Reality is still soooo overrated

Today I'm just so sick of real life! Everyone at work was annoying. The weather sucks (chilly and rainy). The Cubs are off. The Republicans are dominating the airwaves, and they annoy me, too. What I need tonight is an escape from reality, a safe and familiar place to retreat to, while I curl up in a ball on the couch. What I need is …

That Girl!

The Season Four DVD set just arrived and the timing ideal. I am having a silly, tranquil time, watching Ann Marie's wacky career-girl adventures, whimsical and sweet relationship with Donald, and impossibly expansive wardrobe. I loved this show when I was in grade school, and it's wonderful to get reacquainted with it.

DAY 04 -- September Fitness Challenge

I feel kinda bad writing this, considering I didn't work out today and began drinking beer at about 3:30. But still, my lunch was STELLAR! 2 hard-boiled eggs (a good source of both protein and those B vitamins I need) and grapes (vitamin C) and instead of dessert, yogurt (calcium) with blueberries (fiber and vitamin C). It was actually filling, too.

Didn't improve my mood, though. Maybe more beer …

I know why Don Draper drinks

It's raining. I lost my ID, so I'm trapped on this floor. The Cubs have been losing. And at this very moment I hate the head of account services. Let me rephrase that: I always hate her, but at this moment, I especially hate her. Don Draper would understand.

Fortunately the Friday Beer Cart arrived a day early. Just in time to help me with my mood. It's not the high-class hootch Don Draper drinks, but then, this isn't TV.

Thursday Thirteen #84 -- Putting the "Business" in Show Business

THIRTEEN MOVIE STARS
WITH POSITIVE ROIs

According to Forbes.com, these are the movie stars who more than pay for themselves. The dollar amount next to each name indicates how much each of their movies makes per dollar of their salary.*

1) Vince Vaughan — $14.73
2) Tobey McGuire — $13.44
3) Julia Roberts — $13.19
4) Brad Pitt — $12.73
5) Naomi Watts & Matt Damon — each at $12.15
6) George Clooney — $11.56
7) Jennifer Aniston — $10.48
8) Hugh Jackman — $9.90
9) Ben Stiller — $9.50
10) Renne Zellweger — $9.49
11) Kate Winslet — $9.48
12) Reese Witherspoon — $8.91
13) Jodie Foster — $8.59

My favorite movie star, Bruce Willis, came in at #19 with a respectable $6.86 payback. From a purely financial aspect, the worst investment is currently Nicole Kidman at $1.01.

P.S. YES! Johnny Depp is in the Top 20! But this is Thursday Thirteen, not Thursday 20. Plus I think that after the success of the Pirates movies, his asking price went up, which naturally makes his ROI go down. My guess would be that next year, Vince Vaughan won't be #1. The studios look at this and say, "Vince is a bargain." I bet some around Vince look at this and say, "You're underpaid."

*Forbes determines how much a movie makes by adding worldwide theatrical box office and the first three months of DVD sales. These numbers represent three films in the last five years, so actors who don’t work that often weren't considered. To see exactly which movies included in the tabulation, click here.

Include your link in the comments and I'll add you here:

1) Sandy shares the joys of being an early riser
2) Anthony North looks at aging -- or do I mean "maturity?"
3) Hootin Ani shares the gentle humor of Erma Bombeck
4) Claudia talks about her summer
5) Slender Octopus shares the history of the Australian flag
6) Nicholas shares slang from his side of the ocean
7) Lori gives us clues on how to spot a healthy relationship)
8) Small Reflections has an equine TT
9) Popping Bubbles has a movie TT, and I love movie TTs
10) Malcolm has a legal/movie TT, and it's great
11) Qtpies shares some "strange visions"
12) Elaine's TT is a tribute to classic movie stars
13) Patsy goes random on us!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

DAY 03 -- September Fitness Challenge

Lunch at my desk again. But instead of what I REALLY wanted (a grilled cheese or a cup of nice, creamy clam chowder), I dined on salmon salad on wheat bread. Salmon is supposed to be high in B vitamins and protein … nutrients I'm supposed to make sure I get. I feel quite virtuous. Pudgy and out-of-shape, but virtuous.

