Behind the Behind

I work at a strange and interesting company. For one of the projects, my company acquired a full-sized mannequin. (Don’t ask me why, I don’t fully understand it myself.) Needless to say, the programmers had a lot of fun dressing him in strange clothes. He is positioned strategically so that he scares unsuspecting victims as they come around the corner. We’ve already had one victim, the cleaning lady, scream and wet her pants when she arrived early one morning.

I took this while they were positing him near my desk.

You can check out more Behinds at http://dumbbuttblog.blogspot.com/. Thanks Angel for the "plug."

Thursday 13 (Thirteen) for May 25, 2006

13 People I Hope to Meet in the Café at the End of Time

1. Freddy Mercury– to help entertain the crowd with his singing of We Are the Champions and to sing with guest #2
   
   
2. Galileo– Wouldn’t it be fun to have Galileo sing with Freddy Mercury on “Bohemian Rhapsody”? “Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro.” I’d also want to know how he feels about being permitted back into the Catholic Church, hundreds of years after his death. That is to say, if he would even care anymore.
   
   
3. John Cage– No, not the strange character from the Ally McBeal TV show, but the American experimental music composer. He was also a great story teller, mycologist and mushroom collector: he co-founded the New York Mycological Society. Under the direction of Yoko Ono in order to improve his health, he ate a macrobiotic diet. Therefore, I’d leave the ordering of food to him.
   
   
4. Red Foxx– He could also help entertain with his comic routine. I would also want to ask if he finally got to see his beloved Elizabeth. “This is the big one...I'm comin' to join ya, honey".
   
   
5. Fred Rogers– I would just want a big hug. Reading about him on Wikipedia, I never realized that he was an early and big supporter of VCR use in the home, even giving testimony in court that he appreciates the use of the VCR so that families can watch shows together at a later time. Besides, I’d live to visit the Neighborhood—the little model one, that is!
   
   
6. Anais Nin– We could dish about the men that she’s met, especially Henry Miller. It would be interesting to see her and the next guest flirting with all the guys!
   
   
7. Cleopatra– I just want to hear her stories about her relationships with Caesar and Mark Antony.
   
   
8. Frank Zappa– There is too much I could say about Zappa that I can’t even begin here. If you don’t know who he is, please click on the link. Needless to say, his presence in the Café would be necessary.
   
   
9. Grandpa Clark – He died when I was 7. I’d like to talk to him and find out about his past and if his family really were part of the Oklahoma Sooners as I suspect.
   
   
10. Mark Twain– Who wouldn’t want him at their party? This is a guy who wrote great books, gave wonder speeches, and hung out with the likes of Nikola Tesla.
    
    
11. Jesus of Nazareth– I know, I know. Everyone would pick this guy. But I’m doing it purely on a historical basis. I’d like to see if what we claim to know about him is correct. Besides, he seems like a really cool dude. With him around, we’d never run out of wine!
    
    
12. W. A. Mozart– Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a thing for composers. Don’t worry, hubby, I can control myself.
    
    
    
13. Leonardo da Vinci– Yeah, I know. A very timely choice, given the controversy over the movie and book, “The Da Vinci Code.” But this guy is fascinating. Besides, if I seat him and Jesus together, they would probably get along great.

Who would you invite to come crash my party? Leave a comment and let me know!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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American Idol Style Thursday Thirteen Graphic

Please feel free to use! But don't forget to give me credit!

Sirius - The Black Dog

Anyone familiar with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will know that Sirius Black can change into an enormous black dog. For a while, Harry thought that the black dog he kept glimpsing was a dark omen called The Grimm. Come to find out, it was his godfather who wanted to save Harry and avenge the death of Harry's parents.

We were watching the movie Saturday afternoon, while the baby was sleeping. We've seen the movie a hundred times. I decided to go downstairs. I heard, out the window, some strange noises. So I opened the front door. A big black dog greeted me. Bandit, our puppy, was playing with this dog. But I thought it was ironic that he should show up while we're watching Azkaban.

