November 30!!

I can't believe that Nablopomo is finished today for another year. Woo hoo!

Four Things I'm Thankful for Today:*
1) Gawking at a Great Horned Owl one block from the White House. Who knew they were in DC?
2) Lungs that only made me get up 2x last night, and responded with smaller asthma attacks to their medicine.
3) Bruce Springsteen's "The Ties that Bind" Album.
4) Kind co-workers.

I decided to make the number of this list easier for my self to continue for the next month.

Papa B.’s Favorite Movies

My dad is my guest blogger today. He's a big film buff especially of World War II era films but watches a lot of other films too. Anyway, he sent me an article from Deseret News listing the five movies you must see.

My Dad:

Last week I saw an article in the "Deseret News" about their favorite movies and like most lists they list them in order which movies they prefer. I do not know how people can make a list and say this is my favorite movies listing them in order. I have many movies in which I think are my favorite. I was talking to my daughter about those movies and she asked me to come up with a list from the Top 100 from Filmsite.org the article referred and a synopsis about each movie.

Below is a list of my favorite movies, but not in order of which ones I think are the best. I think that is impossible to classify which is the best movie of all the millions of movies made:

1. "To Hell and Back" with Audie Murphy The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.

2. "It Happened One Night"with Claudett Corbert and Clark Gable The story centers around an heiress, played by Colbert who runs out on her father when he won't allow her to marry the man she wants. She is attempting to get from Miami to New York where she will meet her husband to be. Gable plays a newspaper man who follows her and promises to help her. Not knowing he is after her story for a scoop, she agrees. Of course they fall in love while on the road which produces two very famous scenes. The walls of Jericho, where Gable divides their beds by a blanket was considered very daring at the time. The other famous scene, the leg is mightier then the thumb, is while they are hitchhiking where Colbert gets to show not only her shapely legs, but her comedic skills to perfection. Gables undressing scene is something not be be missed for any Gable fan!

3. "Forrest Gump" with Tom Hanks Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise. Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.

4. "A League of Their Own" Directed by Penny Marshall. Starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna. Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.

5. Hoosiers Directed by David Anspaugh. Starrin

g Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper. A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the championship.

6. "Patton" with George C. Scott Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Starring George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Morgan Paull. The World War II phase of the controversial American general's career is depicted.

7. "To Kill a Mocking Bird" Directed by Robert Mulligan. Starring Gregory Peck, Frank Overton, Brock Peters. Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.

8. "North West by North West" Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason. A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country ...

9. "Mr. Roberts" Directed by John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell. Comedy-drama about life on a not particularly important ship of the US Navy during WW2.

10. "Since you went away" with Claudett Corbert The film was produced by David O. Selznick and attempts to capture a typical American home and how the family is impacted by the head, Mr. Hilton going off to war. Colbert plays Mrs. Hilton who is mother to two teenager daughters played by Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple.

11. "The Fighting Sullivans" Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Starring Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond. The Fighting Sullivans (1944). This story is about five brothers who grew up Waterloo, Iowa and joined the navy right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

12. "Drums along the Mohawk" Directed by John Ford. Starring Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, John Carradine. Before the Revolutionary War farmer Martin brings bride Magdelana the Mohawk Valley where they are burned out by Indians..

13. "So Proudly we Hail" Directed by Mark Sandrich. Starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake. A group of nurses returning from the war in the Phillippines recall their experiences in combat and in love.

14. "Three Came Home" Directed by Jean Negulesco. Starring Claudette Colbert, Sessue Hayakawa, Patric Knowles. The true story of Agnes Newton Keith's imprisonment in several Japanese prisoner-of-war camps from 1941 to the end of WWII...

15. "Mc Clintock" Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Patrick Wayne. Cattle baron George Washington McLintock fights his wife, his daughter, and political land-grabbers, finally "taming" them all.

Me: I'd agree with the films on this list I've seen but there's a few I'm not sure if I've watched before (12, 13, and 14). Claudette Colbert? Looks like she's a favorite on the favorite list.

*Seven Things I'm Grateful for today:

1) Eucalyptus

2)Not one, but two humidifiers.

3) Figuring out what my body needs to get over this bronchitis/sinus infection which meant I let myself drink a gallon of milk in three days by myself. What do I think about that? Moo.

4) Kind friends and people in my church congregation.

5) A tithing settlement where I never actually declared my tithing. Instead, I got a great analogy likening my ward (church congregation) to an African herd of animals---which was kind of awesome.

