I'd ch-ch-ch-change the channel but they're on all of them

117 days and counting

Time to post a neener-neener about one of our upcoming vacations.

Our cruise in May leaves from Charleston (only 6 miles to drive instead of 400!) and goes to Freeport and Nassau.

This is what we'll be doing in Freeport: The Dolphin Close Encounter excursion!

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned ... except N.O.W. scorned

A press release from the New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women has this to say about Ted Kennedy, the gawd-help-us from Massachusetts, and his endorsement of Obama:

"Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, and the Family and Medical Leave Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills."

Of course, the national NOW office later did a half-recant:

"The National Organization for Women has enormous respect and admiration for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.). For decades Sen. Kennedy has been a friend of NOW, and a leader and fighter for women's civil and reproductive rights, and his record shows that.

"Though the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee has proudly endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, we respect Sen. Kennedy's endorsement. We continue to encourage women everywhere to express their opinions and exercise their right to vote."

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

Oh the humanity!

As reported at MSNBC.com, the price of chocolate is rising.

It is a dark day in America.

Hillary packs the waterproof mascara...

On the heels of Obama's big win in these here parts on Saturday, we have this news coming out of Massachusetts (source: Politico, via Lucianne -- one of the "must-reads"):

"Rejecting a personal entreaty from President Bill Clinton, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy plans to endorse Barack Obama for president in a joint appearance on Monday, Democratic sources said."

Seeing as how we're heading into Super Tuesday, I'm guessing it's time for the tears to flow again from the feel-my-pain candidate.

Another LOL photo that cracks me up

Found at LOLcats (or Icanhascheezburger.com, if you prefer).

It's "caturday": introducing VJ

Well, this little guy came from the SPCA, so maybe that explains his strange behavior. He acts like a dog sometimes -- carrying things around the house in his mouth, meowing in a way that sounds almost like a bark and hanging around with Cocoa. He also gets startled at nothing and chases after nothing. We wonder if our house is haunted and he's the only one who sees it.

He's technically Connie's cat, along with Milenko, but as with Milenko, we can't get him to California, so he stays here. I'm guessing that's a permanent arrangement now. She named him V.J., which is short for "Violent Jay," who is, I think, another rocker. I call him Jay or Jay-Bird.

He and the other two inside cats, Milenko and Tabby, don't really associate that much. In fact, it wasn't until just a few days ago that he climbed up on the top of the linen closet like the other two do. (We think he just found out he's a cat. We 're pretty sure the others told him when he came to live with us that he's a dog and isn't able to jump high. Hence his hanging out with Cocoa.) Most of the day, he sleeps on the back of the couch, and he's adorable.

But then, he's also louder and more obnoxious than an alarm clock. Every morning starting at about 5:00, he gets outside our bedroom door and meows -- sometimes getting his face down to the crack in the bottom so it sounds really loud -- and hitting the door knob. I think if we had the type of door that had a long handle stretching out horizontally, he'd be able to open it.

At Christmas, he kept climbing the tree, and when we took it down, he was traumatized for days. This is a video of him having a fit that his tree was gone.

Double-twos!

Hey! Amanda is 22 today! Except for her first birthday and until this year, she and Connie always shared a birthday party. (In fact, her second birthday present was a baby sister.) Nevertheless, she's always been an individual.

Happy birthday, girl! It's all about you today!

(Still hunting up the right baby photo. Will post that later.)

Favorite things Friday: Dr. Pepper

Oh I love me some Dr. Pepper. This here, folks, is the only soft drink for me. And I know there's a whole contingent out there saying, "Uh, yeah, we know!" Said contingent consists mainly of my daughters, all of whom have had to run to the store at various times to get me a 2-liter right now this minute before I die of thirst.

I looked up the Dr. Pepper Web site and found out there's actually a Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, Texas, which I may re-route a vacation for, now that I know about it. Also under the FAQs, it says Dr. Pepper was created in 1885 and as such is the oldest major soft drink brand in the country. Huh. Who knew?

It also gives the product's shelf life at 9 months or 39 weeks for cans or glass bottles and 3 months or 13 weeks for plastic bottles. Ha! As if any would last that long around here!

Dog day afternoon: introducting Cocoa

She's a chocolate-colored tiny toy poodle so we named her Cocoa Bean. Like our other pets, she has a number of nicknames, including Cokie, Cokes, Cokie-Girl, Smooch Pooch and Pups-a-Daisy (among others).

