The Howling... Squared

As I was catching up on the happenings in my world this morning, emergency vehicles went by on the busy street around the corner from our house. Emergency vehicles screaming by, sirens blaring, is not an uncommon happening at our house. Neither is the response of the dogs. Sadly, I was only able to catch Seraph on film this morning during the second round of sirens--Baxter was very vocal for the first round, but he sat out on the second. There is a reason deerhounds are classifieds in same family as blood hounds and other hunting hounds...




As is the case with most if not all video filmed, editing was needed. As I sat editing, Seraph decided to accompany. Notice in the last couple notes of accompaniment how much she resembles Chewbacca in sound and face. Think George Lucas had a deerhound?

And I Am a...

Your true political self:
You are a

Social Liberal
(76% permissive)

and an...

Economic Moderate
(41% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat


You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.

Explanation Of Results

"We wanted to get beyond the two catch-alls of American politics, the Democratic and Republican parties, and see where people actually stand. Parties can bring together people with marginally differing values and make collective action easier. But party platforms can misrepresent their constituents, and blind loyalty to a party can convince individuals to harbor inconsistent views.


The goal of this test was to exactly classify your personal politics, without the traditional labels. We avoided the edgy party issues and focused on fundamental values. Your score is a measure of what you believe in, economically and socially.


Higher permissiveness, on either axis, indicates a "live and let live" philosophy. Of course, we're almost conditioned in America, "Land of the Free", to think positively of such a philosophy. But practically speaking, permissiviness (or its opposite, regulation) can create any number of outcomes:

For example, on the economic axis, a highly permissive system, like the American system of the early 1900s, might mean things like low taxes and increased scientific innovation. It might also result, as it did back then, in unrestricted child labor and millions of poor people with black lung.

At the other end of the economic spectrum, a highly regulated system might conserve the environment, establish national health care, and eliminate poverty. But as we've learned from the Soviet system, extreme regulation can also lead to stagnation, sameness, and unhappiness.

If you liked the test, forward it. Thanks for participating."

Jott Sweeps the Household

J: How do you get to that Jott thing? (peering intently at Dave's Blackberry and clicking away at it)
D: I don't know sweetie. (liar)

The Genius of Genius!

I upgraded my iTunes this morning to 8.0 to check out the new "Genius" feature that creates playlists from your library based on one song. All I can say is wow, wow, wow. It's a grey, mopey day here in Atlanta and I had a yen to hear "Ada" by the National. Out of curiosity I asked Genius what would go well with it and this is what I got:


I have long been looking for a way to create playlists for working out based on beats per minute or something other than manually searching my library. Got to go see what I'll get from "Venus" covered by Bananarama...

Peaches and Death

"It smells like rotten peaches and death, sweetie." Dave referring to my peach scnapps on the rocks.

A Stinkweed By Any Other Name

My grandmother taught me to rise above, to turn the other cheek, to always be a lady. A lady is courteous, never petty or small-minded. I love my grandmother and revere her teachings. But today I was surprised into a full-belly appreciative laugh when my spouse shared with me the nickname She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-In-This-House has acquired on certain corners of the net (witnessed by me at Iowahawk's blog): "Caribou Barbie". It resonates on soooo many levels!

Thank You Emily's List!

Thank you to Emily's List for the image at left.

She Who Shall Not Be Named In This House

My spouse and friends were stunned last week when McCain announced his choice of running mate and I immediately began to froth at the mouth. I am not known as a particularly political animal, and there are very few politicians who can set me off. But of those who can, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-In-This-House is right up there at the top of the list with former secretary of the interior James Watt.

Though in the weeks preceding the announcement of her selection as VP her staffers assiduously rewrote her wikipedia entry giving her a pre-election shiny new face, she is still the wolf-killing, snowmobile-riding, oil-mad, anti-environmentalist that I have come to know and despise.



And for those who need issues about people not animals and wilderness to guide them, there's this lovely piece by Hilary Rosen (shown at right).

The Bunny Gets It

Though not exactly an important moment in our lives, the filming of The Great Bunny Caper was entertaining... and it shows off Dave's new Do quite nicely!

First Day of School

I've been slow on posting words, pics and vid of the important events happening in our lives right now. So before any more time passes, I am going to get the First Day of School up. Surprisingly, I did not cry during the Rose ceremony--as I did last year even though I didn't have a child participating in it. I guess I was too busy passing the tissue box and taking pictures. For the friends and family who weren't able to be there for the assembly, here was the beginning of J's first day of first grade.

It Was a Weekend!