*I turn 34 in a little over a month-so every day before the big day I'm making a list of things I'm grateful for....not to remind you constantly of my birthday, but so I'll be in the proper mindset of getting older. Or more likely, once I turn 34 I'll be so happy not to make this list anymore, that I won't think much about the birthday. :)

Five Things

Five Things I'm grateful for today:

1) Friends to run errands for me and who "force" me to take their Thanksgiving leftovers.

2) Fragrance free toilet and bath cleaner.

3) Antibiotics and prednisone. Even if I don't love their side effects.

4) BSU losing last night.

5) That I'm not home with my family tonight. Their attitudes swing with BYU losses--especially against Utah.

A Post for my Mother

Mom, here's the Carole Burnett "Glee" episode. You can just watch it from this blog or click on this link and watch it on a larger screen on Hulu. Enjoy. No, I haven't watched it yet.

Mom, If you use Hulu- let me know and I'll take this off. Hulu
is a great use of the laptop by the way. Your desktop is so old it may be pretty slow. :)

The wireless we set up over Christmas should be able to stream this just fine.

T-day

Thanksgiving was nice. I needed to go to the office to pick up my phone and ipod so I meandered my way into the city. I stopped at Old Navy to check out their Black Friday sale and was completely impressed by their customer service. I felt sorry the Old Navy staff had to work, but they definitely weren't surly about it. Then it was a stop at the grocery store and into the city in about 10 minutes maybe (I live 6 miles from my office). After marveling at how many people were saying hi to Lincoln on Thanksgiving morning, I spent a few minutes in the office and was back home. Later in the day, I hit a wall and wasn't sure about going over to a friend's house. I ended up "crashing" (I was invited, but hadn't rsvp'd) a T-day dinner. Dinner was lovely and all in all a nice day. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

At Thanksgiving dinner, we found that one of the girls at our table is a mormon.org superstar! Check it out!

Ever Seen an Audition Tape Quite like this?

I don't often ask you to vote for friends, but a childhood "friend" of mine would like to host SNL, and if you watch his audition tape-maybe you'll just go to his facebook page, press like and contribute to the Big C's dream. Thanks! Even if you hate the Muppets, but like SNL, just watch this.

I think it's safe to say that this audition tape above was brought to you by the letters C and M.

PPS. Macarooner? That was adorable.

teeth

I wish teeth weren't so valuable. I ended up almost eating a filling today. Luckily, my dentist will see me in the morning.

"That's not a she, that's a Snoopy!"*

Today was quite the day. I drove to the Doctor’s office, “negotiated” the amount of prednisone I’m on with my Doctor (we like him, but I think he won the negotiation), drove my breathless self to work and worked about 4 hours. Then I navigated back home in rush hour(I’m a tourist when it comes to DC rush hour traffic and stopped in to CVS. As I was leaving, I saw this little guy below. I’m not much for stuffed animals but Snoopy dressed up like a shepherd? I thought it was the perfect Christmas decoration for my office. As I was checking out, the gentleman at the cashier held up Snoopy and asked if he could put her into a bag. Androgynous Snoopy “Little Shepherd” doll, I think I like you a little more now.

Sunday

I've been meaning to switch my records back from the "oldish"singles ward (OSW) to the family ward (ward=church congregation) for several months now. I ended up switching them in February because my calling was moved from the stake to the (OSW) when the OSW was formed in January. Anyway, I tried participating in the ward-attending, doing the activitities. I met a lot of new people, but the OSW didn't feel right no matter how much I tried.

So Sunday, I attended my family ward. I listened to the Bishop give one of the best talks on the atonement I have ever heard. I talked to my friends, went to the new member class and lo and behold there was my visiting teaching companion sitting in the room. Miranda picked the same Sunday to switch over and we shared a laugh about it. I walked out of the new member class and was told by a friend to go home (I need that sometimes). I was feeling so good about the situation, I didn't even cuss out loud because the car parked behind my car forced me to do a 12 point turn. Anyway, I feel good about my choice to go over. I still plan on attending the singles activities and church on occasion, but Alexandria 1st is where I should probably be right now.

The Hunger Games Trilogy as a Venn Diagram

Often, a book-a movie, or an album is greater than the sum of it's parts. However, in the case of the Hunger Games Trilogy (HGT), I'd argue that the book's greatest influences are comparable (in the case of Twilight) or far better (Spartacus and 1984).

Why the Twilight parallel? Well, both series feature a heroine in a love triangle. Now, on one side you have a clutzy, damsel in distress who has to choose between a werewolf and a vampire. HGT has a kick-grass archer (Katniss) who chooses between a dreamy (he's a day-dreamer) baker or a handsome hunter who helped Katniss learn how to provide for her family.