Greg Maddux gets 354th win

"He was great," Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said of Maddux, who notched victory No. 354 to tie Roger Clemens for eighth place on the all-time list. "I mean, the first three guys up in the game get base hits and then he just shuts them down completely." From the LA Times.

Ah, my beloved future Hall of Famer ...

Thinking positive

My Cubs have lost four in a row. They are even losing consistently at home, something that was, until this homestand, unheard of.

I know, I know. It's a long season and streaks like this are bound to happen. It's September, for God's sake, and we're still comfortably in first place.! Things will turn around soon (hopefully tonight at 7:05).

Times like this are just part of being a Cub fan.

On my mind

I hate bullies. I hate bullies more than I hate global warming, Republicans, or Roger Clemens. (Wait! He IS a bully!) I have always believed that it's the duty of the bigger to help the smaller, not hurt them. To me, that's even more important than the Golden Rule.

Which is why I can't get Saturday out of my mind.

My friend Tony and I were gossiping about the sad and squirrelly Caylee Anthony case in Florida. I said I thought the mom did something stupid, like leave her daughter in the car while she went to party and the poor tot died in the heat. Or maybe she didn't watch her closely enough in the pool.

Tony said maybe the mom lost her temper and struck her daughter, over and over. He said he could understand how it happened -- that when his now teenaged daughter was a toddler, she argued about everything and once had a loud, angry tantrum right in her exhausted father's face. He said he slapped her hard, on each cheek, while yelling at her. His wife intervened, scooping up the 3 year old and telling her husband to go outside and cool off.

I had no idea this happened, or even that Tony had it in him. I've known him more than half my life, and still I'm shocked.

His daughter seems fine. She has a boyfriend, has been visiting colleges, plays in the band. She and her father clash over how much she owes him for gas and how often she goes over her allotted cell phone minutes, but that doesn't sound serious, does it?

I am trying not to dwell on this, but it keeps coming back. I hope it won't change how I feel about Tony. The incident happened so long ago. But still ...

DAY 02 -- September Fitness Challenge

I missed my workout today because deadlines loomed! So instead I was healthy by choosing my lunch with greater care than usual. My carry-out container included 3 compartments -- 1) roasted turkey; 2) chopped salad; 3) fruit salad. I'm telling myself that the fruit salad was my dessert.

See how easy, Ms. Snowbird? Are you sure you don't want to come along?

Tuesday Tunes #11

Word associations: You tell us what musical, band/artist, song, album etc each word makes you think of:

Technology: "Video Killed the Radio Star" Buggles
Exercise: "Physical" Olivia Newton John
Punch: Nada. Zip. Zilch. I'm coming up with nothing here.
Temperature: "(Love Is Like a) Heatwave" Martha and the Vandellas
Fire: "We Didn't Start the Fire" Billy Joel
Clothes: "Dress You Up in My Love" Madonna
Doll: "Rag Doll" Aerosmith
Sweet: "How Sweet It Is to be Loved By You" Sweet Baby James Taylor
Makeup: "Lipstick on Your Collar" Connie Francis (and I HATE Connie Francis, so I'm just thrilled to have this one playing over and over in my head now!)
Drunk: "Tequila Sunrise" Eagles

To play along yourself, and see if other bloggers do better with"punch" than I did, click here.

The GOP VP's nominee favors teaching "abstinence only"

From MSNBC.com: "Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain."

I feel terrible for the poor girl. Being a pregnant senior must be rough enough. Being a pregnant senior and the daughter of the Republican vice presidential nominee has to be worse.