Change just keeps on rolling through the Griffith household. On Saturday we traded in the Seebring convertible for a Mini Cooper convertible. Mini Coopers are astonishingly popular right now because of gas prices. The saleswoman at the dealership was very apologetic that they didn't have any available and because of the year end, we would have to wait until December to even order one. I had looked at their inventory online before we went there and asked her what about the used black one. It was so new that she didn't know about it and it hadn't even been detailed yet. We put dibs on it right quick--and it was a good thing as someone else tried to buy it while we were filling out the paperwork.

It is a wonderful little car--peppy, responsive, and surprisingly roomy inside. It is a perfect tooling around town car for Dave (who put a total of 20,000 miles on the Seebring in the five and a half years since we moved here). J isn't wild about it--which is too bad as we have already told her that it'll probably be her first car. But since her problems have to do with how much (little) she can see from the backseat and the diminished leg room, I think she'll be just fine with driving it. (Not that I'm looking that far ahead or anything).

Heck, I'm tempted to drive to the train station and swap the Honda for it so I can drive it to ikebana and the Container Store today. The only thing stopping me is that the shelf I have to return to the Container Store won't fit in it! Of course Dave may have been having so much fun with it that he drove to work instead of taking the train today...

Sunday was another milestone day as we put together the shelving from Ikea and the closet and art desk from the Container Store in the former studio. Today the loom, the hope chest full of yarn and the armoire full of yarn will get moved down--as will the treadmill. Dan and Dick will get the doors back on the closets and all the doorknobs on, and Dick will tile the floor of the little landing at the bottom of the stairs.

Now over to Glass Incarnate to begin on the week!

Is It Jeff Bridges? John Malkovich? Ben Kingsley?

No! It's Dave Griffith!

I just shaved my spouse's head. Jeff Bridges in Iron Man has got nothing on Dave. Of course I videoed the whole thing. Hope I can find time to edit and post it tomorrow.

Note: Dave has not had his hair even *cut* since before we met (over 13 years ago). A trim every few years, sure--but no length off.

My Lucky Necklace

For the past eight years I have worn a silver yucca blossom pendant that Dave bought for me at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar in Austin. Besides my wedding ring, it's the only piece of jewelry I consistently wear, and I have become superstitious about it (if I don't wear it something bad will happen). A week and half ago on Saturday, Jessie was twisting the chain and it broke. I didn't have a replacement chain so I stopped wearing the pendant...

On Monday, I overdrew the checking account.

On Tuesday the cat died. Tuesday night lightning struck the studio and took out the new fax/copier/scanner, and the alarm panel.

Wednesday I discovered the fried alarm panel was blocking the phone lines and I had to spend over two solid hours on the phone with the alarm company and ended up manually rewiring the entire panel for our house AND recabling the DSL connections after that.

Thursday Dave called to tell me the dryer was broken (not heating). I was in Philly.

Friday I overdrew the checking account AGAIN (this time--like last month--by depositing a check from a business account book that I had canceled after the burglary. Where do these books keep coming from?!?).

Saturday Jessie took a really bad fall on her scooter and wouldn't let Dave touch it to clean it. She called me and asked me to drive home *right now* to be with her. I had to explain that I flew to Philly and wouldn't be able to be home till Tuesday. Three days to a six year-old might as well be eternity. Then she asked if I would get her some small crutches. It was an ugly couple of days.

Sunday I figured out what was going on and started wearing a red enamel-coated steel peace sign pendant made by Jeff Manpearl of Ferroglyphs as a stand-in for the lucky necklace until I can get a new chain. Things have held steady since.

The moral of the story? Don't ignore your inner superstitious peasant.

Good-bye Loiosh

Loiosh, our 17 and a half year-old Norwegian Forest Cat, died peacefully at home this morning after good-bye pets and loves.

She was diagnosed with diabetes last week, but her condition did not improve with the administration of insulin. She stopped eating--not even succumbing to the temptations of succulent tuna and kitten food--and drinking, and we let her go on her own terms.

She was the oldest member of our pet family--she was with Dave for four years before we married. She went from a quiet, peaceful life to Dave to the chaos of me, a dog, two screaming birds, five ferrets, two more dogs, a child, and another dog, and she did it with calmness and serenity. She was loved, and she is missed.

A Full Life

The weekend has been too busy to post--out of town guests, sick cat, friends for dinner (not literally!), and full days in the studio to boot. I really will put up the movies from Montana, just not today. Really, really.

In Love

It is getting harder and harder to pretend that these movies have anything to do with Glass Incarnate so I'm going to start posting them here. And next week--when we are actually staying in the cabin at the lake and not staying at my parents' house (who have DSL)--I won't be able to post at all (much less post movies).

