Bring YOUR wild things to see OUR wild things!

That's this year marketing campaign for the Indianapolis Zoo. Pretty cute isn't it!

I've been wanting to go again for the longest time. This past weekend was so beautiful weather wise. Heavenly to tell you the truth! So I asked Mom if she would come with me. I was a fantastic day!

I've never been this close to a rhino;

I was thinking of someone when I took this picture;

The giraffes were pretty cool too!

And of course there were elephants! Our zoo happens to be one of the best in the world for making African elephant babies! We have a couple right now. In the back, you can see one laying on the ground with it's mama  :-) Oh, check out those blue skies fluffy clouds!

It's just a number...right?

It seems like I’ve been talking about age a lot lately. Why is that? I guess it’s because there are a lot of birthdays in our family during the summer. Plus there was that not so charming “elderly” comment from Bill.

Speaking of Bill – he turned 65 last week. He’s not happy about it. I think it was the whole Medicare thing that really freaked him out! But age is just a number. Right.

I read an article not too long ago that said the thing men fear most about getting older is losing their physical abilities. You know, they can’t lift that car off the ground anymore. And it takes them longer to get things done. I can see that that is starting to bug Bill. He needs help with things he didn’t use to. I hope he settles down soon.

Then there was Mom’s birthday last month. And we were talking about my brother’s birthday next year. He’ll be 50 next year. I remember when Mom turned 50. We had a surprise party for her in Las Vegas. I thought she was kinda old. My Mom is 50?!?! Wow! A half a century! Geez! Remember when your parents turned 50? Didn’t you think they were SO OLD?! But when I turned 50, I didn’t think I was old at all! Hahahahahahaha.

Funny things have been popping up though, that make me realize MY age. One of my bosses, my age, walked through the other day singing “Walk This Way”. One of the woman who works in our office said, “hahaha, you know a Run DMC song” The boss and I started laughing! It’s not a Run DMC song, it’s an Aerosmith song! She so much younger though, she thought Run DMC did the song originally. Good grief. Then, the other day I was working on some travel arrangements for the CFO and I needed his date of birth. He was born in 1977. OMG! That’s the year I graduated High School! Ugh.
I’ve also started to notice that sometimes when I look in my closet, I see clothes that a ‘mature’ woman would wear. I’m going shopping right away!!!

It's a jungle out there!

I know I've said it before, but lets re-cap the wildlife I've seen IN or around our yard;

This guy belongs to our neighbor. Everybody knows him :-)

this thing grows up to be one of these, which we've also had;

and now to top it off, we have THESE in the garage!

Is this normal? Is it?! Maybe the rabbits. But come on. I saw a fox in the yard before I saw a mouse in the garage? This is NOT the country. The only thing I haven't seen is a coyote, and we do have those around. Oh, and possums. We have those too. I've just never seen one in the yard. And hawks, turkey vultures, and owls. Geesh! We're just a couple critters from opening our own wild animal parks!

english isn't hard to learn!

The bandage was wound around the wound. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse We must polish the Polish furniture. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. They were too close to the door to close it. The buck does funny things when the does are present. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. The sow would never sow the fields. The wind was too strong to wind the sail. After a number of injections my jaw got number. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Jurors

Really now, you thought I wouldn’t weigh in?

OK, there is a criminal justice system in this country. For the most part, it fair. I’m not going to comment on George Zimmerman or Trayvon Martin. I didn’t know them. I wasn’t there. I’m not a cop. I didn’t watch the entire trial on TV and I wasn’t in the courtroom during the trial and I didn't witness the crime. Therefore, my opinion of guilt or innocence would be based on whatever I hear or read in the news.

It’s my understanding however, that originally, George Zimmerman was not held or arrested for the murder of Trayvon Martin. That occurred because of public outcry – which was solely based on race. I don’t care (metaphorically) what the rules are, but if you murder someone, even in self defense, you should have to go downtown. The police did in fact cuff and escort Mr. Zimmerman to the police station, where they questioned him thoroughly. Eventually, no charges were pressed because it was clear to the police that it was self defense.

OK, no comments on the trial from me. Remember, I wasn’t there.

Before I go any further…what happened was a tragedy. A young man lost his life. Another man will bear that knowledge for the rest of his.

So now we’re to the jury deliberation and the verdict. Not guilty. The system was served. Obviously not everyone is going to like the verdict. Every trial everywhere is just like that. Some happy people, some, not so much.