When we first brought her home, she could fit in the palm of my hand -- and I have relatively small hands. Now full grown, she weighs in at a whopping 5 pounds, and she's smaller than the cats. (In fact, we were a little worried that the cats, since they came to us as kittens, were growing up thinking all dogs are smaller than cats.)

Cocoa is very smart, despite the fact that she still has no inkling that she's supposed to go potty outside, and she's spoiled rotten. When we take her out, if she potties, she gets a treat. The problem is she doesn't let us know when she needs to go out, so we still have to put down pee-pads (which Tabby uses, alas). She knows a lot of words, like: out, treat, leash, park, walk and nap. We were spelling some of them, but she learned to spell too, and so when we spell T-R-E-A-T, she runs to the pantry.

She has a stuffed lion that she gets a little intimate with (the vet said it's her way of being all "alpha dog" even though she's a female), but she also sometimes treats it like it's her puppy. When we give her a treat, she takes it to the lion, drops it and waits a couple of seconds, then eats it. It's like she's sharing it or at least willing to let the lion have first dibs.

She's adorable when she cocks her head to one side, like she's thinking, "You're brilliant! I agree with everything you say!" (Very different from the looks the cats give us -- which is more on the lines of "I can't believe I have to share the same universe with you.")

Cocoa is supposed to be my dog, but she follows Tony around like he's the answer to all her prayers. He lets her climb up on his shoulder when he's in his recliner, and she takes naps with him on Sunday afternoon.


I did not put this dress on her. Amanda and Steven did.

Speaking of Democrats...

When is the next debate?

(Photo borrowed from Lucianne.com.)

Happy birthday, baby girl!

My "baby" turns 20 today! At one time I thought saying that would make me feel old, but it doesn't. I just feel incredibly lucky to have such wonderful daughters.

Happy birthday, Connie!

Honoring the day, the man and his dream

Crystal of Boobs, Injuries, & Dr. Pepper, bless her heart, tagged me today -- along with the million or so other people who read her blog. And I love her to pieces, so I didn't mind.

Here, then, I continue:

>>>I have a dream that a desire for creativity will overtake any temptation to crush the dream of another and that we will seek out ways to combine our dreams into something none of us could have accomplished alone.

>>>I have a dream that we will all learn the true meaning of stewardship to such an extent that it will be unthinkable to leave this earth -- community, neighborhood, job, home, whatever -- anything less than 100% improved from the way we found it.

>>>I have a dream that we will all have a burning in our hearts to make not a difference but a gain in the lives of others.

Thank you for the tag, Crystal.

This photo cracks me up

Found at LOLcats.com.

Show-pimping USA Network's 'Burn Notice'

Ok, I admit I'm a show/movie/book pimp. When I find a good TV show or movie or book, I tell everyone about it so they can watch/read and then I'll have a collective I can talk to. This is how my entire family got hooked on "House." (Apparently my daughters got the show-pimp gene from me because they've succeeded in getting me to watch CSI and L&O:SVU despite the fact that I can't stand the blood or abuse storylines.)

So it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that, having found a new show, I want everyone to get hooked on it with me.

Burn Notice is a USA Network show that I first came in contact with when I was in California in September. I caught a marathon and was glued from pilot to the season ending. I can't say enough about this show: It's smart, edgy, funny, brilliantly written and acted -- and it's now among my all-time favorites. And -- bonus -- it's now online! Woo!

The next season doesn't start until next summer -- and let's all hope that the show's writers got going on the episodes before the strike so there'll be no delay. Until then, I'm rewatching from the convenience of my laptop. Check it out!

It's "caturday": introducing Milenko

First of all, I didn't name him; Connie did. I think Milenko is the name of someone in a rock band, I'm not sure. Anyway, he was her cat, so she got to name him. I almost never call him Milenko. I call him Links or Link-Link or Linky-poo or some other moniker that he probably hates but is too polite to say to my face.

He still lives with us because Connie is in California and getting a cat moved out there would be a project and a half. Plus, he and Tabby sort of go together and I don't want to split them up. (This is how I ended up living with 5 pets -- 4 cats and a dog -- when all I ever wanted was a poodle.)

Milenko is the most affectionate of all of our cats, at least to me. He does this one thing that seems to be an imitation of what he thinks is my hug. I'll go up to him and put my arm around him and press my head against him for a second. So he'll come up to me later when I'm in the recliner or sitting on the bed watching TV and put his head against my chest, holding it there for about a half minute.