Okay, but Spartacus? Well, Spartacus was the most famous slave leader in a major slave uprising against the Roman Empire in 80 BC or so. In HGT, Katniss leads a revolution against a totalitarian empire* called "The Capitol" of 13 states* The citizens of the Capitol all have Roman names.

Last but not least, is George Orwell's 1984-the book that originated the phrase "Big Brother Government." In both books, the individual is the subordinate to the state and not the other way around.

Anyway, literature isn't an island, in most books, the influences are noticeable. The idea however is to take those influences and create a seamless work of his/her own. Unfortunately, the "Hunger Games Trilogy" comes off as pretty clunky and inferior to other books in it's genre(Sci-Fi) which it's trying to emulate. That being said, the trilogy is addicting, and gets people reading-which is great.

Compared to "Twilight," though, "The Hunger Games Trilogy," is the better series. But, that's kind of like saying that the University of Utah Football program is better than BYU's Football program this year. Although both are lucrative and have huge fan bases, you can't deny the mediocrity of both.

"The Hunger Games Trilogy," however, can be compared to the Harry Potter series, which is a compliment. Both series of books are gateways for young readers into other more mature books of their genre. The Twilight Series however, are a gateway into, well, Harlequin books maybe? Supernatural Jack Weyland?

*Yes, there's a US history parallel.

Happy Friday!

Here's a little ditty from "Little Joy" called "Unattainable," to usher in the weekend. Enjoy.

2 Years ago today.....

2 years ago today, I was released from the hospital after staying there for 5 days because of asthma complications after a bout with the flu. Although I now know Virginia Hospital Center well, I'm happy to say I haven't stayed the night since. I've learned a lot since then about a lot of different things. One being, don't wear hiking boots to the Doctor's office. You just never know what may happen next.

Jaws 2

Last night, Kelli and I watched Jaws 2 for the first time. I never saw it before, mostly because Jaws is a treasured childhood favorite and one of the greatest films of all time in my world. I didn't want to ruin the first film with the sequels. Well, on a whim, we watched it and wow. Talk about awesomely bad.

So many favorite scenes already. There's the whole Orca subplot in the first 20 minutes that's incredible. Then there's the helicopter "rescue scene," the teenage angst, the ending, the "shark riding" bit...and I could go on. So incredibly great.

Update on talking dog films: Okay fine, I'll concede the fact that the talking dog genre has some decent films out there-like maybe one every 15 years with one gem amongst them. Hmm..

Good News, Bad News

Good News: I slept 7 hours last night of uninterrupted sleep. That hasn't happened for at least a week.

Bad News: I woke up congested as both my humidifiers were out of commission.

Good News: I made the bus on a semi-chilly, rainy day.

Dumb News: I didn't put a fleece on underneath my rain jacket. I chilled myself.

Good News: My regular medicine started to attack the congestion in my chest.

Bad News: During an asthma attack, I got dizzy and blacked out for a few seconds.

Good News: I was sitting in my chair and didn't hit my head or anything.

Good News: I went up to the Health Unit. They assessed me, gave me a neb (albuterol nebulizer treatment),

Bad News: They were trying to talk to me about taking an ambulance ride and my roommate(RN nurse) worked today.

Good News: Kelli wasn't at work and answered her phone.

I'm tired so I'm just going to cut to the chase. I landed myself in the ER. I'm okay. I was given 2 nebs total and a CT scan of my chest because my doctor and the ER Doctor thought it was really weird that I was having shortness of breathing-other signs of a pretty good sized asthma attack but no wheezing (I was wheezing before the first neb treatment, but not after) which is odd for me. (Both Kell and I think the bronchial thermoplasty is starting to work).

Anyway, I was sent home with prednisone, instructions to set an appointment with my doctor to see him in the next week--and I'm feeling a lot better. Kelli and her office is pretty much awesome. Her charge nurse let her watch after me and then told her to take the day off. Very, very nice of her. Also, my humidifier came, and it's pretty.

Anyway, I'm okay. I'm kind of dumb, but it came out well.

PS-Humidifiers are needed out on the east coast in the winter because when people turn on their heat, the humidity in the house drops. Plus, once the leaves turn color and drop, the humidity outside falls quite a bit when it isn't raining.

Life Lesson 301: Humidifiers

Memo to myself:

Get your humidifiers ready to go by November 1st. Otherwise you'll endure several days of nearly sleepless nights in a row 2 weeks later before you figure out why you have insomnia. Yes, you're "really quick" at figuring this things out. Have fun at work today!

