Well, maybe spring hasn't sprung quite yet, but what has sprung is the time change.
I hate this time change. I am not a morning person, and when morning comes one hour earlier than usual, that makes me a grumpy bear.
I have to admit that it was nice that it didn't get dark so fast tonight.
But that was only because I had a nice afternoon nap. I wonder how many other people had a nap this afternoon?
I really enjoyed the Sunday comics today. The Other Coast, which happens to be set in Vancouver where I live, showed the principle female character setting all the clocks and being very happy about it, but then the punch line was that some clocks can't be changed - and there behind her was her 2 dogs, waiting to be fed according to nature's clock, which doesn't do Daylight Savings Time.
Gotta love it.
Here it is, the comic, The Other Coast's perspective on the time change.
http://www.gocomics.com/theothercoast/2011/03/13
Enjoy!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
bad battery moments
Dead Battery Moments.
I know we have all had those.
In the society we now live in, many things have batteries. I don't think any of us can truly list the things in our lives that we count on that have batteries we don't think about.
Until the battery dies.
For all you ladies writing this - do you have a spare battery, or charger in your purse?
Uh. Not me.
I think the most common thing we think about that is a regular battery charging moment is our trusty cell phones. But really, when they loose the charge, we grumble, but it's a fact of life, and go on.
But what of those other things that have batteries we don't think about, until it's too late.
Like today. I was at church, playing in the band/worship team, and what happens? I made it fine through our practice time, and about a third of the way through the first song, my battery died.
What battery, you ask?
The 9-volt battery to my bass guitar. My bass guitar that I use for church has an active pickup, which is powered by an 9-volt battery. I'm aware of it, but it's something that I tend to not think about.
I have had a spare battery in my guitar case for about 2 1/2 years. Just in case.
A few days ago we had a power failure in our neighborhood, and one of our house smoke detectors beeped faithfully every 3-5 minutes, to let us know that since it wasn't hotwired to a live power source in the house, the backup battery was dead. So, in the pitch black, I went downstairs and got my spare 9-volt battery out of my guitar case, and put it in the offending smoke detector, and life went on.
God has a sense of humor. Yes, for 2 1/2 years, I have had that battery in my guitar case. When did my battery in my bass guitar die? For the first time in 2 1/2 years that I didn't have that spare battery in the pocket.
We had a mad scramble at the front, the drummer had brought his bass and we plugged that in, his battery was gone, he'd loaned it out a few weeks before when the guitarist's battery died.
Oh, how we LOVE those active pickups.
Or some days, not so much.
He used needlenosed pliers to take the 9-volt battery out of some pedal gizmo, and snapped it into his bass, because his active pickup has a snap-in cover, where mine needs a screwdriver to get into.
So life, and worship, went on, with full instrumentation.
For all of you reading this, please share, what was your worst battery moment?
I know we have all had those.
In the society we now live in, many things have batteries. I don't think any of us can truly list the things in our lives that we count on that have batteries we don't think about.
Until the battery dies.
For all you ladies writing this - do you have a spare battery, or charger in your purse?
Uh. Not me.
I think the most common thing we think about that is a regular battery charging moment is our trusty cell phones. But really, when they loose the charge, we grumble, but it's a fact of life, and go on.
But what of those other things that have batteries we don't think about, until it's too late.
Like today. I was at church, playing in the band/worship team, and what happens? I made it fine through our practice time, and about a third of the way through the first song, my battery died.
What battery, you ask?
The 9-volt battery to my bass guitar. My bass guitar that I use for church has an active pickup, which is powered by an 9-volt battery. I'm aware of it, but it's something that I tend to not think about.
I have had a spare battery in my guitar case for about 2 1/2 years. Just in case.
A few days ago we had a power failure in our neighborhood, and one of our house smoke detectors beeped faithfully every 3-5 minutes, to let us know that since it wasn't hotwired to a live power source in the house, the backup battery was dead. So, in the pitch black, I went downstairs and got my spare 9-volt battery out of my guitar case, and put it in the offending smoke detector, and life went on.