So I played a trick on my son: I called him downstairs, opened the door, and said, "It's the Grimm!"

We can't have another dog, especially an adult dog of unknown temperament.

Our friends said that people tend to dump their unwanted dogs where we live. They throw them out of the car and speed off. This dog did not have any ID, but he did have a flea collar. He was nice enough, but very submissive. Not good for a "farm" dog.

He's not around anymore. Thank goodness, because I'd hate to call the dog catcher to come get him. Or, as in Harry Potter, the dementors captured him and took him back to Azkaban. I guess Sirius is off on another great adventure.

Gonzo?

You Are Gonzo the Great

"Is something burning in here? Oh, it's just me." You're a total nutball who will do anything for attention. The first to take a dare, you'll pull almost any stunt. You're one weird looking creature, but your chickens don't mind!

The Muppet Personality Test

13 Albums That I Couldn’t Live Without

1. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief. They only way that I can describe this album is that it’s like stepping into an audio world and looking around, and instead of eyes, you use your ears. If you haven’t heard it, you should. If you have heard it and didn’t like it, give it another chance in a few years. They are too far ahead of their time to be fully appreciated today.
   
2. Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair. To me, the quintessential 80’s album with interesting lyrics and synth sounds. (Aside: I know there isn’t any Duran Duran in this list. I find that I don’t listen to them as much as Tears for Fears.)
   
3. Led Zeppelin – IV (Untitled). This album was released when I was almost 2 years old, but it has stood the test of time. Who would disagree that “Stairway to Heaven” is one of the best songs ever? I just want to put a good word in for my older brother who kept the LP around, allowing me to sneak into his room and listen to it. The album cover alone is enough to buy it—I could stare at it for hours. Led Zeppelin IV Art
   
4. Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York. When putting this list together I was trying to decide which Nirvana album to include, and kept coming back to this one. I normally don’t like live recordings, but this one is great. Every song is a winner, even if they were just covering another artist’s song, i.e. David Bowie.
   
5. Police – Synchronicity. My “first love” and I had “Wrapped Around Your Finger” as our song. “Every Breath You Take” was 1983’s biggest hit song, and I still don’t get tired of it.
   
6. Miles Davis – The Essential Miles Davis. All I have to say is “So What.”
   
7. They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18. This is one I can listen to with the kids. It has over 30 songs (okay, some of them are around 10 seconds long) but every one is great! Besides, this album teaches what a Palindrome is, all about Mammals, and even has a song that reminds me of Pavlov’s dogs salivating to the “Dinner Bell.”
   
8. Madonna – Ray of Light. Madonna is an audio artist. The sounds in this album are a treat the my ears. Especially “Ray of Light” and “Frozen.”
   
9. Beck – Guero. I just like Beck. I especially like “EPro”. I went to the Field Day Festival in New York a couple of years ago, with the headliners being Beastie Boys, Beck and Radiohead. Well worth the trip and sitting in the rain all day. Except that Beck fell down offstage just before his performance and broke a rib. I didn’t get to see him.
   
10. Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head. This is an album that I say, “Oooh! I love this song!” at the beginning of every song. This album contains the hits, “The Scientist” and “Clocks.”
    
11. Pink Floyd – The Wall. The whole story, the content, the movie. All great.
    
12. k.d. lang – Ingénue. It’s like eating an entire chocolate silk pie. Every bite is delicious and you let the taste linger in your mouth for as long as you can before taking another bite.
    
13. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik. If I listen to this when I’m cleaning, everything gets a really good rubdown--if you know what I mean!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Mother's Day

We don't do "traditional" things on holidays. Especially not on Mother's Day. Some people may frown on the fact that I didn't get a hallmark Card and a wrapped present. But I don't mind much, because my beasts (husband included) instead do a lot of little things for me.

