Genealogy study....where present meets the past...

Since I have some free time on my hands I decided to start a genealogy study of my family. Oy veh, what a task! The easy part was getting into one of the genealogy websites to start building a family tree. The hard part is to try and locate your ancestors without having to have a seance with a spriritualist in attendance, or digging in the old family trunk, or calling Ghostbusters...somehow I don't think Bill Murray will be much help to me right about now.

Are you ever too old to read teen Vampire stories....?

Okay, so I'll admit it, I have crossed over to the dark side! I recently started reading the Twilight series of books by Stephanie Meyer (please, no comments from the peanut gallery!!) I will condescend to admit that I have been borrowing these books from the "Teen" section of our local library and have been brave enough to go without disguise into this section whilst enduring strange looks from the "Tweeners" sitting in the area.

The books are a heavy mix of teen angst, laced with an unrequited love-triangle, and topped with a heavy dose of vampires and werewolves. I am currently reading book 3, "Eclipse", so that I can be mentally prepared for the movie opening on June 30, 2010. Yes, I will be going with a friend of mine so that we can partake in the whole "Twilight" experience. Though this will date me, I am envisioning shades of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", but without the toast and toilet paper throwing.

As to which team I am on...well I am leaning towards Team Jacob after seeing his new buff image in the "New Moon" movie, but Team Edward is still on the leader board. Oh decisions, decisions...!!!

How do you know if your living in one of America's Most Miserable Cities?

Okay, so I am scrolling through the list of America's Top 20 Most Miserable Cities and I see the likes of NYC, Philadephia, and St. Louis. So I ask myself what if my city didn't make the list, does that mean my city isn't the most miserable or that it just isn't miserable enough?? Are there degrees of miserable???

I guess I can go back to whistling my happy tunes again, phew!!!!

Happy Birthday Canyon!!

To one of the loves of my life...my great dane Canyon! You have made me laugh when I felt like crying, loved me no matter what, and given me great big sloppy kisses.

Happy 6th birthday to my big ol' couch potato!

Love,

Mommy

The Academy Awards Show of March 7th, 2010

Well, another show has come and gone and lasted longer than any in recent history. As awards shows go, this is the King, as long as you can get past all the back slapping and high fiving...! Liked Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as hosts, just enough sarcasm to keep things a little humble.

Not sure I like having 5 actors/actresses get up to each talk about a particular Best Actor or Best Actress nominee, too much time wasted on that. As usual a lot of extra fluff was included in the show that wasn't necessary.

Glad to see Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock win for Best Actor and Best Actress, these honors were well deserved.

Too bad they could not find enough time in the show to include all of the people that passed away last year in the "In Memoriam" segment such as, Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur...it surprises me that the Academy says they cannot include everyone who passed?! Isn't that what this segment is all about, saying goodbye to people who made a lasting contribution to motion pictures?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...Guess who is in the driver seat now!

Do you remember the wooden balsa wood planes that came in pieces that you could put together and had a propeller that worked when you twisted the rubberband? Or how about paper air planes, for the origami-challenged among us. How proud we were when we could get these two to actually fly for 3 seconds.

Well now, forget all of that because apparently kids can now be Air Traffic Controllers. Gee, if only we had that option when we were younger. And the best part is, kids can do this on their vacations and days off from school. I wonder what the starting salary is and if there is any age restrictions?

Getting in touch with old friends...

Is there anything better then getting in touch with old friends? I like to call them "nold" (new-old) friends. The finding or locating part is often harder than the keeping in touch part, but oh, what a joy to talk to someone you haven't talked to in 20 or 30+ years. Of course, we all look a little bit different now, but who cares, as if we liked wearing our hair long and parted in the middle, bell bottom jeans(okay, so they still wear these, everything old is new again), polyester shirts, gauchos, platform shoes, and the Elton John glasses.

If I really concentrate I can still hear the faint sounds of the Doobie Brothers, "Old Black Water...", The Commodores, "Brick House" or Donna Summer, "Bad Girls". And who can forget all the great Village People hits....?

This is a nod to all the great "nold" friends I have heard from lately, let's keep the momentum going!

Keep it cool!

Colleen