But, when your mother is the friendly Hockey Mom who is so comfortable telling the rest of us what we should do if we become pregnant (and, as a rape survivor I find her stance incredibly insensitive), and what to teach the following generation about reproduction (abstinence only), this must be off-the-chart dreadful.

Also, Sarah Palin knew her daughter was pregnant when she agreed to be on this ticket. She also knew this story would come out. I am confused by a mother's decision to put her unmarried daughter's expanding waistline on display. If Governor Palin is sophisticated enough politically to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, she must realize that her daughter's condition is going to be the hot topic of talk radio and cable TV. I hope she was able to adequately explain to 17-year-old Bristol how much attention her condition would receive.

I am not looking at this as a Democrat. I'm looking at it as a woman. I say to Governor Palin, "Yenta, heal thyself." To her daughter, "Hang tough, Sweetie, you're in my prayers."

Day 01 -- September Fitness Challenge

I haven't been feeling well lately. Nothing huge … just tummy troubles and headaches and a pesky but minor skin infection. But it's all left me physically tired, and it's time to take my own health into my own hands.

So I am replacing my August Happiness Challenge with The September Fitness Challenge. Every day this month I will do something that is good for me ... I PROMISE! It can involve exercise or diet, but it has to be inarguably healthy for me.

Today I am stopping at the grocery store to pick up fruit to munch on instead of chocolate.

As you watch the Gustav coverage ...

Please keep Louisiana's furry population in mind. It's easy to give to the Louisiana SPCA because they have a storm-safe PO Box in Washington DC.

For even a small donation and a postage stamp, you can watch the coverage in your dry, safe livingroom and feel less helpless because you'll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you helped those who cannot help themselves.

When is a Duck a real ass?

When Mad Men is on, that's when.

As one who works in the creative department of an advertising agency, I was bound to be leery of "Duck" Phillips, the head of account services at fictional Sterling Cooper. After all, regardless of the decade, account executives restrict and sit in judgment of the creatives. It's just a fact of life.

Oh, and Duck is not very handsome, whereas Don (sigh) Draper, chief creative officer at Sterling Cooper, is sooooooo hot. If more CCOs were like Don Draper, I'd figure out a way to get to work on time.

All that account/creative tension aside, last night Duck did something fabulously unforgivable. His soon-to-be ex-wife gives him permanent custody of the family's well-behaved, beautiful and loyal dog, Chauncey. Duck keeps the dog at his side at the office, presumably until he can find an apartment (he's staying in a hotel) and a dog walker. After a completely shitty day, Duck is alone at the office, just him at Chauncey, and he finds himself tempted to jump off the wagon and have a drink. The only thing that stopped him was the sound of Chauncey's panting and those soulful canine eyes. Duck looks down at the one living being who depends on him and takes action. As the official website states in the recap: "Although he resists the temptation, he intentionally abandons his dog on the sidewalk outside the office."

He dumps the dog -- who has done nothing but love him -- after dark in the middle of Madison Avenue. Bastard. Asshole. Low-life worm.

That was awful, even for an account exec.

Sunday Stealing #1

Sunday Stealing: "The Finish This Sentence" Meme

1. My uncle once: took me skiing

2. Never in my life have I: gone skinny dipping

3. When I was five my parents: went out to dinner often with another couple named Bobby and Sonia.

4. High school was: hell

5. I will never forget to: take my keys when I leave the house!

6. Once I met: Bruce Springsteen, and he was a doll

7. There’s this boy I know: who takes his Pokemon card collection very seriously

8. Once, at a bar, I: wore a red fez with a yellow tassle, and it got me a few free beers from guys who wondered what was with the hat.

9. By noon, I’m: starving.

10. Last night I: emailed by best friend, who was arguing politics with his neighbor and was asking me for back-up over his Blackberry

11. If only I had: smaller thighs

12. Next time I go to church: I'll remember to bring something for the food drive

13. What worries me most is that I: will be a poor old lady living on Lower Wacker Drive in a discarded Kenmore refrigerator box

14. When I turn my head left I see: my cat, Reynaldo, who is sleeping in the sun

15. When I turn my head right I see: my really messy dining room table

16. You know I’m lying when I: say something gracious about one particular coworker

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: my thin thighs!

