Random Tidbits of non-Presidential Proportion
Lots of people have today off. I'm not really one of them, but I am delaying work just a bit to update here before I forget everything that's been going on. Let's see, where do I start? Hmm...
Avatar: Ok, we saw it, and yes, we splurged for the 3D IMAX experience, and yes, the story was pretty much "been there, done that" but yes, the artistry of the film was totally worth the extra bucks to see it in larger-than-life 3D. It was pure spectacle and we enjoyed that spectacle for what it was worth. Will we be adding "Avatar" to our DVD collection? No, but it was worth seeing nonetheless. Now, the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie directed by Tim Burton might be a different story; I could totally see us adding that one to our video shelves, but we'll see it in the theatre first before we decide.
Our Anniversary: Incidentally, we saw "Avatar" on our 3rd Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 3 years already! It just doesn't seem that long. We both took the day off and in addition to going to the movies, we bought piano music at Sam Ash, went window shopping at Rockler's (at least I think that was the name of the place - we went to some woodworking specialty shop, in any case), and had dinner at The Melting Pot. We were so inspired by the idea of fondue, we decided to have fondue again for Valentine's Day - only this time, we did it at home ourselves. And why not? We own no less than 3 different fondue pots! Added bonus: we got the negatives for our wedding photos because it was in the contract that we gain ownership after 3 years. I wonder how many people forget to go back for their negatives after the time is up. In any case, Carl can set up his darkroom now and print as many of our photos as he wants to free of charge. Of course, getting the darkroom set up will be quite a challenge in itself, so don't expect a flurry of prints any time soon.
Valentine's Day: Had a really fun weekend. On Saturday, we went to see "Belles and Whistles," a burlesque show that actually reminded us more of good old fashioned Vaudeville than an exotic dance event. Big show numbers with a chorus of dancing girls, a clown troupe, a chanteuse for the emcee, a harmonica-playing beatboxer (he was AMAZING), and plenty of imaginative dance numbers ranging from the truly exquisite (Michelle L'Amour is so breathtakingly beautiful when she dances, you actually forget she's practically stark naked!) to the truly absurd (Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey had us rolling with laughter; I swear, I will never be able to listen to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" ever again without thinking of them - kind of like what MoOniE has done for The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic."). It was a very enjoyable evening, even though we didn't get to eat at Blue Bayou, the cajun restaurant we were planning on eating at, because it was PACKED. We had fish and chips at the Cullen's Bar and Grill next door and it was pretty tasty (although we did wind up going to Steak 'N' Shake for a late-night dessert after the show was over because we were both hungry again; the fish and chips wasn't a particularly large portion). On Valentine's Day itself, we stayed in and grazed on fondue, watched some movies and some TiVo, played a few games of Killer Bunnies, and relaxed. Ah! Now that's a good way to spend a holiday!
RIP: We lost 2 choir members in less than 2 weeks' time: Kevin May, one of our excellent basses, and Donna Huber, my predecessor on flute who also played a pretty mean saxophone. We also lost one of our deacons, Deacon Mike Sanzone; his funeral was this morning, but I missed it. Admittedly, I never saw Deacon Sanzone except when SPRED (SPecial Religious EDucation for students with learning challenges) had something going on for Mass. He was technically assigned to our parish, but his home parish was Saint Patrick's in Wadsworth, so he actually attended Mass there and directed the SPRED program at Saint Paul's. Not sure what will happen with the program now that he is gone; finding people just to help out with an entire classroom full of special needs kids - kids with Autism, Down Syndrome, and other developmental disabilities - for 2 hours at a time is challenging enough, but finding people to actually lead those sessions is even harder. Prayers are needed for this one.