So today was another perfect day in paradise (well, except for all the six year-old and 80 year-old whining). It was quite windy both at my parents' and at the lake, and J got cold so we came home at 5:00 instead of 7:00 (the sun goes down about 10:00 here in the summer).

Thank you again to George Winston--whose music has always inspired me and made me think of Montana--for the soundtrack song, "Cradle" from Forest.

Montana!

Today I am no longer Stranded in the South, far from Montana and a Missoula state of mind (though I am wrapping my mind more and more around a Georgia state of mind--at least for the gardening and friends...). We landed in Missoula just before noon, and now we are up in Polson looking out over Flathead Lake. Jessie is settling right in and tormenting my parents' dog Jig. Of course Jig--the same age as Jessie in dog years--can hold his own. He is the talkingest dog I have ever seen. I only captured a snippet, but he is not at all shy about sharing a piece of his mind with you.

July 5th--Montana Tomorrow!

In honor of the Saturday after the 4th of July--a very family-oriented time for me--I am posting two videos of the J. One was taken yesterday at a 4th of July picnic at friends' house and you can tell who's in the video mostly by the cheering in the background. The little itty bitty speck in the back of the yard is J riding a 2-wheeled bike unassisted for the first time. It was a great (distant, brief) moment. The second video is past of the show she did a week or so ago that I hadn't put up yet. Our child is a a monkey.



Look forward to lots of videos from Montana over the next couple of weeks. (Really.)

Jessie and the Missing Teeth

It's Saturday and the posts are flowing. This Flip Video camera is an amazing thing. Here 's the latest from Jessie:



These are mostly for the grandparents, but this one is pretty funny.

Life Options

My first job in high school was working in a laundromat next to the school a few afternoons and evenings a week. After that I started a career in the food service industry that lasted till I graduated from college. I even took a few years off after my first year of college and waitressed, cocktail waitressed and bartended full time. My last job waitressing ended in 1987 when I headed off to graduate school. But in later years when money got tight, and my financial situation would look precarious, I always knew that I had the safety net of being able to get a job waiting tables and I could support myself. Last night I got to test the strength of that net and the result was nothing short of exhilarating.

Last night, after a mediocre, unfulfilling day in the studio for me (I didn't get done what I planned/needed to get done, it was hot, I was tired and crabby), a frustrating, tedious day at work for my spouse, and an unsatisfying day at Circus Camp for the J, the family decided to head off to our favorite little local restaurant for a comfort dinner and a bottle of wine for Dave and me. We got there just before 7:00 and there was a table of 16 partying women on the patio, a couple of tables with two people each on the deck, and another couple at a table inside. We sat down and within ten minutes there were three more tables of two, three or four people who had arrived.

The owner and one waitress were the only front room staff on as they have been really slow for the summer and weren't expecting anything different last night. They were already getting a bit frazzled with no hostess or bartender as back-up when the waitress had an emergency and had to leave at 7:30. By then there were nine tables--one the increasingly raucous large group of women. It was a beautiful, cool night and the thirsty and hungry neighbors were coming out in droves. When the waitress brought us our dinner and said she had to go, I asked the owner if there was anything I could do to help. At first she demurred, but when pressed, she said I could take out an order for three to the deck when it came up.

I took that order out, seated and set up more tables, got water, took drink orders, opened wine, and got drinks, took orders and served food. I was just going to help for a little while, but they were really slammed. Dave took Jessie home when they were done eating and got her to bed, and I stayed on. When things finally settled down and I took stock, it was 11:00! By the end I had learned the entire computer system and entered orders, processed credit cards, and closed out tables. It truly was exhilarating. I really, really enjoyed myself. I had a great time talking to people, bringing them good food and drink so they could have a good evening and a good dining experience in a great atmosphere.

Sure, it was a little chaotic and maybe a bit less smooth for them than it would have been with a professional waitress. But I know the menu, I am familiar with a lot of the wine on the list, and I could confidently recommend items. And the memory for orders and the ability to carry lots of plates and glasses came right back. It was far easier to slip back into waitressing after a 20-year hiatus than it would be to downhill ski again (same approximate hiatus). I reveled in the economy of movement necessary to do it well (combine as many things as you can into every trip from the kitchen/bar to the floor in both directions, and never have empty hands).

At the end of it all I hope that my friend and her restaurant benefited from my help, and that the customers who were there had a positive dining experience, because I sure had a wonderful time. It was *just* what I needed to perk me out of the doldrums, and I wouldn't mind helping out again. Last night I worked for a bottle of wine, maybe next time I'll work for tips!

(Photos courtesy of Dave and his Blackberry)