God has a sense of humor. Yes, for 2 1/2 years, I have had that battery in my guitar case. When did my battery in my bass guitar die? For the first time in 2 1/2 years that I didn't have that spare battery in the pocket.
We had a mad scramble at the front, the drummer had brought his bass and we plugged that in, his battery was gone, he'd loaned it out a few weeks before when the guitarist's battery died.
Oh, how we LOVE those active pickups.
Or some days, not so much.
He used needlenosed pliers to take the 9-volt battery out of some pedal gizmo, and snapped it into his bass, because his active pickup has a snap-in cover, where mine needs a screwdriver to get into.
So life, and worship, went on, with full instrumentation.
For all of you reading this, please share, what was your worst battery moment?
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Angels in the Architecture
I don't want to say that Christmas is coming because I have only bought 1 present so far, and I haven't even picked it up yet, it's just ordered. But I guess avoiding the issue won't stop it from happening.
Many people think about angels at Christmas time, and I want to say that my concert band, well, not "my" band, but the concert band of which I am a member, we are performing at a concert this week. It's not about Christmas, but it is about angels.
Here's a link
http://www.theactmapleridge.org/Angels-in-the-Architecture
Something that is interesting about this is that the conductor and his wife recently went on a trip to Europe and they took photos that will be a slideshow as we're playing our feature selection, and it's of angels in old European archeticture. The band got an sneak preview last practice because when it's the concert we're supposed to be concentrating on our music, not sneaking peaks to the pictures that will be behind us.
I thought the perception of angels over the ages when man was capable of creating them as works of art was very intreiguing. Many of the angels were playing instruments, but sadly, none of them played upright double bass. I wonder why?
Many people think about angels at Christmas time, and I want to say that my concert band, well, not "my" band, but the concert band of which I am a member, we are performing at a concert this week. It's not about Christmas, but it is about angels.
Here's a link
http://www.theactmapleridge.org/Angels-in-the-Architecture
Something that is interesting about this is that the conductor and his wife recently went on a trip to Europe and they took photos that will be a slideshow as we're playing our feature selection, and it's of angels in old European archeticture. The band got an sneak preview last practice because when it's the concert we're supposed to be concentrating on our music, not sneaking peaks to the pictures that will be behind us.
I thought the perception of angels over the ages when man was capable of creating them as works of art was very intreiguing. Many of the angels were playing instruments, but sadly, none of them played upright double bass. I wonder why?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
That Good Ol' Time Change
This was it, the weekend of the Fall time change. Spring forward, fall back.
Everyone is always so excited that we get to have an extra hour of sleep.
I don't know about anyone else, but this never happens to me. I know some of you who are reading this are nodding. What always happens is I go to bed an hour later, knowing that I'll get to crawl out of bed technically an hour later. But then when morning comes, my natural body clock wakes me up when the sun is at that point in the sky that I used to wake up before the policital powers-that-be decided once again to change the clocks on us.
Then if my natural body clock doesn't wake me up an hour "early" then the dogs do. Their little internal clocks say it's time to run outside, and then come back inside and get their daily morning dog biscuit.
All this means that for someone who allegedly got an extra hour of sleep, what happened was I got an hour less.
Go figure.
Everyone is always so excited that we get to have an extra hour of sleep.
I don't know about anyone else, but this never happens to me. I know some of you who are reading this are nodding. What always happens is I go to bed an hour later, knowing that I'll get to crawl out of bed technically an hour later. But then when morning comes, my natural body clock wakes me up when the sun is at that point in the sky that I used to wake up before the policital powers-that-be decided once again to change the clocks on us.
Then if my natural body clock doesn't wake me up an hour "early" then the dogs do. Their little internal clocks say it's time to run outside, and then come back inside and get their daily morning dog biscuit.