He tries to imitate other things that we do too. For instance, he doesn't lie at the foot of the bed like the other cats. He gets under the covers and manuevers himself around until he ends up with his body under the covers and his head on the pillow. Because that's what he sees us do. (We have to be sure he's out of the room before we go to sleep, otherwise he'll hop in the bed in the middle of the night and get under the covers. It's a little unnerving to wake up with a cat on the pillow next to you.)

I'm not sure if he's a little weird or very intelligent. Whatever the case, this imitating-the-humans stuff would be great if he would take an interest in washing dishes or even loading the dishwasher or hey -- what about cleaning out his own litter box. Now there's a real people task he could take on.

Here's Tabby and Milenko when they were babies, up in their "cat condo." Cute, aren't they?

Favorite things Friday: alligators

Ok, it's time to explain my fascination with alligators.

To be clear: I don't want to own one, and I keep a respectable distance from them. My affinity for the creature is more of a metaphor. I think of alligators as a perfect example of being what God created you to be and being happy in it.

The thing is, I have always had a problem with this concept of being comfortable with what I am and being happy with what God created me to be. I've spent time seeking after things I'm really not meant to do -- certain jobs, careers moves, assignments -- sometimes because of a grass-is-greener-over-there mindset and sometimes because I've made assumptions about what I "should" be doing and sometimes because I listen to advice that's best ignored. And it ends up creating a lot of unnecessary friction in my life. This has been a struggle for some time.

One day, as I was walking around Charles Towne Landing (the most sacred place on Earth to me -- I'll do a whole "Favorite things Friday" on it one day), I watched an alligator swimming through a lagoon. And I was struck by the thought that God had created that creature to be exactly what it was: It cannot be domesticated, it can be found among groups but prefers working alone, it understands and fills its needs (sleeps when it's tired, eats when it's hungry, etc.) and when it's not working, it lies around sunning itself on a bank.

I've just described my life as a freelancer.

Anyway, I was gripped by the insight that this is God's perfect design for this creature, and it's an illustration of His perfect design for me -- to be what he created me to be and to be happy in it. I should not strive for any more or less than to be the creative, passionate, inspired, excited, deeply joyful individual that I already am and to rejoice that I was put on this Earth to be one of His beloved daughters.

It was a very moving moment for me when I realized this. And since then, the alligator has been the inspiration of that designation of God's perfect design. I have collected a lot of alligator memorabilia because that insight -- moving though it was -- sometimes gets lost in the day-to-day minutia and I need the reminders. I have several alligator necklaces, a pair of alligator earrings and several alligator nick-nacks, stuffed toys and what-nots around my office to remind me. I have a 3-foot plastic alligator that sits outside my office door that I named Cicero. It looks real enough that it frightens people when they first come to my office. Who wouldn't want a guard-gator?

Whenever I'm at Charles Towne Landing, I look for "the boys" -- yes, I named the alligators who reside in the lagoons -- Wally, Sherman, Bart, Wade Hampton and George. The one who was in the animal forest -- a female whom Tony and I named "Chloe" -- was moved to Gatorland in Orlando when the park rangers decided to no longer keep alligators in the animal forest. (The ranger explained that she had lived so long inside the fence that it would endanger her to set her loose in the wild.) We plan to visit her one day.

So here's to this amazing creature, which has an undeserved reputation as a total bad-ass but also has the good grace to be exactly what God created it to be: the inspiring American alligator. One of my favorite things.

The long-awaited post about my resolutions/goals

I don't make resolutions. See, the trouble with resolutions are that they're so ... oh, I don't know ... resolute. And that immediately dooms them. For instance, you might say: "I resolve to eat healthier." And then you can't pass up a good Sonic burger for lunch (not that I'm saying their burgers aren't healthy ... forgive me, Sonic, I'll make it up to you tomorrow with your Sonic burger, mustard, no pickles or onions, with tater tots and a Dr. Pepper -- oh, and a hot fudge sundae with nuts). But you know what I mean -- you start to slide and before you know it, you figure the resolution was too hard to keep and you just forget it. And it's only January 3rd.

So I make a list of goals, which involves aiming toward the bullseye, and as long as I hit somewhere on the dartboard, I'm still in the game.

The goals have to be measurable, though. None of this "My goal is to exercise" stuff, but rather something like a Curves-3-times-a-week commitment. And they're reviewed periodically to make sure I'm still on track.