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: Kate of Padua

19. By this time next year I will: either still be in this job, or have been laid off

20. A better name for me would be: Sloppy Sue

21. I have a hard time understanding: Republicans

22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: pay better attention this time

23. You know I like you if I: tell you my troubles and ask about yours

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: depends … probably my mom

25. Take my advice, never: turn off a Cubs game before the final out. You never know for sure how it will turn out!

DAY 31 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

The Take Care Health Center in Walgreens. And my Cigna insurance. According to the APN who diagnosed it, this slight but tenacious infection is angular chelitis.

The small fissures that resemble paper cuts on either side of my mouth are not what makes me happy. But I'm delighted that I had somewhere to go on a Sunday during the Labor Day weekend where I would be seen without an appointment. Even better, I got a diagnosis and a prescription filled, all for $4.45.

I could have waited until Tuesday, made a doctor's appointment for some day in the future, and have to take a day off from work to see the doctor. By then an uncomfortable malady could turn into a really ugly, embarrassing, gross and uncomfortable malady. (The photos she showed me in her dermatology book were sooooo not pretty!) So I'm happy I was able to just walk on in to the Take Care Clinic.

Bless the Beasts and the Children

This weekend, please take a moment to reach out to those who need your help.

The Louisiana SPCA. This shelter performed valiantly during and after Katrina and is preparing to the same for residents during Gustav. It's a cruel twist of fate that they are called upon to protect homeless, abandoned and lost pets during a natural disaster again so soon. They are now closed to the public and hard at work evacuating all the critters currently in their care. For that reason, if you find it in your heart to help, send your contribution to their storm-safe Washington DC address:

Louisiana SPCA
PO Box 96495
Washington DC 20090-6495

Or, if it's easier, click here to make a donation online.

Muscular Dystrophy Association. Hey LAY-DEE! It's that time again! Send your gift to help cure this disease and help those who, in the meantime, are living with it. If you don't feel like picking up the phone and calling during the Jerry Lewis Telethon, you can send help here:

Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Headquarters
3300 East Sunrise Drive
Tucson, AZ 85718
1 800-FIGHT-MD

Go on. You'll feel better after you give. I promise.

Zach Morris, Thespian

Am I the only who is surprised that Mark Paul Gosselaar grew up to be a hard working, respected actor? He's being showcased in the new Stephen Bocho/TNT show, Raising the Bar, which premieres tomorrow night.

DAY 30 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

Done! Between Friday and Saturday I finished my chores. Grocery shopping -- check! Haircut -- check! Laundry -- check! Paid bills -- check! Called Mom -- check! Now this happy laborer can spend the next two days of her Labor Day Weekend doing whatever she pleases …

DAY 29 -- 08 August Happiness Challenge

My best friend. He now lives in the Boulder area, and his daughters (esp. the 6th grader) were soooo excited about having the DNC right nearby. He wanted to encourage their interest but naively thought it would be easy to just drive up to the Pepsi Center or Invesco/Mile High. As a campaign veteran, I wasn't surprised that he was shut out. But I also knew how to find celebratory events his family could enjoy without credentials. Last night he took advantage of one -- taking his family to the MSNBC viewing stand outside the Pepsi Center. I was so happy to get the download on their impressions of the historic night that Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee for President. He gave them a memory they will carry throughout their lives … and I helped.

Where's the logic?

John McCain insists that Barack Obama is not ready to be President, and he backs this up by choosing Governor Sarah Palin to be his Vice President. I'm sorry, but I don't get it.

Governor Palin assumed her current office less than two years ago. Before that, she was the mayor of a town with a population of less than 10,000.