For example, Friday night when I got home from work, my husband took the kids downstairs and let me take a nap while he fed them dinner. That may sound mundane, but I enjoyed it a lot. Actually, I spent a lot of my nap time listening to them. Just their little voices talking and asking questions made tears come to my eyes. My husband was trying to explain sarcasm to my 5-year-old. My 1-year-old was trying to "help" buy pulling things out of cabinets. It was nice to listen too. But I did eventually take a nap. It was great.

Just hearing my childrens' footsteps and voices, and thinking about their outreached arms made me sad for all the children throughout the world who don't have parents. To think that there is a toddler in a crib in an orphanage who is holding out their arms in hopes that someone will pick them up makes me sad that I can't pick them up myself.

I have great respect for those who choose to adopt a child. One family that I've been following is looking forward to meeting and bringing home a toddler from Vietnam. Their emotional plight has been chronicled on their website: Vietnam Addition. This is one child who will no longer have to compete for attention. When her arms reach out, wanting to be picked up, she will have a family to cuddle with her.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday Thirteen (13) for May 11, 2006

13 Things that I Don’t Miss About Working for Big Corporation

1. Too many useless meetings – Meetings are an alternative to work. But it’s okay if food or snack is provided.
2. Pre-Meeting Meetings – Let’s discuss what we’re going to discuss. Aka: Let’s get our story straight.
3. Post-Meeting Meetings – Let’s discuss what we discussed. Basically, I want us to make sure we got out of the meeting what we wanted. Otherwise, we’ll have to call another meeting.
4. Mandatory Management Training – Another form of meeting, except this one had sign-in sheets and better food.
5. Non-Persons. When people were fired or quit, we would quickly forget about them. They were practically family when they were with the company, but now they are a non-person. Very Orwellian.
6. Office Spouses – Male/Female working relationships that mimic a marriage. When you have to remind your office spouse that he’s got an important meeting tomorrow and that he should wear the nicer tie. I would always remind male employees about Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other events that they might get in trouble for forgetting.
7. Getting approval signatures. I hated getting signatures of high-ranking officials in the company. My trick was to talk nice to the administrative assistant and make sure they got the signature. Here’s a funny story: I used to have to get approval for expenditures over $1,000 from a high-ranking, very old executive in the company. He should have retired, but it wasn’t the policy of the company to force retirement. There was a nurse working at the company that would give him daily shots of something that made him feel better. I asked her to let me know when she was going to give the shot, and I’d get the signature right after. He was always in a better mood and would sign without much hassle. He worked until 2 weeks before his death.
8. Corporate dress. Dressing nice or corporate casual, it was always a problem for me. Since I’m a creative individual, my clothes are different, and not very corporate.
9. Travel expenses. The company I worked at didn’t have credit cards or expense accounts. You were expected to pay for things out of your own pocket or credit card, and submit the expenses at the end of the week for reimbursement. So, basically, I was loaning a multi-million dollar company MY money.
10. Dilbert (the cartoon) was too close to home to be funny.
11. Gossip. Who’s doing what, who’s seeing who, who’s getting what. Makes you feel like you’re always under the watchful eyes of people that don’t have anything better to do.
12. Too many Vice Presidents. Really, at some point, doesn’t it diminish the power a VP has when there are so many? My old company had so many that they all couldn’t fit all of their expensive cars in the executive lot, so they would park in the visitor’s lot. I actually had visitors who couldn’t park because all the VP’s were actually in the office for a meeting.
13. Not getting credit for finishing a project. Instead, your superior would get the slap on the back for the thing that you did. All he (or she) did was put a fancy cover sheet on it.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Knee Deep in the Hoopla

Last week's Thursday 13 featured songs that I hate. Well, right now, I'm listening to the stupid song "We Built This City." My first reaction was to immediately change the internet radio station I listen to.

But this is a usually a good station. The song before that made my heart leap--it was an old favorite that I almost forgot about: Depeche Mode - "Everything Counts" .

One thing that I remember about the Starship song that I hate is that there is a section that features a DJ speaking about the radio station. Many radio stations took this opportunity to change that section and include their own station identification and tagline.

