i heard this on the radio today...what a wonderful, interesting project it was. and to hear these children's voices, so sweet, so pure.

two days ago i received my 'live in chicago' cd from music today...today in the mail i received another copy. the receipts are identical, and i don't believe i was charged twice for it. two for the price of one. :) i own two of 'before these crowded streets' - i misplaced mine, and broke down and bought another. of course, as soon as i did, i found the first one. it is my favorite dmb studio album, so one is in my car disc changer, one in the living room disc changer. yes, i really like it....

the same thing happened when i ordered john mayer's 'room for squares'. aware records sent me two for the price of one. i think i need to start ordering more cds online...

oh my. i just made the most annoying grammar mistake ever. the one that drives me crazy. i misused the word its. you only use it's when it is a contraction form of it is. and in my previous post i used it's incorrectly. my humble apologies. and blogger now has spellcheck. i am a happy person.

my postal karma is out of balance again. i sent a package to a friend for her birthday. just some goofy kid toys - animals that grow in water (no! not that kind. the foam ones in little capsules), sparkly hair things, a tiny keychain version of perfection (perfection on a keychain - how'd they do that?)...a bunch of stuff. it fit into an 9"ish by 12"ish priority mail envelope. when it arrived it was in a plastic bag with a big notice that it was damaged in shipping. she said it looked like a truck ran over it. thankfully, the contents were still intact. i sent two more packages out today - another birthday present and some cads...i hope they make it. with all the postal hoopla (the postal service has no luck - first going postal, now this) i hope my postal karma gets better soon. so everyone send good mail (and good male, for that matter) vibes this way.

my mouse has become geriatric. it's growing gray hairs and it limps feebly across the mousepad. it was time to send it to the mouse nursing home - it's rollerball was malfunctioning and it needed a cane to get around.

so i took a trip to geek heaven - fry's electronics - for a replacement model. i was surprised at how many people, er, men, were there on a weekday afternoon, drooling over computers, home stereo systems and media centers. the home appliance department was eerily empty. none of them were there to buy vacuums, i guess.

ended up with a sleek new model - one that doesn't even move. well, it's not even a mouse, it's a trackball. my dad was developing carpal tunnel, and the doctor advised that he get a trackball. i tried his out last time i was home and liked it. he has only been using a computer on a day to day basis for 15 years...i will likely be using one for many more years than that (unless, of course, they develop another navigation tool. which may be quite likely. but i digress). added to the fact that climbing is murderous on your fingers and wrists (i will likely have arthritis by 30), i decided it would be a good purchase. i like it. and by spinning the ball you can make the cursor move REALLY fast. oh, the things that excite me.

it doesn't sound like these air raids are stopping anytime soon. i only hope we stop them before we turn our middle eastern allies against us. and now (duh!) they say they may never get bin laden. took 'em long enough to figure that out. didn't they look at a topographical map before they started this whole thing? hello? big mountains. tunnels. remote terrain. it's not like they are looking for a man in the middle of a barren desert. aren't we happy for bush's amazing intellect? argh.

i wish i were as eloquent as ron. another sweet story.

funnies.
mushroom kitchen
eugene mirman

one stolen from shep's suggestion. y'all need to smile today. and eat your veggies. mushrooms, that is. you don't have to eat the other ones. especially the brussel sprouts. it's just a fancy way of saying baby cabbages. and cooked cabbage? bleh.

ice cream. i have a bad habit. when there is ice cream with 'stuff' in it - browines, cookies, toffee bits, i could go on, but you know - i hunt out the good stuff, leaving the ice cream. many people do this, i'm sure. but, see, usually good ice creams come in pints. pints are not meant to be scooped from, they are meant to be eaten from. you take out that extra step of getting a bowl and having to scoop. you also avoid that 'this ice cream is to hard i can't scoop it' problem where you end up launching the scoop across the kitchen as you try, in vain, to get your ice cream asap and your hand slips. so, by eating from the pint, you are avoiding some health hazards of flying scoops. i usually have the self control to avoid eating the entire pint in one sitting (well, unless it is 'raspberry gone coconuts'). so i eat some, picking out the good stuff, with a little ice cream. there are two other people in my house, and i don't want them to know i took out the good stuff. so i mush the ice cream back over the holes i have created, attempting to cover the evidence. this usually works quite well. unless the good stuff is REALLY good. like cookie dough. that one got me in trouble...'why does this half pint of ice cream only have 3 hunks of cookie dough in it??' oops. so, if you invite me over for ice cream, make sure it is dulce de leche or something else smooth, ok?

