankly. "What do you want from me? I'm 8 months old, woman!" AND he felt asleep on me just as we pulled into the parking of the school where we're supposed to vote! Some help!

In the end, I went with my gut and my gut said a woman understands women and that's that. Honestly, while I'm not absolutely gushing over any candidate and while I still think the guys at South Park have it right about candidates for just about any election, I'm not completely appalled by any of the candidates on either side. So YAY America, for not leaving us with any complete assholes this time!

Le plan fou (the crazy schedule)

Recently, I've felt a little more crazy than usual. I thought that getting someone to come to the house to take care of lil' Monkey would do the trick. So I went through the effort of doing all of this research on hiring child care -- the taxes, the payroll, the background checks, etc. (in my "spare time" mind you). Then once DH and I agreed that this was a good idea and that I should pull the trigger, I signed up for a "sitter search" service and posted a job.

Within one week, we received 5 applicants, 2 of which I thought were really promising (one was previously an Au Pair, therefore, obviously had references). As I was talking to DH about it, he said that he didn't realize that I was planning on leaving lil' Monkey with this person to go to meetings. I said, "Yes, but only after a month or how ever long it takes for us to feel comfortable doing that." He then said we should scrap the whole idea because using one of these services would be the best way to snatch a kid, especially if the person in question wasn't a U.S. citizen whereby we could do a thorough background check and have a SS# should they take off with Monkey. Good point. But something I wish he would have expressed BEFORE I posted the job.

So now I'm in child care purgatory, not sure of how to proceed. In desperation for some immediate plan, I came up with a new schedule for Monkey and I. If we BOTH can stick to it, this might just work out. The hard part is getting him to stick to it (although I've been just as much a culprit in not implementing and sticking to a solid schedule). Pictured is my Excel spreadsheet of our new schedule.

Pretty crazy, huh? ON PAPER (gotta love that saying), I can get 36 hours of work done. HA. IN THEORY (again, gotta love it), this should motivate me. But in actuality, I'll probably only get 20 hours of work done, just like I have for the past 2 months (even though I've promised my employer 24 hours, I just can't seem to squeeze in that extra 4). We'll see. If I can get Monkey to nap 2-4 hours a day, this might just work. But I'll never promise anyone that 36 hours.

Therefore, a future post will be about schedules -- making one, getting your child to adhere to it, sticking to it yourself and the different theories about them.

Wish me luck, so far today, we're not too far off! Of course, instead of working I'm blogging. Go figure, mommy would be the first to blow it. :)

Reading list, question for hardcore readers

Inspired by CaraMama and KZ, I'm going to try to fit in some reading. I've started several books, one of which I can't seem to find in my house anymore and I'm wondering if I left it somewhere. But I'd really like to start speaking like an educated adult again and I'm thinking by increasing my reading, it's gotta happen, right? I mean, er, it must happen, correct? ;)

Here's the short list:

Sippy cups are not for chardonnay (started, not finished)
Reading Lolita in Tehran (started ages ago, still haven't finished, may never since I never remember where I left off, which brings up a good point)

These two could be categorized as reference books but I still want to read them:

Raising a Son (started, LOST)
Toddler

I regularly watch the Colbert Report and he has recently interviewed the writers of some books I think I may be interested in as well. Here's what I plan to add to the list eventually (maybe in between the others -- if that is possible).

The Purpose Driven Life
Red Letter Christians
You're Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation (CaraMama introduced me to this author ages ago and I've been meaning to read this one but was reminded of it by Colbert)

AND POSSIBLY,
The Cult of the Amateur: How today's Internet is killing our culture

But that might be asking too much for this year. Am I pathetic or what?

Question to the hardcore readers

What if the book just doesn't grab you? For instance, I've started Reading Lolita in Tehran several times and I just can't seem to finish it. It's interesting to find out pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary Iran but it's really hard to follow -- or maybe that's just me. So when do you give up and why? I feel as though I should finish this book because of it's significance to what our country is dealing with now in regard to Iran. However, for whatever reason, it just doesn't grip me like other books have in the past.

Politics Wed -- The Issues: Environment

Yes, I'm a little late. Sorry! First, let's take a look at the different options we have for alternative or renewable energy sources. NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all quotes are from Wikipedia.

Solar Energy
Use of this energy resource has existed since the time of the "early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese" who positioned their housing to effectively use the sun to warm the interior.

Uses of Solar Energy

Solar Lighting
Light from the sun is collected via specific window types, sizes and orientation to provide lighting within residential or commercial buildings. This is called daylighting. Hybrid Solar Lighting (HSL) collects sunlight using mirrors "that track the sun. The collected light is transmitted via optical fibers into a building's interior to supplement conventional lighting".

Solar Thermal
"Solar thermal applications make up the most widely used category of solar energy technology. These technologies use heat from the sun for water and space heating, ventilation, industrial process heat, cooking, water distillation and disinfection, and many other applications."

Electricity
Electricity is generated in many ways but most commonly using Photovoltaics. This fancy term applies to that solar cell on your calculator as well as those solar panels used at a large plant.

Sunshine to Petrol
From Sandia.gov: "... intended to chemically reenergize carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which ultimately could become the building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel”. Is that enough to make your brain hurt? Try reading the rest of the article. :)

Wind Energy
The most common use of wind to create power are the wind turbines I'm sure everyone has seen at some point or not either in photos, on television or in movies. If not, this link has some examples. This type of energy is used widely in Europe and believe it or not the United States appears to be a large supporter of investing in this technology.

Uses of Wind Energy
Wind power can be used to "crush grain or to pump water" or be "connected to electrical grids, as well as in individual turbines for providing electricity to isolated locations."