This morning I read that they are offering counseling to the jurors. I think that’s a terrific idea. They’ll need it! Now we’re to the part where I can speak from experience. Several years ago I was picked for a jury on an attempted murder trial. I wouldn’t want to do it again and on my way home on my last day at the courthouse, I cried. It was a release. It had been stressful. It was tough. I was glad to have severed on a jury and it was really interesting to see firsthand, how things work. Then the trial was over and the judge gave us our instructions. Let me say here, unless you’re in the court room, the public really has no idea what the judge’s instructions are. Those weigh heavily on the juror. Sometimes they can be the deciding factor. Then there’s the definition of the law. Also, pretty dicey. You would think it’s pretty clear cut, a definition. It’s not. You have to talk about it…a lot. My jury was released for deliberation at about 10:00am. We didn’t leave that room. If we needed to use the restroom, we were escorted to and from. We finally reached our verdict at about 3:00. When the verdict was read, the courtroom was packed. There were a dozen Sheriffs in the room as well. The halls were packed. Local media was everywhere. The verdict was read – not guilty – we were released and taken to a back room. About 30 minutes later, the judge came in and thanked us and asked us if we had any question about the trial. We all talked for another 30 minutes or so. We waited to leave. Finally the bailiff came in with a couple Sheriffs and told us they were going to escort us out “the back way” because of the media etc. Geesh! It’s a serious burden, to decide on the fate of another human being. To top it off, the State Prosecutor, whom I had A LOT of respect for at the time, told the media the next day that he was very disappointed in the verdict and the jurors. I was crushed and angry! He should of tried the case. I can’t even imagine how the Zimmerman/Martin jurors feel! They have to deal with a whole country's emotions! They did the job their state asked of them and it wasn't easy for them.

Think about that.

And the next time you get a notice for jury duty – go. You might be sorry but you won’t regret it.

TMJ and happiness

I was told after a doctor’s visit for an excruciating ear ache, that I had TMJ. That was almost 20 years ago. I was referred to a TMJ specialist who told me to stop chewing gum and wear this bite guard as much as possible during the day and every night. I did. I did because the pain if I didn’t was intolerable. I also had a habit of clenching my jaw. The bite guard broke me of that habit during the day. Then my jaw started to feel a lot better. And, as most folks are want to do after the pain goes away, I wore the bite guard less and less. Then I stopped altogether.

Apparently it never goes away though. RATS!

A couple months ago I caught a cold. Just a regular old cold. Except that my ear was clogged and it wouldn’t go away. A month later I had an appointment with an ENT. He said…did you know that you have TMJ? Yes. Do you chew a lot of gum? OMG! Yes. Every day. All day! Well stop doing that – forever. What?!?! Noooooo! Agh! Do you have a bite guard? No. Call your dentist. Also, you have some arthritis in your joint. What! Anyway, it turns out that the reason my ear feels plugged up is because of the pressure of my swollen joint. Of course. Like I don’t have enough trouble with my ears. Grrrr.

I am an enthusiastic gum chewer too. As a matter of fact, giving up gum is proving to be harder than quitting smoking!

Crapola.

Now for the happiness...
Harry Connick Jr. tonight!!! Yippee!

movies

It’s so interesting what makes a movie popular or a bomb.

 

Is it really all about marketing? Word of mouth? Critical reviews? Storylines?

Well, it’s not really critical reviews, is it? Some of the most critically acclaimed movies were box office sleepers.

It’s not all about the story either. I’m a big Die Hard fan but I thought the last one wasn’t very good. It was driven mostly by impossible special effects. And don’t get me wrong here, I LOVE special effects. I want some kind of story though.
In my opinion, it’s all about marketing and word of mouth. Signs didn’t do very well at the box office. I loved it though. I think it was word of mouth that scared people away on that one. Most people went to see it because they thought it was going to be about aliens, and it wasn’t.
John Carter was a complete flop for Disney. That was super poor marketing. They couldn’t define, in the movie trailer, what it was about. I saw it a few weeks ago. I thought it was alright. Not flop worthy. The Lone Ranger is a big flop too. But why? I haven’t seen it but I’m guessing that Tonto might be a little too quirky.

It’s also interesting to me what determines a smash kid’s movie. OK, so anything by Pixar is pretty much guaranteed to be great. But they are almost completely driven by marketing and reputation. And do you ever wonder who, how and why a movie’s characters are chosen to be marketed? Who (originally) picked the characters from Star Wars to become action figures or other kinds of toys?

