Port woes

Alright, so I have to give my two cents of this whole Dubai port scandal thingy. Personally I think it's kind of funny....I mean, you have Bush and his administration that have been creating a culture of fear within the United States concerning terrorism and the Arab World. Then along comes this port deal that would have an arab corporation running six ports within the US. Really, Bush should have seen this coming. Of course there are now a vast majority of Americans who are angry and scared at the prospect of having arabs controlling our ports (which have major security issues to begin with). Now, my own opinion is that as long as the Dubai company is checked out and gets an ok security wise to come into the US then there's no problem...they should be scrutinized just like any other foreign company coming to work in our ports just because that is the smart thing security wise to do. Should we be scared that the United Arab Emirates will try to take over the country or let in mass groups of terrorists? No. However, I just can't help but think that Bush had this one coming :-) The really bad part is that this whole thing is making the US look like a country of racist idiots who think that anyone of arab descent must be involved in one way or another with terrorism. Sigh. The really sad part is that for a huge chunk of the US, this sentimate is true. Thanks Bush.

voting

Finally some hard evidence is being found that proves there was voting fraud in the last presidential election:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022506F.shtml

The world we live on

Craig discovered something really fun at work yesterday that I've been trying out this morning: google earth. I remember when google first came out with this product...it wasn't available for use with Macs, but it is now! So I downloaded it to my computer this morning and proceeded to make myself sick! It's super fun! You feel as though you're flying around the way that the program zooms you in and out and around the globe. It makes my head spin. The coolest parts are some areas that they have built up with a 3D effect...like Mt. St. Helens. You can fly over it and then level the globe out so that you're looking at the mountain straight on instead of from above. Very cool! Except that now I need to take a break and get my head to stop spinning.

and the Cheney jokes continue...

Craig found this online at: http://www.joeygibson.com/images/cheney.jpg

No killing, just love

OK...OK...I promise, this will be the last comic I'll post for a while. I realize that I've put a lot up over the last week or so...but there have been so many great ones! And I HAD to post this Pearls Before Swine...too funny, and since I put up the one from yesterday, I had to complete it with this one.

Brrr

So apparently my thoughts of spring came a bit too early...and all those poor flowers that have popped up all over the city were a bit premature as well. Temperatures over the last couple of days have been steadily dropping...we even got a bit of snow in the hills of Seattle Monday night, and this morning I woke up to frost and the water in the the bird baths frozen solid. And the temps are supposed to be getting even lower by the end of the week...every day the weather men keep predicting colder and colder temps...now we are at 20 - 15 degrees as the low for Seattle Thursday to Saturday...and if the wind picks up then it'll be even colder with wind chill...with the highs during the day around 30. BRRRRRR!!! Stupid Alaska air...stay up north, we don't want you down here in the Pacific Northwest! There's a reason I moved back to Seattle, and that was to get away from the cold of east coast winters! I can deal with all the dark clouds and rain...but I am bad with cold...really really bad.

Happy Loves Day

While most parts of Valentine's Day kind of piss me off, I will still join in the festive atmosphere of hearts and pinkness by telling y'all to check out the following blog:

7 deadly sinners

This group of artists have compiled a collection of old Valentine's Day cards, created new ones and also put up a few from when they were youngsters. It's a pretty funny compilation with some strange, strange stuff. But I think that pretty much anyone will find something that they like..for example one of my favorite is (surprise, surprise) the pirate card. :-)

Happy V-Day, and watch out for that crazy cupid character...those arrows look deadly, who ever thought it was a good idea to give a bow and arrow to a crazy little kid? He's either going to hurt himself, or more likely shoot the arrow into someone's eye! ouch.

what did I tell you about cupid?!

Sorry guys, another Pearls Before Swine cartoon...but when I read it, I thought it was so perfect.

yum, food

I love Bizzaro.

Bang Bang

Did you hear that Cheney shot someone? Ok, so it's not really that serious, but I love asking that questions...it just sounds so funny! And I just had to add this cartoon that was in the Seattle PI today by David Horsey. :-)

In other news, watched Grey's Anatomy last night...wow! Ok, I will freely admit that I am now completely hooked on that show. And speaking of TV...yay for the Olympics. Really enjoyed watching the ski jumping and the downhill skiing yesterday, as well as the speed skating (even though Seattle's man, Apolo Ohno, didn't end up doing well). It's so amazing how effortless the athletes make speed skating look. The Olympic opening ceremony on Friday was pretty entertaining...or at least the first half that I watched. Partly I think the entertainment factor was high because JJ and I were commenting back and forth about it by phone. :-) yay for dancing trees, rolling cows and best of all the flaming skaters!!! My favorite!! I want a helmet that shoots out fire! I have to admit, the best part of watching the Olympics is when I can share it with JJ, adds a completely different dimension and entertainment factor compared to the more boring option of watching the games alone.