All this means that for someone who allegedly got an extra hour of sleep, what happened was I got an hour less.
Go figure.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Wow, did I have a massive toothache last night. I had a root canal, which I've never had before, and the dentist warned me that it would be tender. So, as comes natural for me, I forgot to take the pain killers, and one thing led to another, and I found myself up late on Saturday because I took the pain-killer he gave me too late, flipping channels with my husband.
Earlier in the evening we'd watched Glee, which is one of my favorite shows, and they highlighted music from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and this piqued my curiosity.
Guess what was on late Saturday night, the day/night before Halloween? Yeah. The real thing. So my husband and I, both being the curious types, stayed up to watch it. I knew Meat Loaf was in it for one song (I found out that even in his very early days, he was fat then, too)
Why did I watch it? At first, curiosity. It's a cult classic, and the music had to be good because they did a bunch of it on Glee. So I got as comfortable as I could, and watched it.
The acting in the beginning was humorously bad, as well as the setting of the old castle and creepy face. Then there was a very appealing and fun song and dance number early in, and of course I was curious about the main character and the entrance.
It went downhill from there very, very fast. I can now honestly say that this is probably the worst movie I have ever seen on so many different levels. It wasn't just bad, like a normal bad movie. The plot was sick and depraved from early on and it only got worse, even when I thought it couldn't get more sick or morose or depraved. It was sicker than sick. The only reason I watched it was so I would know how truly horrible it was. It looked like it was almost set up to be a comedy, but it wasn't funny. There was even a very gruesome part with a dead body that turned my stomach late in the movie.
I watch Bones and CSI, and even though the dead/decomosing bodies they show are bad and are enough to often turn my stomach, this was different, made so much worse by the mood and presentation of the dead body, and the plot section circulating around it.
Since there are fan clubs of people who dress up and sing and dance in celebration of this movie, I kept watching thinking it had to get better, or that some character had to come up with some small redeeming trait. Nope. There was none. The characters were depraved, lewd, and ending was tragic and it was awful. There was nothing good about this movie. I didn't even have a feeling that justice was served when the depraved main character died in the end, because the movie, plot, and characters were just so horrible. When it was over my husband and I stared at the lighted globe with the closing credits scrolling in total disbelief. It wasn't scary (ie the title has the word Horror). It was sick. Very sick. There is nothing fun or funny about this movie, entirely the opposite, worse becasue the depravity is treated lightly, the presentation belittles the serious depravity of the plot and characters, deceiving the viewer. No one would make a "fun" movie like this about Clifford Robert Olsen or Robert Picton or Jack the Ripper or Charles Manson, even if they made the character ficticious. There is nothing funny or redeeming or entertaining about the actions of such people.
If you haven't seen it and have any questions, email me. I'll tell you why you shouldn't watch it. I'll also tell you why your kids should definitely not watch it.
Earlier in the evening we'd watched Glee, which is one of my favorite shows, and they highlighted music from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and this piqued my curiosity.
Guess what was on late Saturday night, the day/night before Halloween? Yeah. The real thing. So my husband and I, both being the curious types, stayed up to watch it. I knew Meat Loaf was in it for one song (I found out that even in his very early days, he was fat then, too)
Why did I watch it? At first, curiosity. It's a cult classic, and the music had to be good because they did a bunch of it on Glee. So I got as comfortable as I could, and watched it.
The acting in the beginning was humorously bad, as well as the setting of the old castle and creepy face. Then there was a very appealing and fun song and dance number early in, and of course I was curious about the main character and the entrance.
It went downhill from there very, very fast. I can now honestly say that this is probably the worst movie I have ever seen on so many different levels. It wasn't just bad, like a normal bad movie. The plot was sick and depraved from early on and it only got worse, even when I thought it couldn't get more sick or morose or depraved. It was sicker than sick. The only reason I watched it was so I would know how truly horrible it was. It looked like it was almost set up to be a comedy, but it wasn't funny. There was even a very gruesome part with a dead body that turned my stomach late in the movie.
