Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday

Today is the day of multiple Happy Birthdays. Sharing today's spotlight:

• Jeff
• J K Rowling
• Harry Potter
• Valerie Potter, Peter's kindergarten assistant teacher!
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Happy Birthday, one and all!

Mascot silliness

My alma mater, Carolina (THE Carolina, and don't let anyone from South Carolina tell you otherwise) has a reasonably silly mascot. We are the Tarheels, but the animal we choose to inspire fear in our opponents ('cause lets be honest, Carolina blue is NOT a fierce color) is the Ram.

But I had no idea how many schools have utterly ridiculous mascots!

My friend David is taking his daughter on a college tour of New England. My kids, especially Peter, love college T-Shirts, so have asked for a shirt from one of the schools. David sent me a list of the schools they're visiting, and because I know my son (and what's important to him), I went out and dug around to see what each school's mascot and colors are.

Now, some are pretty "normal": Princeton Tigers, Colgate Raiders, William and Mary Tribe, Middlebury Panthers. Pretty standard.

Some are slightly different (Dartmouth Big Green, Colby Mules) but not without precedent.

But some are just silly! For example, the Bowdoin Polar Bears (they ARE in Maine, though), the Hamilton Continentals, and the Amherst Jeffs.

OK, what the heck is a Jeff? Short for Jeffersonian? Puh-leaze!

I do like the Polar Bears, though!

What are you people thinking???

I went to the Counting Crow/Maroon 5 concert last night. It was tons of fun, and I had a really good time, but I'm noticing a disturbing trend.

THERE ARE TONS OF LITTLE KIDS AT CONCERTS THESE DAYS!!!!

Now, granted, I took Peter to see REM back in June.

But Peter is 10. And REM, while certainly an 'adult' band, is actually pretty tame, language-wise.

Maroon 5 is not. They are, shall we say, a bit pre-occupied with the physical mechanisms of procreation (how's that for maintaining a PG rating!). Not that a 7 year old would understand all the questionable lyrics, but, as a parent, there are certain lyrics that I do NOT want my 7 year old singing at the bus stop!

But, yeah, I saw a TON of kids under 10 there! A ton of kids basically Grace's age!

I just don't get it....

Mmmm, lunch

I love my veggies. I can go a meal or two without veggies, but not many or I start craving green-and-crunchies.

Apparently I've been missing the G-n-Cs the past few meals, because I went after them with a vengence today for lunch: A bag o' "Vegetable Medley" (broccoli, cauliflour and carrots), with hummus to dip them in. And a nectarine for dessert, and a thing of milk.

Yum!

I can only share so much....

I try to share the road, I really do. I've been known to ride my bike on back country roads, and it used to tick me off no end when rude drivers would pass me at 75 mph without moving over even one inch, so I try to be nice to bikers when I encounter them.

I've also been known to walk or run on roads without sidewalks, so when driving I try to be nice to pedestrians and joggers, as well.

But there is only so much sharing of the road that I can do, and I think I hit my limit today.

I was driving to my friend David's house this morning. David lives in Cary, but because of where his house is in relation to mine, I actually take backroads to his house. It's a prettier drive (I get to cross Jordan Lake), it's slightly shorter than taking the highway, and it doesn't take significantly longer than it would to get on the highway.

But, on a pretty Saturday morning, the route is crowde with bikers. OK, I expect that, and I have to say that about 95% of the bikers in the Triangle are very good -- they ride single file, stay well to the right, and make it easy on drivers.

But today I encountered something new.

Rollerbladers.

Yep, rollerbladers, plural. Not one, not two, but THREE separate individuals rollerblading on crazy curvy (well, curvy for this area) little back roads.

Sorry, guys, but this is just NUTS!!! Roller blades are NOT what you should be using for transportation on a back road! First of all, you significantly increase your chances of getting hit by something, because you're going slower than EVERYONE, including the bikers. Then, the body motion in roller blading involves a certain sway that makes it impossible to take up less than about 3 or 4 feet of space, so your stiking your legs out into the road!

Plus, you tick off both the bikers AND the drivers, so EVERYONE is angry at you and driving unsafely!

So, yeah, I'll share the road happily with bikers and pedestrians, but I think roller bladers are beyond my limit.

I would be such a bad stay at home Mom.

Periodically I take a day off to do kid things, today is one of those days. Actually, today I need a babysitter at night, so am swapping my daytime babysitter today daytime for today nighttime.

The kids are in Handbell Camp this week, so I dropped them off at church, and now have a solid two hours before going back to pick them up.

So what do I do? Do I run to Target because I've needed to go for like a month now?

Do I scoot home and clean my house (company coming tonight)?

Nope. I go to the coffee shop across the street, where I'm drinking a cafe au lait, listening to a great early alternative station (have heard Morrisey and XTC, and just heard New Order!), and blogging. And surfing the web. And probably playing games.

Yeah, I'm not cut out for this!

What's in a name?