John McCain is 72, and today he presented her as qualified to be Commander in Chief if something happens to him during his term. What about her qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency during a time of war? Dan Quayle had more experience in public office.

Governor Palin was very gracious today in acknowledging Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Rodham Clinton. I just hope voters who supported HRC don't just assume Governor Palin and the NY Senator have much in common in terms of domestic policy. They don't.

Peggy Noonan continues to annoy me

Ms. N., shown here are BARRACKS. The Democratic Presidential Nominee is named BARACK. Please make a note of it.

She was on MSNBC's Morning Joe, and she insisted on mispronouncing Obama's first name. I wanted to hear how moderate Republicans like Joe Scarborough and Mike Murphy felt about last night's speech, not her petty attempts at maintaining the misperception of Obama's "otherness." To remind "mainstream" America that he is not "one of us."

Peggy (or perhaps I should call her "Pee-Gay") Noonan is a smart woman. She knows Obama's name. This morning's behavior was beneath her.

I, on the other hand, like it

I'm watching Funny Lady. The critics eviscerated this movie, partly because it compares so poorly to Funny Lady. I agree it's not a classic, but I enjoy it. The songs are great, Babs looks positively glam, and as one who has seen Elf a million times, it's amazing to remember that decades ago, James Caan was quite hot.

DAY 28 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

Tra la! Tra la! All is going so well I'm almost dancing around my office. But, for the sake of decorum, I'll just spin around in my chair.

Hey, hey, holy mackerel, no doubt about it! The Cubs are on their way! What more needs to be said?

The Clinton Soap Opera is over. I love Bill Clinton when I don't see him often, so I completely adored his speech last night and am glad that both Bill and Hill were gracious as they got on board.

I'm so proud of my country today. Isn't it terrific that Obama will accept the nomination on the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech? I feel very patriotic just now.

Drinks with a friend. That's how I'm starting my long Labor Day weekend, which begins as soon as I leave the office. It's almost creepy how eager I've been to get home and get to my TV every night this week, what the Cubs winning on the road and the DNC. But tonight I'm going to have actual HUMAN CONTACT.

Thursday Thirteen #83 -- Who IS that guy?

Thirteen Products
Sold by Billy Mays

He begins all of his many, many TV commercials by announcing/shouting, “Billy Mays here!” My immediate response has always been, “So what?” But since I unintentionally spend more time with this leather-lunged pitchman than I do with members of my family, I decided to do a little research on him. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

His full name is William D. Mays. He was born in 1958 in McKees Rocks, PA. His birth sign is Cancer. He lives with his wife, Candace, in Odessa Florida. Their home is rumored to be worth $1.8 million.

Billy began his career a salesperson in Atlantic City, selling the “Washmatik” to passersby on the Boardwalk. His big break came when he met Max Appel, the founder of Orange Glo, in the 1993. Max hired Billy to sell their cleaning products on The Home Shopping Network. Today he is the CEO and major star of Mays Productions, Inc.

Here are 13 of the products he has promoted on TV:

1) Awesome Auger
2) The Bedazzler
3) Bloomin’ Onion Maker
4) Fixit Car Scratch Remover
5) Foodsaver
6) Hercules Wall Hook
7) Kaboom!
8) Lint-B-Gone
9) Oxi Clean
10) Never Scrub
11) Swiffer Sweeper Cleaner
12) Zorbeez
13) Mighty Putty (the only one I’ve ever purchased)

Include your link in the comments and I'll add you here:
1) Malcolm reveals the true identities of your favorite sitcom stars
2) Michelle takes a trip in the Way Back Machine
3) Sandy's TT is a tribute to one of my favorite activities
4) Small Reflections is creative, visual, and guaranteed to make you say, "aw ..."
5) Ashley Ladd critiques her own cooking
6) Gnostic Minx has a highly visual and thought provoking TT
7) Popping Bubbles has a reading list for the kid in you
8) Marcia looks back ... way back!
9) Anthony shares a poem
10) Hootin' Ani's TT is tasty
11) Meju looks at towns with unusual names
12) Lori reviews her summer
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

DAY 27 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

Lunch with a legend. Today at lunchtime, I took in Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend at the Chicago Cultural Center. First of all, the Cultural Center is a beautiful old building, once Chicago's Public Library, and it's a treat just to walk around in it. Second, the exhibit was FREE. And, of course, it was Marilyn.