Also -- I did pare down after contemplating Leo Babauta's "7 Essential Tips." Last year I had 45 goals (why 45? because that was my age and I figured why not try to ... yeah, I know, doesn't make sense to me now either). I do have quite a few this year, but nothing like last year's list. (And for the record, I did manage to achieve 17 things, which I'll take as success considering some of the wacky things I'd put down.)

Last year I started sorting my goals under major categories of Physical, Spiritual, Mental/Emotional, Financial, Career and Home. And then a "challenge goal" to do something that I was afraid of but that if I did, I'd be so much better for it (last year it was to learn to swim ... and no, I didn't achieve that one, so what, this is why God invented life preservers).

This year as I was looking over my list and categorizing the goals, I realized that what I'm aiming for, big-picture-wise, is to be healthier in every respect -- physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. Making the home healthier (lots of repair and renovation projects). Approaching my livelihood (career) in a healthier way.

All of the goals are measurable (e.g., we're taking 2 cruises this year -- file those under "mental and emotional" health -- and we will have fun checking these off the list), they are focused (e.g., reading the Bible in a year, made easier by this site), and Tony and I are doing most of these together (essential for the financial goals but also good for our relationship).

I'm not going to list all of the goals (sorry, some of them are too personal), but I can promise I'll talk (read: whine, complain, brag, taunt and tease) about them from time to time. For starters, here's a shot of two that we're aiming for (neener-neener):

Carnival Victory,
sailing out of Charleston May 26-31 to the Bahamas.

Brilliance of the Seas, 12-night Mediterranean/Greek Isles cruise ,
sailing out of Barcelona Oct. 8-20.

Oh -- and my challenge goal for this year? To start another blog and post every day. So far so good.

A combined illustration of my fear of boats and my fear of the ocean

Courtesy LOLcats.

Dumb things candidates say -- part 2

A posting on the LA Times blog reports that Hillary Clinton says she views the White House as something of a prison.

I found the link on Lucianne.com -- a news compilation site worth bookmarking. The story is one of the must-reads and has an editorial comment: "Tune in Friday if she's still a viable candidate."

One of the posters on Lucianne said, "I've got an idea, let's put her in prison and tell her it's the White House." Heh.

Read the story and tell me if it doesn't sound like she's working the "feel my pain" angle a little too hard.

Ad rant: Toyota ("I love the bingo!")

You know that commercial for the Toyota Camry with the girl waiting for her blind date and he's on the phone sitting in the car outside, and she doesn't see him because it's a new look for the car? She goes on and on about how she "loves the bingo" but doesn't like playing games, and he keeps saying, "No, I'm right here," but she doesn't see him and keeps thinking he's playing games. And finally he just says "See ya." Then as he 's driving off she sees it and is all "Hey! Nice car!"

Why doesn't he just get out of the car and go to the door?

I hate that commercial and I'm vowing right now to never buy a Toyota because of it. Take THAT, stupid advertising agency!

The problem with unscripted shows

Here's a pretty funny YouTube clip (which I found via Lee of A Writer's Life) that illustrates why writers are necessary. Kudos to the great actors who participated in this.

A favorite thing: special Hershey kisses

One of the things I wanted to do on this blog was post now and then about something I really like -- hence the "favorite thing" subject line. I'm thinking this will balance out the posts that are nothing but bitching and whining (which, to be honest, will probably far outnumber the "favorite" ones, but who's counting?).

In fact, I almost named this blog "A few of my favorite things" just to focus on the good and positive things around me. But then I realized that every time I went to post, I'd get that Julie Andrews song stuck in my head, and that, quite frankly, is NOT one of my favorite things.

So instead I'll make the favorite things a regular feature. Maybe "Favorite things Friday" -- except today it's Saturday and I don't want to wait a whole week before posting this.

Now, with that intro -- quite possibly the longest and most unnecessary intro in blog history -- here's a favorite of mine: the new cherry cordial Hershey kisses.



The inside is the same cream in cherry cordials. What can I say? Oh my. These are delicious. Quite addictive too. I love these so much that I'm willing to endorse them on my blog even though I'm not getting compensated for such a service (and wouldn't that be awesome? I'd be willing to get paid in chocolate.).

I googled "Hershey cherry cordial kiss" to hunt down a photo to post and found out that this is a limited edition kiss. So now I'm upset that they might take them off the shelves soon.