I watch Bones and CSI, and even though the dead/decomosing bodies they show are bad and are enough to often turn my stomach, this was different, made so much worse by the mood and presentation of the dead body, and the plot section circulating around it.
Since there are fan clubs of people who dress up and sing and dance in celebration of this movie, I kept watching thinking it had to get better, or that some character had to come up with some small redeeming trait. Nope. There was none. The characters were depraved, lewd, and ending was tragic and it was awful. There was nothing good about this movie. I didn't even have a feeling that justice was served when the depraved main character died in the end, because the movie, plot, and characters were just so horrible. When it was over my husband and I stared at the lighted globe with the closing credits scrolling in total disbelief. It wasn't scary (ie the title has the word Horror). It was sick. Very sick. There is nothing fun or funny about this movie, entirely the opposite, worse becasue the depravity is treated lightly, the presentation belittles the serious depravity of the plot and characters, deceiving the viewer. No one would make a "fun" movie like this about Clifford Robert Olsen or Robert Picton or Jack the Ripper or Charles Manson, even if they made the character ficticious. There is nothing funny or redeeming or entertaining about the actions of such people.
If you haven't seen it and have any questions, email me. I'll tell you why you shouldn't watch it. I'll also tell you why your kids should definitely not watch it.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Pumpkins, and more
Today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada, which set me thinking to all sorts of things. Rather than give the usual list of things I'm thankful for, or a lecture on why we should be thankful for our blessings every day (which I am, by the way), I thought I'd do something different.
While the season has changed from summer to fall, I think the time around Thanksgiving is when we can definitely see that winter is coming. I know Americans have a later thanksgiving, and by then winter is definitely more upon us.
I wanted to blog about pumpkins.
On our dog walk today, my husband and dogs and I walked past the local pumpkin patch. What a business they have! Over the years they have changed their marketing. When my kids were little they were running a small day trip for preschoolers and primary students - a tour of a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, and a petting zoo, and at the end the children went into the field and got a pumpkin. Let me tell you, for the price of the admission, that was a pretty expensive pumpkin, for the size of what a 6 year old would take home. They had to pick it and carry it out of the field and to the parking area.
Now, they have a corn maze, a small store for honey and other "farm" products, crafts for sale, and more. They also don't only run it during school days, it is every day. Today is Thanksgiving Day, and the place was very busy.
Which brings me to my topic of pumpkins.
Here in Canada, this was Thanksgiving weekend, when so many families want pumpkin pie. The idea here would be that we gut the pumpkin, or whatever you call it when you scrape the innards out, and then it would have to sit for 3 weeks before you use the shell for Halloween, if you do that kind of thing. Actually, I've only used a real pumpkin once for pies, I've always used canned pumpkin. That aside, I can't imagine having a pumpking shell around for 3 weeks waiting for Haloween. Wouldn't it get kinda stinky and gross?
For Americans, do you do the Jack O Lantern thing with your pumpkins, and save the guts for your pies to use on your Thanksgiving, which is about four weeks after Halloween. So it's the other way around. Does it last until pie making time?
Or you can do what I have done for the last dozen years. Buy the pie at the supermarket, and hang a rubber spider by the door. All problems solved.
While the season has changed from summer to fall, I think the time around Thanksgiving is when we can definitely see that winter is coming. I know Americans have a later thanksgiving, and by then winter is definitely more upon us.
I wanted to blog about pumpkins.
On our dog walk today, my husband and dogs and I walked past the local pumpkin patch. What a business they have! Over the years they have changed their marketing. When my kids were little they were running a small day trip for preschoolers and primary students - a tour of a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, and a petting zoo, and at the end the children went into the field and got a pumpkin. Let me tell you, for the price of the admission, that was a pretty expensive pumpkin, for the size of what a 6 year old would take home. They had to pick it and carry it out of the field and to the parking area.
