Friday, February 29, 2008

A rose is a rose is a rose

Dragon Mood? -- ???

Or 'What's in a name?' I couldn't resist this meme, from LutheranChik's "L" Word Diary:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Heidi Protege

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Vanilla Birkenstock. I definitely gotta work on gangsta name and my street cred.

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Red Dog.

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Elizabeth LaGrange. My birth town is in the heart of redneck Texas, where the 'a' is long and drawn out with a twang. But Elizabeth LaGrahngzhe sounds so ooh-la-la opera-ish.

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first three letters of your last name, first two of your first name): Sob-ma. Doesn't exactly have the cachet of Obi-Wan Kenobi, does it?

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Orange Bloody Mary. Ennnnnh ... sound of rejection

7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Albert John.

8. STRIPPER NAME (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Cashmere Mist Peppermint Bark

9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your fifth grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Putz Paris. Now this one I like!

10. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Autumn Iris

11. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Honey Crisp (Sauguatuck) Hoodie ... now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?

12. HIPPIE NAME (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Kashi White Pine. Very granola-y, tree-hugging name

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The color white ... as in snow?

White, the color of ...

  • Traditionally, a sign of purity, virginity and peace
  • Vestal Virgins of Rome were dressed in white
  • The flag of surrender
  • Represented by the metal silver
  • In heraldic terminology, argent
  • Chinese color of the West and the Earth
  • A Hindu color of mourning
  • The Japanese color of death
  • The color of feather used to denote cowardice
  • The color of Jesus' clothing after the Resurrection
  • The Moon
  • The Roman color of national mourning after the death of a Caesar
  • A Persian symbol of divinity
  • In socioeconomics and collars, it symbolizes the managerial class
  • In magic, it implies the Devil is not involved
  • Astrological number 1
  • Birth sign Leo
  • The opening move in chess
  • The color of an insignificant taradiddle (little white lie)
  • The Pueblo Indian color of the East
  • Snow and of course, the interminable winter we're having.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Bad time on [his] dime

Dragon Mood? -- another reason to love Izzo: his plain-spoken-ness

Coach Izzo on the Big Ten Network:

"I think it has been a PR nightmare," Izzo said Monday. "And, I think it has hurt all of us."

...

Those who don't [have the Big Ten Network] are fed up, and Izzo has empathy for them.

"We have so many things right now that we're trying to fight -- the price of tickets, the economy of our state -- and then we throw this at them," he said.

"Five years from now, if cable companies pick it up, does it end up better than it was and we're just going through a bad time? I just don't like the bad time being on my dime."

This interminable winter in lovely shades of pink and blue

Dragon Mood? -- the quietness of this photo calms me

From the talented Michigan photographer, Capt Piper, I am reprinting one of her photos from Flickr. Gosh, can this woman capture nature's beauty?

Cropped

Sunday, February 24, 2008

hiccups

Dragon Mood? -- amused

Our bedroom door cracked open Saturday morning and Preston shyly peeked his head in. "Grandma!" he exclaimed as he charged towards our bed, "I got the hiccups!" S replied, "You do? Lemme see." At which point, Preston leaned in and opened his mouth wide for S to catch a glimpse of those pesky hiccups.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

realization

Dragon Mood? -- relaxing

Driving home from work, listening to NPR, I realized there's several things going on in our world this week that are once in a lifetime events. Consider this:

  • Fidel Castro resigning after 50 years in power in Cuba.

  • Barack Obama securing wins in Wisconsin and Hawaii, reinforcing the perception that he is the peoples' choice and unstoppable in his pursuit of the presidency.

  • A lunar eclipse tonight, predicted to be blood red and possibly visible here in Motown? Be hopeful that we have a clear night, cloudless night.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Silly Grandma!

Dragon Mood? -- remembering with amusement

Early Saturday morning, S and I had the pleasure of waking up to hear our grandson, Preston, exclaim, "Daddy, we got to whisper!  Grandmas are SLEEPING!"   S and I looked at each other and chuckled.

Later, up and out of bed, making coffee in the kitchen, I told Preston, now almost three, that today is Grandma's birthday. 

"Grandma's BIRTHDAY!"  he echoed.  He jumped up and down in excitement and patted his own head.

"Tresents, tresents, Grandma's gonna get tresents!"  he predicted.

S corrected him, "Preston, YOU're my present!"   He looked puzzled.

I interjected, "Preston, is Grandma being silly?  Tell her you're not a present, you're a boy!"

He got a big smile on his face, immediately turned  to S and exclaimed, "Silly Grandma!  I'm not a tresent, I'm a BOY!"

Monday, February 11, 2008

a cold Monday night

Dragon Mood? -- sipping hot raspberry tea, relaxing

Monday night, relaxing inside while it's frigidly cold outside. The high today was 14 degrees. The low is below zero. Brrrr! To keep warm, I'm watching PBS Antiques Roadshow and surfing the internet. S is playing a high-stakes game of Spider (you know, solitaire).

Saturday, February 09, 2008

It's all OFFICIAL now!

Dragon Mood? -- eating licorice and still waking up

Yup, it's still sinking in but I'm all OFFICIAL now: a honest-to-goodness, bona fide employee of The Company. (big sigh) WOW!