PS: Clean out your humidifiers in March next year. Seriously, that humidifier is gross.

PPS: Hopefully 4AM "impulse" purchases work well and you'll be sleeping well Tuesday night!

PPPS: To paraphrase Ron Howard, "You're really getting life lessons all over the place this week."

Life Lesson 548: Albuterol is not a sleep aid.

I've been having trouble sleeping the last couple of days. Insomnia comes with having asthma so it's not a big deal-although it's super annoying. Anyway, last night, exhausted, I went through my regular bedtime routine. However, right as I was finishing up, I accidentally grabbed an Albuterol (rescue) inhaler instead of a controller inhaler and took two puffs before I realized I just wired myself right before bed. Needless to say, I didn't get to bed until 3:00am last night. Ah, I'm still kind of chuckling at that one.

Ramblin’s about The Arts

One of Elder Richard G. Scott’s paintings

One of my biggest struggles growing up was reconciling my curiosity in almost all things of the arts (music, literature, movies) with being a faithful LDS member. I wanted to follow all of the Church Teachings that were given to me, but I I've always had a brain like a sponge when it comes to art and literature.

You see, as an active LDS member, we're strongly encouraged not to watch, read or listen to any media or art that doesn't invite the Holy Ghost to dwell. There's scriptural context in the Bible, but the interpretations of applying this doctrine varies somewhat from one LDS person to another. Often, I was getting conflicting advice from LDS leaders.

For example, I know my seminary teachers had the best interests at heart, but we were told by one teacher that the song "Hey Jude" was explicitly about heroin so we weren't supposed to listen to the Beatles. (keep in mind, this was just one individual, and not LDS teachings-at all). There's the Rated R Movie discussion that you hear often (to watch or not to watch, that is the eternal debate).

Then there was the AP English scandal that rocked Uintah High LDS Seminary in 1992-1993. One of the hardest classes at Uintah High School was AP English. The teacher wasn't LDS (about a 1/3 of the teachers at Uintah were active LDS, keeping inline with the demographics of Uintah County at that time) and the year before she had two LDS boys* in her class that came from active LDS families. They were best friends and informed their parents (both pretty influential members of the community) that they had no testimony of the LDS church because of the teachings in AP English. Well, the parents informed the seminary teachers, and the seminary teachers promptly advised the Sophomores especially not to take AP English. One particular teacher wrote a song about the incident and spent a whole class period every year I was in high school expounding on the dangers of worldly doctrine. Not to mention, we were also under pressure from our other active LDS friends not to take the class either. I know it really made that particular teacher feel horrible, as she stopped teaching after my Junior year. Although that class was one of the hardest classes, I ever took, it Many LDS kids who would've taken the class decided not to take it and there was also peer pressure not to take the class.

My parents however, supported me in taking the class. I've always been a garbage disposal when it comes to literature, and both my parents encouraged this. My mother gave me her copy (a 1940s hardbound copy) of Gone with the Wind as a 13 or 14 year old to read while my dad handed me a copy of Of Mice and Men when I was 12 and said, "I hated this in school, you have to read it. Both books were not just novels, but expanded my world view as an adolescent growing up in rural Utah.

I ended up taking the class and although it was one of the toughest classes I've taken (tougher than many of my college classes-including some in grad school), that class gave me the metaphorical toolbox I needed to understand, appreciate and even create literature. There weren't a lot of active LDS kids in the class (which was actually a good thing-it never hurts to be the minority), and although our faith and beliefs were challenged from the literature and concepts we learned during the class-I learned from that point on, that challenging my beliefs made them grow.

Over the years, I've learned my personal balance, and I've found that finding outlets to be creative is just one of those things I have to do in order to be happy-so I was touched by the article and short interview in the LDS Church News about Elder Scott's art that is currently displayed at the Deseret News flagship in Salt Lake. Although the article was specifically about art, any of the fine arts could applied to these quotes.

Elder Scott said that he discovered that becoming involved in creating art "opened my eyes to the beauty around me. There is so much in the world to see if you look with an inquisitive mind." Link

*An Aside-I knew both boys fairly well actually-and one especially became a good friend of mine later on in the year.

Indaroma: A Review

Last year, I read about a Bakery/restaurant that specialized in French pastries and Indian dishes in Alexandria. Intrigued, I wanted to try it. I finally had the chance to eat there this evening. Although I didn't have a pastry, the sandwiches were delightful. I had a spicy cauliflower curry wrapped up in a toasted flatbread....less than $5.00. Not bad for the DC Area. Not bad at all.