I found a petition on the candyaddict.com site that I'm assuming will be sent to Hershey's (or maybe some have already been sent and they send additional ones periodically? I don't know). Anyway. CandyAddict also listed Candy Direct and Amazon as two places where you can buy the cherry cordial kisses online -- a huge relief in case they're missing from the shelves soon. (Still: Amazon sells candy too? What's next? Pet food?)

It's "caturday": introducing Tabby

This is one of our inside cats, Tabitha, or Tabby for short. Also Tabs, Tabster, Tab-Tab, Tabituuuuuh and a number of other nicknames, some of which come to me at the spur of the moment.

Tabby came to live with us with her brother Milenko (whom you'll meet next Caturday). They were two of a trio born to a stray who was being cared for by our former neighbor. The first kitten had been taken, and Connie was going to get Milenko, but I said we couldn't leave that one kitty by herself, so we got both. So technically she's mine, but really she belongs to the whole family. (Or, more accurately, we belong to her.)

She loves getting inside bags, boxes and baskets and loves lying on the paper, especially when you're trying to read it. It's only fitting that the photo shows her with three of the things she loves most.

She also has this way of looking at you and squinting, which makes me wonder if she needs glasses.

The only thing about Tabs that bugs me is a bad habit she has of going potty on the pee-pad we put down for the dog to use (who is STILL confused about the fact that her bathroom is outside ... more on that when I introduce Cocoa, our toy poodle). She also pees on the bathroom mats ... but she scrunches them up like she's "covering" the evidence (as cats do in a litter box). Now, the weird thing is she also uses the litter box. I think she's doing this on-the-mat/on-the-pee-pad thing to either a) identify with the dog or b) point out what a mess the dog is making.

I'm not sure if she's incredibly smart or vindictive as hell.

Random thoughts Friday

I didn't get to my "morning coffee" blog read until a few minutes ago -- and it's now 11:00. How sad is that? I hate it when my day starts that busy.

It's Friday! TGIF! and that means a huge to-do list for the weekend. On the other hand, I might stick that list back in the drawer and nap on and off until Monday morning.

The candidates have been here a whole day and I'm already sick of them. When is the primary again? Unfortunately I haven't been very diligent about my new hobby (collecting dumb things they say) because there's just so much. Maybe after we've narrowed down to two candidates. (In which case I'll be mentioning only the dumb things said by the one I'm not voting for, heh.)

In the meantime, my other hobby -- making dollhouses and doll furniture -- is coming along nicely. I'm making a dollhouse out of plastic canvas. I know, that doesn't sound right, does it? I'll take photos this weekend and post so you can see what I'm talking about. I also have several patterns for Barbie houses and furniture, which I can't wait to start.

Let me say it again: TGIF! It's been a hellacious week and I'm glad it's over.

They're heeeeere...

The GOP debate is tonight.

More info on this at the Post and Courier.




A sample of the South Carolina campaign stops:

Jan. 10
11 a.m.: Sen. Barack Obama, Charleston, The College of Charleston Cistern, George and St. Philip streets.
11:30 a.m.: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Myrtle Beach, Croissants Bakery and Café, 3751 Grissom Parkway.
11:45 a.m.: Sen. John McCain, Greenville, Country Ham House, 214 Rutherford St.
6 p.m.: Former Sen. John Edwards, North Charleston, Lowcountry Food Bank, 1635 Cosgrove Ave.
6:45 p.m.: McCain, Myrtle Beach, Studebakers Restaurant, 2000 N. Kings Highway.
9 p.m.: Republican debate, Myrtle Beach Convention Center, 2101 North Oak St.

Jan. 11
10 a.m.: Sen. John McCain, Pawleys Island, Applewood House of Pancakes, 14361 Ocean Highway.
12:15 p.m.: McCain, Mount Pleasant, Alex's Restaurant, 302 Coleman Blvd.
4:15 p.m.: McCain, Summerville, Kelly's Barbeque, 10475 Highway 78.

Look at McCain's stops. One eatery after another. Heh.

I notice that Edwards will be at the Lowcountry Food Bank, where he undoubtedly will be telling everyone how he grew up in a tiny shack and he had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow uphill both ways with no shows because his momma and daddy had no money and he's just a poor little old country boy at heart, etc. I will not be there to witness it.

Dumb things candidates say

The presidential candidates are on their way to South Carolina, so now's the time to start my new hobby: collecting dumb comments made by the candidates -- although that'll probably prove such a task that I'll have to turn it into a full-time job. (Well, technically, the hobby is making snarky comments about what they said, but let us not split hairs.)