yesterday and today must be life ponder days. what is it? something in the air? maybe because it is autumn, a season of change. are all of us twenty-somethings destined to wonder what we really want out of life? what we really should be doing? we have seen our parents work long hard hours and make many sacrafices to provide for us. my father has worked a job he disliked for years - it pays well, and he wants to provide for his family. (thanks, dad.) my mom worked too - and went to school, and kept the house clean, and spent time with me..she was superwoman. really. but i swore i'd never become my dad - working long hours at an unsatisfying job. you spend too many hours there to dislike it. i would find a job i loved. that paid well, too. but my ultimate goal was to be happy. but in the real world all i see is people working long long hours at unfulfilling desk jobs. is that all there is? is that where we are destined to be? i am trying to do it differently, but it is not easy. but, then, it's life. it's not supposed to be easy....

i need to run my rambles through spell check...that's what i get for typing whatever is on my mind - typing too quicky.

what i left of what i had to say earlier...
...while i enjoy what i do, something is missing.

missing from my job, perhaps. missing from my thoughts, missing from my life. and i am missing a dream. the first two i had didn't quite make it...i woke up before the end. everything is in a state sleeplessness now.

are you supposed to find satisfaction in what you do have and be grateful for that? or are you supposed to keep seeking until you find that thing, whatever it is, that gives you that complete, utter joy. contentedness. satisfaction? even if the journey there is something much bigger than you can really comprehend right now.

ponderous. really ponderous. thanks for indulging me today. my mind is slighly...oh, muddled.

"hold onto my dreams in a world of people who've stopped." i'm trying. i'm trying.

chad's back from his european adventures. and he has great news. congrats!

JUSTICE NOT VENGANCE - let us not become the evil we deplore

i saw this sign on a car today. i wish i would see it on more cars.

someone wanna buy me one of these?

ah, procrastination. on a sunday night. just like college. i have a big proposal due tomorrow, and i have been 'working on it' for days now. thought it was almost done. decided i want to change it. why? i don't know. though, my inlaws are downstairs. they're great people, but i just don't feel like talking. and i can hide up here at my computer. it's like i am scared that my confused.conflicted.c(well, some other c adjective)ed mind will reveal itself to them. and, hey, i am married to their son. don't want them to think i am as loony as i sometimes (well, more often than not recently) am.

i was listening to an inteview with aaron mcgruder today. he's the author/illustrator of the comic strip 'the boondocks'. i admired his strips last week - he took an interesting look on the 'yes i am a great american look at all the flags i fly and of course i wear my redwhiteandble ribbon everywhere' (whew) people. american culture baffles me. truly and completely. all of a sudden you are not a worthy citizen if you don't have old glory on your car anntenae, plastered in your living room window, worn across your chest.

i don't know how i feel about being an american anymore. yes, i am appreciative and grateful for the freedoms we have. but our consumerist culture disgusts me. our lack of understanding - hell, refusal to acknowledge - of other countries and cultures is sad. why does everyone in the world have to do it our way to be successful? there are many ways to live. it's confusing. i don't want to see more people die. and i am struggling to see how these bombs are winning this war. and i worry that bush will use the war to attack the environment - to drill for oil in alaska, further cut finding to our wilderness areas. you may think it is silly to worry about the earth in a time of such crisis, but i do. though, the cynical side of me is worried that we will now destroy the human race before we have a chance to destroy our environment...

sunday night's ramblings were brought to you by the bog monster.