Marilyn fascinates me both as a movie star and as an icon. On screen, she was a delight. Funny and luminous. Her material often seems dated today, but she never does. Whatever was going on in her tumultuous personal life, her movie persona is always upbeat, sweet and vulnerable.

As an icon, she is captivating. Brave and sad sometimes, silly at others, often teetering between "vulnerable" and "victim." Especially in the photo shoots toward the end of her life, she seems to be trying to tell us something. Her loneliness is so powerful it reaches out to us across the decades. The actual photos -- many in glorious black and white -- are far more compelling than the artists' interpretations of her life and myth.

On a lighter note, I'm proud to report I resisted EVERYTHING in the museum gift shop!

Well, lookee here!

Thanks to Ms. Kwizgiver, I am officially a Kick Ass Blogger!

Instructions:
1. Choose five other bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
2. Let them know that they have received an award.
3. Link back to the person who awarded you.

So now it is my pleasure to pass this along to five other ass kickers …

Cupcake -- A teacher who kicks Genius ass every day, fights the good fight, and has mostly the same taste in Celebrity Boyfriends as I do

Book Mama -- A book lover, safety advocate, wife, daughter (of the lovely and supportive Snowbird), sister and working mom to two adorable blond kidlets, and she blogs about it all with wit and sensitivity

Jenny McB -- A blogger who talks about everything from golf to knitting to motherhood to pets to politics. But she doesn't do it enough! So I hope that this prestigious award will be a "kick in the ass" to get her back to her keyboard more regularly. We miss her when she's AWOL.

Silver Neurotic -- The blogger of The Quarter Life Chronicles, she generously shares with us as each new phase of her life unfolds. The issues she confronts, and the way she writes about them, make me think.

No Nonsense Girl -- The only foreigner on this list. She is funny, unconventional, and has a heart as big as her home country, Canada. I admire her indomitable spirit.

"No way. No how. No McCain."

I haven't always been a fan of Hillary Clinton's. OK, I've never been especially fond of Hillary Clinton, not even when I was a loyal Clintonista. But tonight I don't feel like dwelling on that. Right now, I admire the speech she just gave at the DNC.

"We don't need four more years of the last eight years."

Specifically, to her supporters: “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible? You haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months or endured the last eight years to suffer through more failed leadership. No way, no how, no McCain.”

I don't love Hillary, but I loved this speech.

I do love Bill Clinton. In spite of it all. Let's see how he does tomorrow ... Gotta go. Hard to type with crossed fingers.

PS Wasn't Chelsea great, too? That girl grew up before our eyes and I'm pleased that she appears so poised and confident.

DAY 26 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

I'm starting to feel healthy again! This month was kind of rough on me physically -- lots of headaches, one a vicious migraine, wild mood swings and some tenacious tummy trouble. That meant more meds, more couch time, less exercise. As I felt better, I began to ease back into working out. Suddenly, over the past week or so, my ferocious craving for Cheez-Its has been replaced by an irresistible yen for ... are you ready? ... SALAD! Snow peas and lettuce and diced peanuts. Much better for me than Cheese Goldfish crackers.

Like running into my Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

As I walked home from the train this evening, I passed an elderly lady walking toward the el stop. She was short and white-haired and obviously in a hurry to catch that train. Her face was deeply lined, her eyes obscured by purple sunglasses. Those glasses were really pretty hip, and they matched her purple bag. On the bag, front and center, was an Obama '08 pin.