Now, they have a corn maze, a small store for honey and other "farm" products, crafts for sale, and more. They also don't only run it during school days, it is every day. Today is Thanksgiving Day, and the place was very busy.
Which brings me to my topic of pumpkins.
Here in Canada, this was Thanksgiving weekend, when so many families want pumpkin pie. The idea here would be that we gut the pumpkin, or whatever you call it when you scrape the innards out, and then it would have to sit for 3 weeks before you use the shell for Halloween, if you do that kind of thing. Actually, I've only used a real pumpkin once for pies, I've always used canned pumpkin. That aside, I can't imagine having a pumpking shell around for 3 weeks waiting for Haloween. Wouldn't it get kinda stinky and gross?
For Americans, do you do the Jack O Lantern thing with your pumpkins, and save the guts for your pies to use on your Thanksgiving, which is about four weeks after Halloween. So it's the other way around. Does it last until pie making time?
Or you can do what I have done for the last dozen years. Buy the pie at the supermarket, and hang a rubber spider by the door. All problems solved.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
stuff happens - from nowhere
I have a story to share that was sent to me by my friend Dave Longeuay. I don't think this needs an intro. Here you go.
Dave Longeuay: Three years ago I went totally blind in one eye. It came out of nowhere, and developed in just a few days. After seeing three doctors, the Retinologist gave me an injection right in the eyeball. Yeah! It was as brutal as it sounds, especially since it was massively inflamed inside. I was finally diagnosed with UV eitis, which is chronic inflammation of the Uvea, the core of the eye.
I don't think I have anything I can add to that.
Have you ever had anything bad happen to you? What did you do to overcome it?
Dave Longeuay: Three years ago I went totally blind in one eye. It came out of nowhere, and developed in just a few days. After seeing three doctors, the Retinologist gave me an injection right in the eyeball. Yeah! It was as brutal as it sounds, especially since it was massively inflamed inside. I was finally diagnosed with UV eitis, which is chronic inflammation of the Uvea, the core of the eye.
For the next two years I was mostly blinded in the left eye by the rare disease. I was averaging 25 drops a day of prednisolone (steroids) to try and battle it. Finally the doctor at UCLA medical center, (World renowned for eye care.) told me to start taking Methotrexate, a chemo drug to prevent the eye from flaring up. It worked, but who wants to take a nasty drug like that for life with the life threatening side effects it has on its list?
When I confronted God about this (quite unhappily at that) He quoted scripture to me. Imagine that! God quoting scripture to me. A verse many of us have read and dreaded. (Hey, I'm just being honest. There are a few scriptures I wish I could delete. But the logical side of me knows that every single verse is there for a reason.)
God quoted, "My grace is sufficient for you." That's all He had to say on the matter and that's all I needed to hear from Him. "Okay," I said.
My take away from this ongoing life-long disease after having eye surgery last summer? It's not that I was going in any major bad direction before, but God has clearly rerouted my whole direction in life. I was heading one way and he has rerouted me elsewhere. While I'm not happy to revolve my life around my eye these days, I am happy He has allowed (Not caused) this disease to strike me for His purpose. Sorry to sound cliche on this but, I'm happy to "go with His flow". I'm also grateful that I have most of my vision back after years of treatments and surgery, but the residue damage is permanent until I get my new body, or until He decides to heal me in His timetable.
The irony: My career is videography. It takes a sharp eye to focus a camera in all types of corporate situations all day, and later edit with split frame precision, and have to color correct every shot for maximum quality. Many of these videos are viewed by military Generals, Homeland security and top government officials, so they have to look great. The miracle: My good eye does all the work! It completely takes over what the damaged eye lacks. Praise God!
I don't think I have anything I can add to that.
Have you ever had anything bad happen to you? What did you do to overcome it?
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