For the Love of Moose

Everyone who knows me knows that I have a completely inexplicable softspot for moose. They are so huge and ungainly and ridiculous looking, but I react to them just like I would to a baby bunny - they just make my heartstrings strum. And as justification for my insistence that they deserve a greater "awww" factor, check out this video of a Mama Moose sending her twin baby moose to play in the sprinkler left on in someone's backyard. This is sweetness in its essence.


random note: Sunshine would say the moose are playing in the "sprinkles" which always makes me think of diving into a big colorful ice cream sundae.

Anne Geddes, eat your heart out

Yes, this really is my daughter, not just a model standing in as one of my off-spring.

Seriously, does it get any cuter than this????

This is one of about a million amazing portraits we just had done at Portrait Innovations, I happily recommend them to anyone looking for a good photo studio.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Fascist

So one of the perks of my job is that I get to coordinate and stage manage a talent show every summer for our annual event. We work with students with an amazing array of "talents" so I get proposals for all kinds of acts. Everything from world-class musicians and dancers to a guy who wants to recite from his doctoral thesis on tree shrews. I kid you not.

So as part of trying to figure out which proposals will actually be entertaining, which is the point, and also because the company is ultimately responsible for anything we put on stage, I asked everyone to submit the text or lyrics for anything they were reading, singing, dancing to, or otherwise using in their act. A reasonable request? I thought so. All my colleagues thought so (besides the fact that it's policy). And all 38 people who had signed up for the talent show thought so - except for one guy.

THIS guy, who is a very talented professional poet, someone who I was over the moon about getting to have read for the talent show because of the caliber of his writing, decided that having to submit his writing for "approval" was offensive and "smacks of fascism and is anathema to free speech." Um, HELLO??? Are you telling me that of all the works you've published, your editors just have your poems printed up without looking at them first because, well you know, free speech and all. They wouldn't want to censor anyone.

So if anyone out there is looking for an authority on how to make people think you're a fascist, let me know - I'm out to clean up the lack of morals of our declining society, one grumpy poet at a time.

I picked up a tag-by-default from RPH Mommy, one of my favorite bloggers, to do a current favorite music list. Here are the "rules":

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Since no one has left any comments at all and I must therefore assume that no one is reading my poor sad little blog (boo), if you want to play just leave me a comment. PLEASE. :-)

1. Love Song, Sara Bareilles. I cannot get over how catchy and clever this song is. When I learned that it was written TO the recording studio because they insisted that she write a love song because "that's what sells," it just made me love it more. The rest of this album is awesome too, but I think I would be missing the point if I just listed 7 of her songs here.

2. anything played by Django Reinhardt. I've loved this music forever and just recently discovered who and what it really is, thanks to my brilliant and generous friend Robin. It is the soundtrack of my happy busy summer.

3. This Side, Nickel Creek. "It's foreign on this side..." Married half a decade, 2 kids, who knew?

4. Everyday, Dave Matthews Band. A little nostalgia, but I also sing "Pick me up, love!" everytime I pick up my 3-year-old Sunshine and swing her up in the air, so it's in my head a lot.

5. I See the Moon, traditional. I picked it up from watching the movie Evening. This somehow became the default baby song for Baby Bear, so we all sing it all the time for her. Sunshine really likes it too, especially when we spot the moon each night.

6. Fly Me to the Moon, Frank Sinatra. Don't know why, it's just been stuck in my head a lot lately. Guess I'm feeling the need to travel.

7. ummmmm...can't believe I'm having trouble coming up with another song. Comedown by Bush? It popped up on iTunes shuffle last night and both Sunshine and Baby Bear really liked dancing to it. Weird the things your kids will decide they like.

Okay, so that's my list. What's on yours?

Backhand like Seles

(I don't actually know anything about professional tennis, so if Monica Seles ha a terrible backhand, just pretend I picked someone who has an incredible and deadly backhand instead. That's the point.)

Yesterday, our CFO and a couple other finance folks called to ask if I could put together some data for them. It wasn't a huge deal, but I talked it through with them to make sure I knew exactly what they wanted, and said I could squeeze the extra task in and have it to them by Monday morning. No biggie.

So I stop at my local coffee spot this morning for a nice dose of java and some pastry accompaniment, and I happened to run into the aforementioned CFO. He greets me pleasantly, we chat for a moment about coffee, and then he launches into this:
Him: "I was really impressed by your calm response yesterday!"
Me: "...."
Him: "You really took it in stride."
Me: ".......ummm, did you think I would....panic?"
Him: "No, I just mean, it was the perfect corporate response."
Me: ".......uh, thank you?"
[pause]
Him: "So now tell me, who exactly do you work with again?"

Are you serious? "Perfect corporate response"? What am I, an intern? "Who do you work with"? I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 4 YEARS AND THERE ARE ONLY 38 PEOPLE IN OUR OFFICE. Do you seriously not know???

It coulda been me

I have become addicted to a new (to me) webcomic called Questionable Content by J. Jacques. Other than the terrific artwork and the snappy and often hilarious script, I think it appeals to me so much because the characters are terrific compilations of some of my favorite real-life people and situations. Plus the fact that my best friend from college and I daydreamed about opening our own coffee shop, and I like to think it would have been at least as much fun as Coffee of Doom

Make sure you pay attention to all the stuff in the background. It's also fun to just skim through the archives and read the titles - they don't always have anything to do with the comic, but they are another string of humor adorning the rest of the laughs.

You should really start at the beginning - the artwork isn't as great at first but it matures pretty quickly, and it's totally worth it to get the background on the characters and all the inside jokes.