You go, girl!

I say a little prayer

I worked five years at an advertising agency that was run by a gentleman. A gentle man, too. I can't stress how rare that is in this business. The day he retired was one of the saddest of my professional life, for once the agency was taken over by a multi-national network, my world changed and was never to be the same.

He was a tough, savvy but honorable businessman. He treated his employees and clients equally well and was proud to have long relationships with both. He discouraged interoffice politics and power plays by saying, "Don't waste your time kissing my ass. Kiss up to your clients! If they're happy, and you're happy, I make money and I'm happy." In an industry filled with ravenous egos, he was a rarity.

I just got word that he has non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I hope that he recovers fully and can go back to relaxing and enjoying his retirement. He is special, and deserves only good things.

10 Things I Didn't Like About School

As you read this, it might help to know that I have always suspected Ally Sheedy's character in The Breakfast Club was based on me.

1. The Monday car pool, because that's the day when my dad drove -- it was always good to start the week by being humiliated in front of four other girls

2. Most of my teachers

3. Most of my classmates, especially the really "peppy" ones filled with school spirit

4. Having to see so much of my older sister, who was on an Honor Roll goodie-goodie and only year ahead of me

5. Lunch if my best friend Judy wasn't there -- then I had to find someone else to sit with, and it was torture

6. Assemblies (see above)

7. Homework

8. Math (I was right -- as an adult I have NEVER used it!)

9. Phys Ed

10. No air conditioning made the beginning and the end of the school year BRUTAL

To play along yourself, or to see how others responded, click here.

Tuesday Tunes #10

Google or use a photo from your collection of something that involves your summer. Then tell us what music figured in the most on your summer playlist this year.

The reason for the beer bottle is two-fold:

1) The team I love with every fiber of my being -- that would be the team with the best record in the National League, The Chicago Cubs -- is having a storybook season. Whether I'm at a Cubs game, or watching a Cubs game, or listening to a Cubs game through my headphones, it's better with a cold beer.

2) "You take a drink, then pass the bottle around …" The first line from "Heart and Soul," my favorite song on my favorite new CD, Peace, Love and BBQ by Marcia Ball. Something tells me this bluesy Texas girl is singing about something stronger than beer, but never mind. This works for me and my summer.

To play along yourself, or to see how other bloggers responded, click here.

It was good to see them ... and so sad

Tonight at the DNC, Senator John Kerry played a big role in the Ken Burns video tribute to his colleague, Ted Kennedy. The Boys from Boston, together in their support of the candidacy Barack Obama. I admit, it made me misty.

Ted Kennedy, with his thick mane of white hair thinned at the site of his brain cancer surgery, addressing the DNC, talking about how a torch has once again been passed to a new generation … the work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream goes on. As one who learned from the Kennedy example that public service is each of our responsibility, listening to the now elderly and ailing youngest brother conjure up the Camelot idealism touched me deeply. Gulp.

And there is Senator Kerry, talking about how dedicated Ted Kennedy is to working with "President Barack Obama." If Ohio had broken differently, if those Swiftboat Veterans actually had been interested in truth, tonight we would be discussing the second term of President John Kerry. Even if this wasn't difficult for him, it was very for hard for me. I will always regret that, as a Kerry campaign volunteer, I didn't do more, didn't work harder, didn't do better. He is a wonderful man and he should have won. I think what happened on that November Tuesday four years ago broke my heart in a way that can't ever repaired.

DAY 25 -- August 08 Happiness Challenge

My best friend got back into town early and checked in! He had a good weekend in the mountains with his family, and naturally I'm glad, but I'm even happier that he's back at his desk, available to listen to me. He knows me so well. His first question was: "Have you stopped watching TV and reading the papers yet?" Between the convention and the Cubs (best record in the NL, you know), I am pretty hypnotized by mass media these days.