Today's first prize goes to Hillary Clinton for this comment after her win in NH:

"I listened to you, and in the process, I found my own voice."

Wait, had it been missing? Because I've been hearing it for months, usually shrill and pretentious and making very little sense.

The pundits say that her first-place finish is due to more women in NH voting for her than for Obama -- 47% to 34% -- which I guess means that women connect with Hillary getting all emotional. And the assumption that women categorically go for the emotional candidate offends me, although that's an emotional response, so never mind.

For the record, here are more stats: Male voters chose Obama over Hillary 40% to 29%. But more female voters than male voters -- 57% to 43% -- showed up to vote.

Second prize goes to John Edwards with this brilliant configuring of why he's not worried about coming in third -- twice so far:

"About a half of one percent (of all voters in the country) have voted. Ninety-nine-percent-plus have not voted."

I know that impromptu math problems are not easy, but this is not a struggle to do in your head. 100% minus 1/2% is 99-1/2% who have not voted.

Here's a word problem, Mr. Edwards: If a candidate repeatedly does not gain enough votes to place among the top two spots, how many days remain in his campaign before he figures out how to take Train A going 50 miles per hour back home? We'll wait while you get your calculator.

Back to the past ... back to the future

Check out this video clip at Snopes.com showing what folks in the 1960s thought we'd be doing in 1999.

It's actually a bit scary seeing how close they came -- desktop computers, online shopping, flat screens. Remember, this was two decades before the Silicon Valley revolution, so desktop computing would have been quite the revolutionary idea.

The woman's poofy hairdo is frightening too.

It's a bit disappointing that they still separated men's and women's chores into work and housekeeping. Oh well, it was the 60s, what do you expect?

They still had analog and knob dials. Funny that they didn't envision anything digital. (You get the same thing when you watch the original Star Trek episodes.) Heh.

My review of the 7 Essential Tips

Paring down my goals is taking longer than I thought, which is probably not a good sign if I'm going to simplify.

So for now I'm going to do something that's within my powers: making fun of the 7 Essential Tips to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever. Yes, I know it's not nice to make fun, and yes, these are basically good tips, etc. But hey, I'm just trying to inject humor into this. And besides, "stop making fun of other blogs" is not on my goal list for this year, so it's ok. Ok?

First, I'm having problems with the title. I mean, if this is to be my "best year EVER" then -- what? Next year it starts going downhill? Let's call it "best year SO FAR" just so I can feel like there may be more, even better years ahead.

Here are the 7:

1. One goal.
I cannot do this. No way can I pare down to just one thing. So much to do, so little time. Must multitask to get through every day as it is.

2. Create a new habit.
This sounds ok, but it depends on the habit. I'm assuming they mean "good habit," although they didn't specify. I'm sure I can start a bad habit or two -- and probably will.

3. Take action now.
This is my daily mantra, so I'm ok there.

4. Simplify.
This is easier said than done. They suggest identifying the 4-5 priorities in your life and simplifying commitments to be in line with them. Unfortunately, I have about 93 priorities. So I have some work to do on this one.

5. Focus on happiness.
This is a no-brainer. Who wants to focus on unhappiness? Anyone? They have tips for focusing on happiness, which includes: "Be present" (as opposed to being somewhere else, I suppose), "do less" (not possible when you're self-employed) and "go for a walk" (the only one I have no problem with).

6. Schedule time for you, and your loved ones.
I'm all about this, but I don't understand why the comma there. It's not necessary (in fact, it's grammatically incorrect), but it's almost as if they're saying "you first ... oh, and your loved ones too."

7. Learn to focus.
This should have been #1. I mean, really. Don't we need to focus first?

Ok, there. I poked fun. Now I have to get down to the task of reviewing my goal list. I need to add: "Stop procrastinating by making fun of the very task you need to do."

About my goals ... but wait, first read this

I had planned for today's blog to be about my goals for this year -- as well as my recap of how well I did on last year's goals -- but then I came across this article, "7 Essential Tips to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever," by Leo Babauta, by way of The Entrepreneur Mom's site.

So after reading it, I thought it might be good to pare down my goal list -- or at least give some serious thought to what I'm getting myself into this year -- before spreading it out there for your comments.

So ... stayed tuned for the actual list. In the meantime, check out that article and tell me what you think.