Brave New World: We also attended the "Brave New World" fundraiser at Alverno College for Optimist Theatre and their upcoming production of "The Tempest." It was loads of fun, although I felt really bad that I didn't have more money to spend. I felt like such a heel under-bidding on some really nice prizes at the auction just because I couldn't afford to spend more. I mean, yeah, I know the opera tickets were worth over $130.00, but if you can only bid $20.00, then starting the bidding at $20.00 is all you can do. At least I got some of the bidding started on some items, even though I was easily outbid by people who actually had money to burn. I eventually walked away winning an auction on a CD of poetry written by David Mueller, aka Monk from Royal Exchange Jewelers, because I was the only one who bid on it and the value of the CD was within my budget. I suppose I could have avoided the auction altogether and just handed Ron and Susan a check for a donation, but I got caught up in the "glamor" of the event. At least we ate well that night; Honey Pie Restaurant just down the street from Alchemist Theatre in Milwaukee has really good (and really inexpensive) "comfort food," and the frozen custard we ate after the fundraiser at Leon's (I think that's the name) just down the street from the college was also really good and really cheap. One doesn't usually expect to save money when they go to a charity event for their evening out, but hey, you do what you have to do, right? Besides, all Ron and Susan have to do is say the word, and we'll help them in any way we can - except by buying a $250.00 auction item.
Our Garden: We're already starting to plan our vegetable garden for the summer. We'll have to start our seeds soon if we want a good harvest. This year we are looking at using the Square Foot Gardening method by Mel Bartholomew, with a few modifications. First of all, we won't be building any of our wooden bed boxes with bottoms. Our soil is in pretty good shape nutritionally speaking and we have lots of worms, so we'd be crazy to block our veggies' root systems from all that healthy stuff. If we had a yard full of sub-standard clay or sand like a lot of suburban homeowners, we'd probably feel differently, but when nature deals you a really good hand, you should play it. Second, we're not crazy about Mel's "critter cages;" I may not want the rabbits to eat all of our veggies, but I don't want a yard full of ugly chicken wire domes either, so Carl is designing some removable fences to place around the garden boxes that will be effective yet aesthetically pleasing. Third, I'm not sure the SFG method for growing tomatoes will necessarily work for us, so we'll be planting some tomatoes Mel's way and some tomatoes the old fashioned way just to make sure we actually have tomatoes by the end of the season. I'm not against trying new garden methods, but after my disastrous attempt to grow tomatoes upside down, I'm wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. The traditional method works, so let's use the tried and true procedures until we really do find something better. We'll probably be posting pictures of our new garden beds once we get them assembled, so stay tuned.
That's it for now. I need to get to work... and maybe practice my piano lesson before I actually go play. I'll probably post another entry of just music-related news (what there is of it) later on, but for now, that's all the news that's fit to print. Ta Ta!
Avatar: Ok, we saw it, and yes, we splurged for the 3D IMAX experience, and yes, the story was pretty much "been there, done that" but yes, the artistry of the film was totally worth the extra bucks to see it in larger-than-life 3D. It was pure spectacle and we enjoyed that spectacle for what it was worth. Will we be adding "Avatar" to our DVD collection? No, but it was worth seeing nonetheless. Now, the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie directed by Tim Burton might be a different story; I could totally see us adding that one to our video shelves, but we'll see it in the theatre first before we decide.
Our Anniversary: Incidentally, we saw "Avatar" on our 3rd Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 3 years already! It just doesn't seem that long. We both took the day off and in addition to going to the movies, we bought piano music at Sam Ash, went window shopping at Rockler's (at least I think that was the name of the place - we went to some woodworking specialty shop, in any case), and had dinner at The Melting Pot. We were so inspired by the idea of fondue, we decided to have fondue again for Valentine's Day - only this time, we did it at home ourselves. And why not? We own no less than 3 different fondue pots! Added bonus: we got the negatives for our wedding photos because it was in the contract that we gain ownership after 3 years. I wonder how many people forget to go back for their negatives after the time is up. In any case, Carl can set up his darkroom now and print as many of our photos as he wants to free of charge. Of course, getting the darkroom set up will be quite a challenge in itself, so don't expect a flurry of prints any time soon.
Valentine's Day: Had a really fun weekend. On Saturday, we went to see "Belles and Whistles," a burlesque show that actually reminded us more of good old fashioned Vaudeville than an exotic dance event. Big show numbers with a chorus of dancing girls, a clown troupe, a chanteuse for the emcee, a harmonica-playing beatboxer (he was AMAZING), and plenty of imaginative dance numbers ranging from the truly exquisite (Michelle L'Amour is so breathtakingly beautiful when she dances, you actually forget she's practically stark naked!) to the truly absurd (Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey had us rolling with laughter; I swear, I will never be able to listen to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" ever again without thinking of them - kind of like what MoOniE has done for The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic."). It was a very enjoyable evening, even though we didn't get to eat at Blue Bayou, the cajun restaurant we were planning on eating at, because it was PACKED. We had fish and chips at the Cullen's Bar and Grill next door and it was pretty tasty (although we did wind up going to Steak 'N' Shake for a late-night dessert after the show was over because we were both hungry again; the fish and chips wasn't a particularly large portion). On Valentine's Day itself, we stayed in and grazed on fondue, watched some movies and some TiVo, played a few games of Killer Bunnies, and relaxed. Ah! Now that's a good way to spend a holiday!