I guess that is why the radio stations played the song: they made it sound like thier own promotion.

Still, the song sucks.

New look for my Blog

I know that I've been tinkering with the look this week. I finally found something that I can live with--for a month or so. I know I'll be itching to make changes, but I just don't have much time right now. I better get some ~actual~ work done.

The Creekistan-Side Story

I woke up with a dead mouse in my sink.

I was making coffee first thing and looked down . . . Hello! There was water in the sink because I was soaking a dirty dish. I could hardly eat all day. Needless to say, the dish and the sink got a good scrubbing.

Earlier that night, Nicky, our sometimes-indoor cat, ate another mouse. I come into the living room to see him finishing it up—-just the tail and some entrails left. It made a crunching sound. I made a gagging sound and left the room.

My story is that the mice were lovers and when one got killed, the other committed suicide.

Somewhere, a tiny Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim are composing a high-pitched, Alvin and the Chipmonks-style musical:

There's a [mousehole] for us,
A [cheese] and [crum] for us.
Hold my [tail] and we're halfway there.
Hold my [tail] and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!

Thursday 13 (Thirteen) for May 4, 2006

13 Songs I wish I never heard

1. Muskrat Love - Captain and Tennille 


2. Tubthumping  - Chumbawamba. I wish this song would get knocked down and NOT get up again!


3. The Candy Man - Sammy Davis Jr.


4. Up-Up and Away - The Fifth Dimension. In case you don’t know this song from the title, perhaps this will jog your memory: “Up-Up and Away in your beautiful balloon.”


5. I’ve Never Been To Me – Charlene  “I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see”  Yeah, thanks for sharing . . . .NOT.


6. PacMan Fever - Buckner & Garcia. “I got a pocket full of quarters, and I'm headed to the arcade.”


7. Achy Breaky Heart  - Billy Ray Cyrus. Talk about Achy Breaky Ears.


8. What’s New Pussycat – Tom Jones (or Sir Thomas Jones, thank you very much).


9. Anything by Kenny G


10. It’s a Small World – Disney. Talk about a song that gets stuck in your head. I think even Disney makes fun of this song!


11. We Built This City  -  Starship  (or Jefferson Airplane, or whoever)


12. Macarena - Los Del Rio. Stupid song and stupid dance. What a great way to make Americans look stupid!


13. Metal Health - Quiet Riot. I don’t even want to go there—the bad, big hair days of the early 80’s. I guess I hate it because my first real boyfriend got grounded for sneaking out of the house and going to a Quiet Riot concert. It put a damper on our dating for a while.
    
    

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Princess

Friday, I got a rare treat. My sister and I met in Dayton, Ohio to see "Diana, A Celebration", an exhibit from her Althorp Estate, the Spencer FamilyÂ’s 500-year-old ancestral home in England. I personally am not a huge Diana fan, but my sister is. I guess it's because of their similarities: they were the same age and got married during the same year. I remember visiting my sister when I was 11 and we got up early to watch the wedding on her black and white TV. I was 11 or 12 at the time.

It's hard to believe that it as been nearly 9 years since Diana's tragic death. She was 36 when she died--exactly my age right now. Looking at the exhibit, I felt a littlejealouss. What have I done to change the world? Look at what she accomplished in her time. Look at what she could have accomplished if she lived on.

We got to see some of her childhood toys, school uniform, and a few notes written by her. But most importantly, we saw that wedding gown. It gave me chills.

I think there is a little bit of Princess in all of us girls. We need to remember, every once in a while, to bring out our inner Princess and have a royal time.

Caroll Spinney, Voice of Big Bird & Oscar

The same day I listed my Muppets Thursday 13, I found out about Caroll Spinney winning at the Daytime Emmys:

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Caroll Spinney, better known as his Sesame Street self, Big Bird. (He's also the man who puts the stick up Oscar the Grouch's, um, back.)

Visit his website at http://www.carollspinney.com/