Negative Effects
Those who are against using Wind Energy cite the other negative environmental effects it causes. To install a wind farm, you must have a large piece of land due the size of them and the required spacing between them. Apparently, there is some argument as to the number of birds and bats killed by the turbines that lie within their migratory path. In Ireland, the pollution caused construction of a wind farm is attributed to the massive amounts of fish dying in a nearby river. The noise caused by offshore turbines might cause harm to sea mammals especially larger creatures such as whales.

Water Power (Hydropower)
This type of energy resource has also been used for a very long time. Think of one of those old mills where the big wheel outside of the building that used the river next to it. Effective, clean power.

Uses of Hydropower

Hydroelectric
Hydroelectric power is generated from dams, think Hoover Dam. This type of power source is widely used across the globe.

Tidal Power
Using water harnessed from tides, this type of power uses turbines sort of like the wind turbines do to generate energy.

Wave Power
Wave Power is more theory right now than actuality. This theory is being put to test in Australia at Port Kembla. This type of power uses generators to harness energy from surface ocean waves.

BioFuel
I’m simply going to put a link to Wikipedia for this one. There’s a lot for it and I’m running short on time.

Nuclear
I’m simply going to put a link to Wikipedia for this one. There’s a lot for it and I’m running short on time.

CANDIDATES’ VIEW ON THIS TOPIC

This has all been paraphrased from the individual candidate's web site. To find out more, click on their name and it will take you to their Environment or Energy page.

Hillary Clinton
Agenda includes reducing carbon emissions, enacting standards which will reduce electricity consumption by businesses, invest in green industries, and increase appliance efficiency standards. Improve emissions standards for federal buildings. Introduce “Connie Mae” program so low to middle income families can invest and purchase “green” housing.

Barack Obama
Agenda includes reducing carbon emissions, rewarding forest owners/farmers, invest in clean energy industry, and support next generation biofuel such as Ethanol and increase fuel economy standards. Make U.S. at the forefront of clean energy investment and technology and of course, reduce dependence on foreign oil.

John McCain
Agenda includes limiting carbon emissions, investing in nuclear energy, reduce dependence on foreign oil. He didn’t really have that much on his site. There seems to be more for him within the site I mention below (The League of Conservation Voters) that they’ve gathered from speeches and press releases and such.

Mike Huckabee
Agenda includes energy independence, pursuing all venues of alternative energy.

Ron Paul
Agenda includes no subsidizing logging in National Forests, encourage development of sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind power, ending government funded projects that harm the environment.

I didn’t get to read through all of the candidate’s material on this and tried to pick out the highlights of their positions on this issue. However, you can go to each of their sites by clicking on their name or use this really good link which sums up each candidate’s Environmental position: http://www.lcv.org/voterguide/

No soapbox on this one people. I’m still exhausted. Take care!

YAY, Yoga!

I finally made it back to my yoga. Today I went for the first time since lil' Monkey was born. It felt really good to go back and I SURVIVED my first class. I was really scared that I wouldn't. For those who don't know (I'm guessing everyone that reads this blog already knows this), I practice Bikram Yoga. It's the crazy hot yoga where the room is 100 degrees that most people think is completely, well, crazy. But it fits my personality perfectly. I am, afterall, the crazy mama. ;)

You see, I can't stand doing the "gym thing". You know, walk on a treadmill for a half-hour, then do some weight training, yada, yada. It bores me to tears. I've tried watching the televisions to make the time pass or bringing a magazine to keep me going. But in the end, I'm just not satisfied and never ready to go back. I've also tried what I call "incense yoga" and what Bikram calls "frou frou" or "furniture" yoga (or so said one of the teachers who had met him personally). Those types of yoga classes are just too ostentatious for me. Maybe I just don't think singing Kum Ba Yah with a bunch of strangers and burning incense is going make me feel better or to put me in touch with anything except the need to run out of there screaming.

Also, I guess you could say I've never been very sporty. I was on a bowling league when I was really young (6 until I was 9, maybe 10?) and that was okay. My cousin got involved in softball and my mom thought it might be a good thing for me to do as well. I hated the pressure of being at bat or trying to catch the ball in the outfield. I prayed at each game that they'd sit me. Then the nail in the coffin for softball -- while at bat, I hit the ball very far and was so excited that I threw the bat straight into the catcher's stomach. She was on the ground for a very long time but recovered. I felt horrible. I begged my parents to take me out of the league. It was close to the end of the season so they convinced me to finish it. I guessed they were hoping I'd get over it. I still haven't really. Then I went to ONE team sport try-out in high school (field hockey) and immediately decided that I wasn't fond of doing sit-ups in the mud at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. So that was that for team sports.

However, I am somewhat competitive. Inwardly competitive. Usually, I'm just competing with myself and thinking I should be as good as someone else. I couldn't see myself talking smack or trying to compete for team position or ranking. I'd just fester inside. Therefore, Bikram Yoga is that perfect balance between of being challenging enough to keep me interested and not so competitive that I just implode due to the pressure of being good enough. I have only me to answer to and I'm learning not to be so hard on myself.

So today was a good day. And it's true what the instructors say about muscle memory! I've done this type of yoga off and on since 2001 but thought because I took 15 months off from it, I might not be able to do it any longer. However, I did pretty well. I couldn't get to the same point in the poses that I could prior to taking my hiatus but overall, I'm satisfied with myself. AND I didn't sit half of the class out due to the heat (this had happened previously when returning from a couple months break)! Now I just need to figure out a way to fit this into my schedule.

YAY, yoga!