6548 - C Little River Turnpike
Alexandria, VA 22312-1443
(703) 354-1812

http://www.indaroma.com/#

What to Do?

My roommate was given this "awesome" jacket (she loves the sleeves) from work. She's tried to wear it at work-but ends up taking it off. She feels a little weird giving it away to goodwill as it says board certified. I tell her she could repurpose it into something....but it's polyester. Salvageable or Tossable?

Have a Very Ninja Christmas!

Ninjabread men for less than $9.00? How fun would these cookie cutters be?

Via

Cop-Out

The big event I do each year is tomorrow and I'm exhausted. I'll write a better blog....well, on Thursday probably.

Finally!

I admit, I have a secret concern every Sunday at church. You see, I live in a Stake where women can't give the opening prayer during sacrament meeting and it bothers me. I try not to think about it, but everytime I see a women give only the closing prayer, I think quietly, "that's not right." You see, it doesn't say anywhere in the Church handbook that a women can't give the opening prayer in Sacrament. Some stakes or wards have the woman give the prayer, some don't. However, I was reading Feminist Mormon Housewives when someone (now this is just here-say at this point) stated that the new handbook will state explicitly that women can give both the opening and closing prayer in Sacrament meeting. Yeah!

Update: From 1967-1978, Women were not allowed to pray in Sacrament meeting. The ban was lifted and all was well. However, shortly before President's Benson's death, he gave a talk where he said women could not open a priesthood meeting. Individuals interpreted his words to mean Sacrament Meeting. The church stated that this was incorrect policy shortly after Pres. Benson stated that women couldn't open a priesthood meeting, but some stakes and wards continue to practice this. Link Link

BollySwiss!

Once in Switzerland, you'll notice quite a few Indian tourists. One reason? Switzerland is a choice location to film Bollywood movies and dance scenes. The lake above? Oeschinensee lake is well-known to anyone who has watched much Bollywood films. In fact, I even recognized it from watching Bollywood films just a little bit at Delhi Dhaba in Arlington.

Emergency Dish?

My ward is doing an Emergency Preparedness Olympics tonight. I didn't have any intention of going, but a friend e-mailed a few days ago asking her friends to prepare dishes for the activity. I asked to see if she had people lined up for each dish, but she hadn't so I got tagged with the recipe below. Now, I'm not sure how practical this dish is during an emergency, but I'm about to try my hand at it just now.

Curry Simmer Sauce and Vegetables

1 16 oz can Potatoes

1 16 oz can Chick Pea

1 16 oz can Green Bean

1 12 oz can Chicken Breast (in water)

1 12 oz jar Trader Joe's Green Curry Simmer Sauce

1 1/2 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup water

Boil 1 cup water then add Basmati rice. Lower temperature, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

In a large sauce pan, pour simmer sauce, chick peas, green beans and warm. Fold in potatoes and chicken and cook to a simmer.

Serve the simmer sauce over rice.

Having a Disability isn't your Worse Nightmare!

I picked up the November issue of Outside and started reading the magazine. I first read the article about the kid who was born without legs, and then looked at the cover. The more I thought about the front cover, I started to get really angry. If you can't read it below the cover says:

"Come back from your worst nightmare:
Lost at Sea
Raced to the Death
Attacked by the Taliban
Maced in the Pants
Born without Legs
Coated in Oil and
Kidnapped.

Okay, there's a problem there. Each of the scenarios above are similar except for one, "Born without Legs." What message is Outside Magazine presenting when they couch a handicap that someone is born with as a nightmare? In this day and age I thought a national respected magazine would be better than that, but I guess I was wrong.

Another Movie Rule: Talking Dogs

Kelli and I were watching the previews before "Toy Story 3" when one of us made the comment,"Has there ever been a live-action movie with a talking dog that was decent?" Neither of us could think of a single film. Rule: Talking dogs should exist only in cartoons.

Babysitting

Yesterday, Kelli and I went over to babysit a family friend's 5 month old. His parents had a softball game, and wanted to concentrate on the game and not Matthew. I wish I had pictures, because he used the bottle as a teething toy, and not as a food delivery vehicle. He started getting fussy, but was entertained by the bathroom mirror and halloween costume.

NaBloPoMo 2010

I'm not feeling it this year, but why end a tradition?

30 posts. 30 days. The question is, are you up to the challenge?

A Day Late but still Appropriate....

Via By Common Consent