RIP: We lost 2 choir members in less than 2 weeks' time: Kevin May, one of our excellent basses, and Donna Huber, my predecessor on flute who also played a pretty mean saxophone. We also lost one of our deacons, Deacon Mike Sanzone; his funeral was this morning, but I missed it. Admittedly, I never saw Deacon Sanzone except when SPRED (SPecial Religious EDucation for students with learning challenges) had something going on for Mass. He was technically assigned to our parish, but his home parish was Saint Patrick's in Wadsworth, so he actually attended Mass there and directed the SPRED program at Saint Paul's. Not sure what will happen with the program now that he is gone; finding people just to help out with an entire classroom full of special needs kids - kids with Autism, Down Syndrome, and other developmental disabilities - for 2 hours at a time is challenging enough, but finding people to actually lead those sessions is even harder. Prayers are needed for this one.
Brave New World: We also attended the "Brave New World" fundraiser at Alverno College for Optimist Theatre and their upcoming production of "The Tempest." It was loads of fun, although I felt really bad that I didn't have more money to spend. I felt like such a heel under-bidding on some really nice prizes at the auction just because I couldn't afford to spend more. I mean, yeah, I know the opera tickets were worth over $130.00, but if you can only bid $20.00, then starting the bidding at $20.00 is all you can do. At least I got some of the bidding started on some items, even though I was easily outbid by people who actually had money to burn. I eventually walked away winning an auction on a CD of poetry written by David Mueller, aka Monk from Royal Exchange Jewelers, because I was the only one who bid on it and the value of the CD was within my budget. I suppose I could have avoided the auction altogether and just handed Ron and Susan a check for a donation, but I got caught up in the "glamor" of the event. At least we ate well that night; Honey Pie Restaurant just down the street from Alchemist Theatre in Milwaukee has really good (and really inexpensive) "comfort food," and the frozen custard we ate after the fundraiser at Leon's (I think that's the name) just down the street from the college was also really good and really cheap. One doesn't usually expect to save money when they go to a charity event for their evening out, but hey, you do what you have to do, right? Besides, all Ron and Susan have to do is say the word, and we'll help them in any way we can - except by buying a $250.00 auction item.
Our Garden: We're already starting to plan our vegetable garden for the summer. We'll have to start our seeds soon if we want a good harvest. This year we are looking at using the Square Foot Gardening method by Mel Bartholomew, with a few modifications. First of all, we won't be building any of our wooden bed boxes with bottoms. Our soil is in pretty good shape nutritionally speaking and we have lots of worms, so we'd be crazy to block our veggies' root systems from all that healthy stuff. If we had a yard full of sub-standard clay or sand like a lot of suburban homeowners, we'd probably feel differently, but when nature deals you a really good hand, you should play it. Second, we're not crazy about Mel's "critter cages;" I may not want the rabbits to eat all of our veggies, but I don't want a yard full of ugly chicken wire domes either, so Carl is designing some removable fences to place around the garden boxes that will be effective yet aesthetically pleasing. Third, I'm not sure the SFG method for growing tomatoes will necessarily work for us, so we'll be planting some tomatoes Mel's way and some tomatoes the old fashioned way just to make sure we actually have tomatoes by the end of the season. I'm not against trying new garden methods, but after my disastrous attempt to grow tomatoes upside down, I'm wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. The traditional method works, so let's use the tried and true procedures until we really do find something better. We'll probably be posting pictures of our new garden beds once we get them assembled, so stay tuned.
That's it for now. I need to get to work... and maybe practice my piano lesson before I actually go play. I'll probably post another entry of just music-related news (what there is of it) later on, but for now, that's all the news that's fit to print. Ta Ta!