Also of note from the weekend, I saw two movies: The Producers and the Pink Panther. I would recommend both to anyone who needs to see a movie that will make them laugh, as long as you don't want anything of substance. Both were laugh out loud funny, the Producers in a word play sort of way along with a bit of physical humor and the Pink Panther for more traditional slap stick humor.

new H-bomb project

Truthout.org has a new article up today about how US nuclear scientists are working on designs for a new H-bomb, along with other future nuclear weapons. I really don't understand why we have to go that route...why do we need nuclear weapons? Especially since we don't want anyone else to have them. I think it's really stupid to say to countries like Iran, no you can't have nuclear capabilities, but now we're going to develope new nuclear weapons.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020706K.shtml

Not cool

The Seahawks lost the superbowl yesterday...and all I'm going to say is that the game was rigged! Stupid officials! It was nice of my non-Seattle friends to be rooting for Seattle though...and thanks Dan, although the sentiment that there's always next year doesn't quite work for us cause with the Hawks, well you never know when they will plummet back to being the worst in the league. But you never know, maybe the team has finally broken whatever terrible spell was cast on them. And JJ, although the underdogs didn't win, thanks for your support as well..it was fun getting to call you up at random parts of the game to complain and yell against the unfairness of it all ;-)

And now my interest in football has waned once again...I still don't understand the game all that well..obviously cause there were a few calls last night that I DID NOT agree with, and perhaps that's only cause I don't know all the rules...or cause the game was rigged.

At least the Olympics start on Friday so I will have something else to grab my attention and soothe the pain from Sunday's loss....I think the reason why it was so important for me, and the rest of the city, for the Hawks to win was that I had grown up with them losing ALL the time, which is probably why I never got into football, cause the home team was such a lost cause. And now, we finally made it to the Superbowl...and what happened?!?! We lost. *sigh* That win was so important to us, especially since everyone and their mother were rooting for the Steelers! Blah.

Oh well, I guess you're right Dan, there's always next year.

it's art time!

Today's post is going to tap into the art historian in me...sorry people!

First I want to mention that my dear friend Amelia interviewed an artist, Matt Greene, who currently has a show up in Berlin. Her awesome interview can be read at:

www.thefanzine.com

And now I'd like to recommend to anyone in Seattle that they should go and check out the Henry Art Gallery's current show featuring some of the works from their collection. The art itself that is on display isn't really all that spectacular (there are some great gems in the collections, but not every piece is an eye popping wonder)....the really excellent thing about this show is the way it was hung. Instead of the art hanging on walls as we are all used to seeing exhibit set-ups, this show is completely different. Each piece is mounted on iron bars bolted into the floor so that they stand alone. On the back of each frame is a plank of wood that has the date of the artwork in bold black paint, and below that in smaller lettering is the name of the artist and the title. When walking into the space, the first thing you see are rows upon irregular rows of wood planks with black dates. You can't see the any of the artwork, and so my very first impression was that I had walked into a cemetery, or some sort of memorial space. Above each artwork there is suspended a light, with black wires extending from the ceiling, so that above your head it looks like a black web. As I was walking through the space looking at the art, I found myself performing a sort of dance as I moved around each piece to see the next artwork, and turning circles to read the titles and artist names on the backs. The one really neat thing about the way this show was set-up was how you couldn't really see what art was coming up ahead since everything was turned facing away from you. This made easier to focus on each individual piece instead of seeing what was coming next and not really looking at what's in front of you. The other nice thing was that since there was so much art in this one large room, you were forced to stand really close to all the pieces, instead of in the more traditional setting where you aren't allowed to get anywhere within a foot of artwork for fear of your touching it. So basically, for the experience alone I would highly recommend this show. It's a completely atypical museum viewing method that I found to be quite fascinating.

Leah, remember...

You're nice! and I like you! cause you're nice!

This is in response to your little break-down-blog that I just read...and since I can't reach you by phone at the moment...because you're working super hard (obviously) I just thought I'd give you a big shout-out on my blog and let you know that your pain is heard and felt, chica! And I'd like to remind you of the number one rule in life (that most of us pretty much forget about most of the time anyway):

Who cares what other people think or say!!!

So, I would like to just give you my vote for your future...and that is that you take whatever time off you need before jumping into another job...or full time business school...or whatever you choose. I took an entire summer off after college because I had no clue what to do next, nor could I really find any sort of a job. And while I ended up working for my dad, like you, the difference there was that it wasn't forced on me...there was no pressure, unlike your situation, and I went into it as a choice after considerations all around. It's important to be able to take the time, take a deep breathe, take a step back and really let your brain shut off for a little bit. You ARE allowed to take a break and recharge that brain of yours...recharge yourself. Taking the time to chill will give you a better opportunity to take the time to think about what your next step should be. But most important of all...that next step needs to be something that YOU want to do, and that will make YOU feel happy. Your parents are your parents..they always will be. However, you're an adult now and can make your own decisions. Remember..you're a big kid :-)