Mondays and Fridays tend to be the busiest days of the week for me at work. Yesterday was no exception. Work was flying in faster than I could process it or send it back out. And ... Murphy's Law was making an unwelcome appearance in my work universe; anything that could go wrong, did. Suffice to say that by 3:30 p.m., my scheduled time to head home, I was still up to my ears in alligators, beating back the chaos. At 3:45, my phone rings. It's an HR person asking if we can meet in 15 minutes for me to SIGN THE PAPERS? Are you kidding? YOU BET! So-o-ooo, I guess there was a good reason that my workday was chaotic and I was delayed leaving. I filled out forms, printed and signed my name several times over, including the all-important W-4 form. Uncle Sam must have his share.

And, while I haven't blogged about this, another aspect of this, subtle-yet-pretty-darn-important transition is that I AM NO LONGER A CONTRACT WORKER. I am a salaried employee. What does that mean? Well, a very concrete example is that I was ill with the flu on Monday and Tuesday of this week. That would be my second and third day on the payroll with The Company. As a salaried employee, I GOT PAID while at home, laying in my bed with that sledgehammer headache and my roiling, nauseated stomach. Imagine that! In my work universe, that's an UNKNOWN thing! You work, you get paid. You don't work, you don't get paid. That's what I've known for the past eighteen years. Forgive me, dear diary, if this ol' brain still hasn't quite got its figurative arms wrapped around that NEW CONCEPT!

And my apologies for all the CAPS in this post, but this feels BIG, ya know? I've got to express all these feelings somehow!

New-to-me website

Dragon Mood? -- sleepy, waking-up mood

Here's a new-to-me website that I've visited several times in the past week: Unclutterer. It's a blog about living and working in a simpler, uncluttered environment. It's a group blog. Check it out.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Opportunities AND Patience

Dragon Mood? -- positive, hopeful

For a little weekend, astrologically-oriented diversion, here are some short-term forecasts for me, myself and I. You know, the three faces of Mary? Forecast to begin this month ... Oh! .... and these are compliments of Astrodienst.

Jupiter trine Jupiter: An opportunity

Beginning of February 2008 until end of September 2008
: This influence usually represents a time of optimism and positive thinking in your life. You seem to be at a quiet point of balance that enables you to look over the affairs of your life and get a good perspective on them. Therefore, it is a good time to make long-range plans and to reorganize. You should use this time to gain new perspectives through education or travel or by participating in one of the consciousness raising activities or groups that exist now.

This is a time of psychological and physical equilibrium. If you have recently been ill in either body or mind, this influence will help tremendously with the healing process.

This is also a good time to examine your ideals and your goals, for it may be possible to actualize them in various ways now. At other times there is too much tension in your life or too much resistance from others. If you are involved in any movement for reform, now is a good time to take some positive action. Or you might become more involved in religion or philosophy, because you need to know much that is beyond the apparent order of things.

It is quite possible that you will do nothing during this time, because it gives you a feeling of balance but no drive to do anything in particular. You have an unusual sense of ease and relaxation now. This is also a good time to travel, both for relaxation and for educational reasons.

The important point to remember with this influence is that it is fundamentally an opportunity. You will not feel driven by any energies, nor will you feel any resistance to your efforts to do something. You can make great use of this time, but you have to take the initiative.

Neptune opposition Pluto: Please wait

End of February 2008 until mid December 2009
: This influence signifies encounters that cause various aspects of your life to be transformed. Most commonly, this transformation will take the form of disappearances of persons, circumstances or even possessions that you have become used to. You will also encounter forces that try to reveal aspects of your life that you have long kept hidden from yourself. Initially you will probably resist these revelations, believing that they cannot teach you anything very constructive. An influence like this often reveals aspects of ourselves that we have been taught to consider evil or at least negative. These aspects are often a source of positive energy, but because we refuse to acknowledge them, that energy is wasted and is usually out of our control. There will be much psychological compulsiveness at this time, but the less you resist facing yourself, the less difficulty you will have.

On another level you will be shown a spiritual dimension of your existence that can immensely broaden your life and experience, if you are willing to look at it. This dimension may seem so far beyond your ordinary life that you will consider it impossible to accept, but this knowledge is necessary for your growth.

On a practical level, avoid taking at face value any new encounters with persons or circumstances. Even when persons are not trying to deceive you, they may do so unintentionally, because you won't immediately understand what they are really showing you. Until you have arrived at this level of understanding, simply adopt a waiting attitude and commit yourself to as little as possible.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Doris!

Dragon Mood? -- cozy & warm on the internet

Saturday morning, once again home amongst the pine trees, now covered in soft, fluffy snow. We had a storm blow through all of lower Michigan yesterday that dumped various amounts of snow: Detroit less, mid-Michigan more. Thankfully, we didn't get hit with the worst of it and I was able to go to work yesterday and drive back here last night.

Today is my Aunt Doris's 84th birthday. So here's a BIG internet-ish, cyber-ific HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her! On a more 'grounded' level, I called her on my cell phone, sang "Happy Birthday" to her and we chatted for 30 minutes or so. It was a good conversation. What a woman! At 84, I'd love to have her spunk, her get-up-and-go, her optimism!