Not surprisingly, I actually have a reason for bringing all of that up. I have to confess that I have minion love. BIG minion love. You know, from the movie Despicable Me? The minions were awesome little characters! I was SO disappointed that Universal never marketed them. There are NO little plastic minion figures. Phooey. Happily, it turns out that I am not the only one who feels that way about the minions! I bet they took Universal by surprise too! Anyway, now that Despicable Me 2 is out…there are tons of little plastic minions to buy!! I’m SO HAPPY! I haven’t ever collected little movie figurines, but I AM going to have ALL of these!!

crap in the news...

30,000 inmates in California prisons have refused their meals in protest of unfair treatment.

You know, first of all, THEY are the ones going hungry. Great way to protest. I mean really, you're criminals, why should I care if you don't eat? And 2nd, you're criminals and you're protesting unfair treatment??? What? OK, to be honest, it appears that they don't like long term solitary confinement. That's what they're protesting. They're fellow inmates don't get to be mean to anybody else. So sad.

 

Next up;

Did you happen to see the article on Yahoo about immigration reform? It had to do with the lack of cherry pickers and apple pickers and corn pickers. All that produce is going to rot on the ground because they can’t get any illegal’s to work for them. The best part of the article was the comment section afterwards. It was full of suggestions like, let’s put welfare recipients to work. Let’s get the prison system involved. Oh, and how many unemployed American’s are there?? What I didn’t see though were any comments directed toward the obvious agenda of the article. Hmmmm. People really can be so dense!

 

And I know this isn’t exactly new news but it’s crap nonetheless;

Cronuts. Need I say more?

 

IRS chief Danny Werfel told employees on Tuesday he's working to stop bonuses and instead cut back on furloughs.
The news comes after an outcry over IRS plans to award $70 million in bonuses by Sept. 30. Werfel told his 90,000 Internal Revenue Service workforce that he aims to reverse the plan to award bonuses, according to a memo. He blamed the move on the sequester -- the $85 billion in forced spending cuts that has hit all federal agencies.
In MY home state, government workers didn’t get a raise for  2 years because the budget couldn’t afford it. And bonuses? Forget about it. I don’t have anything else to say about that.

And lastly; Barbie got a “real” make-over. Here is the Barbie you grew up with alongside what a “real” girl would like. Oh I know all about teaching your daughters to love themselves etc. But Barbie? That’s how you want to start to change a whole culture?

I'm what!?!?!?!?!?

Sometimes I'm so startled by something someone says to me that I just burst into laughter!

I was talking to my mostly charming husband today about Lumosity. (Look it up)
I told him that my best brain functions are flexibility and problem solving. He said, "flexibility?" Yeah, he lost some charming points for that. Then I fessed up and told him my worst brain function is attention - no surprise there. Attention was closely followed by memory. Which makes sense right? If you have the attention span of a kitten, naturally your memory would suck too. His next witty retort was, "yeah, but that happens to elderly people" WHAT? I'm ELDERLY??? OMG!!! I AM!!!!! I just laughed and laughed and laughed. He said, "it's not that funny sweetie". Oh yes it is! I completely forgot that I've grown older. Oh wait...that's a memory issue right? Ha! Because I'm elderly. Wooweee that's funny! I just remembered that I have a fondness for Malibu rum and vanilla Coke...think I'll have one. I better live it up man, being elderly and all.


Next up, and this is totally unrelated, a letter from Stephen King...This is in regard to the TV show currently airing called, Under the Dome. It's not really a mini-series. I think it's more like a summer series. Anyway, I thought the book was too long at over 1000 pages. And the end was a big disappointment to me. But I liked it enough to tune into the pilot of the TV series. But because my memory sucks, I don't remember all the little details of the novel. Truthfully though, I probably skipped over them. A lot of fans are really ticked off though, that the TV show isn't like the book. I've felt that way about some of the novels I've read that have been turned into movies, etc. But I won't ever think that way again because of this interesting article;

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/utd_on_tv/letter.html

Purdue

This weekend I finally finished the bartered job, Purdue. Which I bartered for the super cool wooden pens.

I’m SO HAPPY to be finished with it! I didn’t like it. Oh, it turned out fine. I just didn’t enjoy doing it. I’ve decided that I don’t really like doing small letters. And the colors were ugly. And it was hard. It’s 5x7 in an 8x10 frame. First of all, notice how the letters are a different color on the outside then they are on the inside. Yeah, not easy but totally cool looking.

  Also, I don't like the black on black. You can't see the quilling. To top it off, I really suck at painting straight lines!

He really liked it, which is what counts but now I get to move on to something that’ll be more fun!