It's "caturday": introducing Blackberry

This is Blackberry, my office cat. He usually hangs around outside and sleeps in our garage, but I let him stay in my office when it's cold. As you can see, he's taken over the place.

He's a stray who came to our house and adopted us. I took him to the vet to get him checked out and found out he has FIV -- feline immunodeficiency virus (the cat equivalent of HIV), which is highly contageous among the cat population. Which means he can't come inside and live with our other cats. Which is too bad, because he's very affectionate.

The vet said they usually euthanize the FIV-positive cats in the wild (otherwise they'd infect every cat they came in contact with, which could be a huge number), but I don't want him put to sleep just because he has this. He probably got it fighting off a mean cat somewhere, and it just seems unfair to do him in because he was fighting for his life. The vet said he could try to find a home for him with people who keep cats with this disease (which presents no problem since they all have it). I'm still deciding what to do. In the meantime, he's my office assistant, obviously campaigning for a management role.

At least they take dollars, not euros

No, I'm not going to comment yet on the presidential election. Plenty of time to give you my not-so-humble opinion when it narrows down to two parties. Or when I vote in the South Carolina primaries in a couple of weeks.

Instead, here's a referral to my favorite blogger, James Lileks, with part two of the recap of his trip to Las Vegas, complete with video at the end. I've never been to Vegas (although watching CSI makes me feel as if I have), and I have to say if you're wanting to see the standard tourist spots around the world, you could save time and money and just go there. Looks like a little bit of everything all rolled into one.

I wonder why CSI hasn't taken advantage of these elements. Like: "Where did they find the body?" "Under the Statue of Liberty." "That's the third one this month. Last one was found under the Eiffel Tower."

One more ponderable

This occurred to me after I made the list this morning:

>>>What is the thinking behind making products smaller? I'm talking about the teeny versions of Doritos, Cheese-Its, M&Ms and other snacks. Was there a marketing meeting where they decided to go for the "awwww" demographic? It's weird. I feel like I'm eating dollhouse food.

Things I currently am pondering

>>>Why are people still fascinated with Britney Spears? Hasn't she officially been declared a train wreck? How long do people stand around the site of a wreck and stare? C'mon, people, move along. Nothing more to see here. Ditto Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, et.al.

>>>Why isn't there a chocolate delivery service?

>>>What's with those guys in the viagra commercial sitting around a garage singing "Viva Viagra" and grinning at each other? Of all the topics in the world to sing about, you chose this? Go home to your wives, guys.

>>>When my husband and I decided to get going on a fitness program and he said he needed to do some cardiovascular exercises but we don't want to join a gym because we both know it'll be money wasted and so I suggested going to MUSC's main tower and walking up the 10 flights of stairs to get our hearts pumping ... what was I thinking? (Besides the fact that if one -- or both -- of us collapsed we were already at the hospital.)

>>>Are there heating pads made just for the legs and if so where can I get some?

>>>Who cast Julia Roberts in "Charlie Wilson's War" and why? And did her wig have its own trailer?

Parsing 2008

I am attempting another blog.

I suppose that should be obvious by the posting, but I thought I'd announce it anyway. We can only hope that subsequent posts will not have such a "duh" element.

The thing is I've tried to do blogs before, and most of them end up boring me before two months. I just get tired of recapping my life in a way that will make it seem interesting to readers, some of whom have not met me and aren't familiar with my warped sense of humor.

I did manage to keep two vacation blogs in 2007, which can be found here and here. I think those succeeded because there was a definite beginning and ending point and they were tightly focused. The unlimited time factor (i.e., that this blog could go on forever) isn't as much a bother as the focus. I mean, really. Most of 2007 was spent writing as many business articles as humanly possible as fast as I could to make a living. A blog would have given you incessant whining and ranting -- and that's no way to build a loyal reading public, now is it?

Nevertheless. One of my 2008 goals (not to be confused with resolutions ... more on that in a later post) is to begin another blog. So here I am. The reason this begins on Jan. 2 instead of Jan. 1 is that I spent part of News Year's Day deciding on its focus. A humorous look at the life of a freelance writer/editor? Recaps and comments on weird news items? A sardonic view of the political landscape? How cute my pets are?

I came up with "Parsing My World" because all I can do is try to make sense of what I see through my analytical, intense, wry (ok, I'll admit it: sarcastic and warped) point of view.

So here we go, people. Hang on for the ride. I intend to post at least once a day. Feel free to chastise me if I don't live up to that promise.