I work about 4 blocks from the White House. I walk by it when I decide to make the 4-mile track home on foot, including last week on balmy 30-degree evening. Regardless of who is in power, it's always quite a sight. Crowds of tourists taking their photos in front of the fence. The woman who has been camped out in protest under her blue tarp for years. Security. TV cameras. More tourists. The street in front is mainly free of traffic as it was sectioned off following Sept. 11, so you can basically walk down the middle of the road without having to worry about being run over -- unless a motorcade is coming or going.
Lights glow in many of the windows and it makes me wonder what is going on in there (since we know not much thinking is going on the Oval Office) -- in the kitchen, in the side rooms, in the offices. Apparently, someone is sending out greeting cards. While Im sure these folks are not actually working inside the White House, folks at the White House Greetings Office apparently send cards to "U.S. citizens for special occasions, including births, 80th birthdays, weddings and 50th wedding anniversaries." Requests can be made here. If you're into that. Personally, I think I'll wait until the next administration come along. Or see what would happen if one of my friends in a single-sex relationship decided to tie the knot.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
A cursive "Z"
Teachers at my public elementary school in Auburn, Maine, was going to make sure we had handwriting as good as the the Catholic School kids in Lewiston. But "z"s -- which I unfortunately had in my last name -- were a bitch. It looked nothing like Zorro. It just looked stupid.
Luckily, the cursive stuck. And depending on how fast I write a letter or a card, people comment on how nice my handwriting is. However, get me going too fast or emotionally, and I'm scrawling all of the page worse than my father on an estimating sheet or my boyfriend trying to figure out new layouts for work.
Now, kids are taking keyboarding classes in kindergarten and only the gifted kids get to devote time to penmanship. No wonder I got 90% typed notes from people during the holidays this year. Everyone has forgotten that a "Q" has a curl.
Luckily, the cursive stuck. And depending on how fast I write a letter or a card, people comment on how nice my handwriting is. However, get me going too fast or emotionally, and I'm scrawling all of the page worse than my father on an estimating sheet or my boyfriend trying to figure out new layouts for work.
Now, kids are taking keyboarding classes in kindergarten and only the gifted kids get to devote time to penmanship. No wonder I got 90% typed notes from people during the holidays this year. Everyone has forgotten that a "Q" has a curl.
The year of challenge
Last year was the year of bread -- part of my celebration was working on my cupcake recipe with great success. Doreen can hopefully back me up on that. This year is the Year of Challenge. Work and new clients. New homes (for both of us). Finding our way -- with great design and ideas.
"Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk."
Time to take more risks.
Of course, it's hard for me to the quote the Dalai Lama without thinking of Carl from Caddyshack: "So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one---big hitter, the Lama---long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
This doesn't bode well for me reaching a stage of enlightenment anytime soon.
"Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk."
Time to take more risks.
Of course, it's hard for me to the quote the Dalai Lama without thinking of Carl from Caddyshack: "So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one---big hitter, the Lama---long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
This doesn't bode well for me reaching a stage of enlightenment anytime soon.
Bad to the Bone
Hallmark is using its (apparently) incredibly popular musical line to attract more men to card buying.
I don't know any guy who would buy a greeting card for another guy that plays music when its opened, especially one that plays George Thorogood, but when it comes to TV theme songs, I could totally buy into the idea of "Law & Order" -- boom-boom!
I don't know any guy who would buy a greeting card for another guy that plays music when its opened, especially one that plays George Thorogood, but when it comes to TV theme songs, I could totally buy into the idea of "Law & Order" -- boom-boom!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