I was cleaning stuff off my hard drive, when I ran across a list of names for Peter and Grace from last summer. This was one of those silly email chain, but funnier than most because of the possibility for creating truly ridiculous names for onesself.

So, I decided to do myself again, and post it here!

1. YOUR REAL NAME: Margaret Cohen


2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME ((fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Rocky Road Oatmeal


3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME (first initial of first name, first three or four of your last): M-Coh


4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (fav color and fav animal): Blue Cat


5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, town where you were born): Frost Durham


6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name): CohMar Wri


7. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Purple Martini


8. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (mother & father's middle names): Jo Scott


9. PET NAME (favorite kind of candy & favorite day of the week): Caramel Friday


10. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Purple Martini


11. REDNECK NAME (first syllable of your first name and last syllable of your last name & state you were born in): Marhen North Carolina

Tons o' fun!

But the best is still the Captain Underpants Name Generator, in which I'm Loopy Bubbletush

A blast from the past

As I was driving into work today I saw a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. Now, this is not a particularly unusual occurance; lots of people use their cars to express themselves.

But this sticker was a Kennedy-Johnson sticker.

And the car was relatively new Tahoe. Tahoes were not around when Kennedy and Johnson were running for office. Heck, I was not even around when Kennedy and Johnson were running for office!

So, needless to say, I was curious. I wondered several things, but mainly where the heck did the sticker come from, and what was the person trying to say?

Well, I've found an answer (or at least a possible answer) to the first question. I found a Kennedy-Johnson sticker for sale on eBay, as well as this site, where one can apparently make custom bumper stickers (FUN!), and sell them to profit either oneself or a charity.

OK, so now I now that there are places to buy vintage or vintage-esque stickers.

But why?

What does this mean? Is this Tahoe driver nostalgic for the 60's? Wishing the Democratic party would field a vibrant, exciting candidate? (note: Dude, we've come pretty close this time, come join the rest of us in this century!) Making some sort of satirical comment?

And why would someone DESIGN a Kennedy-Johnson sticker in 2008? What are THEY trying to say?

I find it a bit disturbing that someone is (possibly) feeling such ennui at our political system or candidates that they'd support two politicians WHO ARE DEAD!

Yeah, I'm thinking about this too much (nah, ya think?). But it was just weird.

Oh, HECK!

I only just realized, after posting about my veggie-perks, that today is Cindi's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDI!!!!!

Perks

Most workplaces, I've found, have perks in one way or another. If you work at a gym, you get a free membership. If you work for a clothing store, you get a discount.

My workplace, though, has one of the best perks ever...

Produce.

My boss is, deep down in his heart, a farmer. He provides (for a fee, of course) employees with fresh flowers, eggs, veggies, etc.

Today I'm getting a dozen eggs, a pound of tomatoes and a pound of okra! Yum

You do realize you're a deer, right?

I was coming home late last night (WAY too late, for many reasons, but mainly brownies and WoW) from my friend David's house; he lives in Cary and I live (duh) in Chapel Hill, but for one reaons or another the route I usually take is on back roads rather than I-40.

Having lived in the boonies for many years of my life (all but 12 by my count, and 4 of those were from birth to 4 years old, so I don't know that they count), I know to watch for deer as I drive on back roads at night, and even know HOW to watch for deer (look at the furthest edge of your headlights for the refletion of their eyes, watch for movement, and be especially careful around fields where they'll graze). And I'm reasonably careful.

But, one of them snuck up on me, so to speak, last night, and I didn't realized it was by the side of the road until I was only 20 or 30 feet away from her; I was coming up a hill and around a curve, so my line of sight was off. Anyway, luckily the deer realized I was there, and was getting out of the way, but had to negotiate a fence which was between the road and where she wanted to be.

Now, deer can jump. They're typically good jumpers. One of Peter's first baby-sentences was "Dee Uh!" which meant, "Look, Mother, the deer just jumped over the fence!", caused by seeing a big buck jump, from a standing position, over a 5-6 foot fence. So, yeah, they can jump.

But this deer last night, for whatever reason, chose NOT to jump.

Instead, she belly-crawled UNDER the bottom rung of the fence she needed to get past.

This is just wrong! It's like birds that run across a parking lot, dodging cars, rather than flying! She's a deer, for heaven's sake! She was meant to jump!

But, maybe she harbors a lifelong dream of joining the Marines, and was practicing for Basic Training....

Yay Hurricanes!!!

No, not the hockey team (though they're cool, too, no pun intended).

Nope, yay for the Heritage Hills Hurricanes, the swim team Grace swims on.

This team is typically one of the top three in the Chapel Hill Summer Swim League (which has seven teams total), and they are duly proud of that.

And, like most youth sports teams, they stress that winning isn't everything, and that good sportsmanship and having fun are more important than the final score.

And they really mean it!

I commented to a couple of friends after one meet that I timed for that I could NOT move into a certain neighborhood in Chapel Hill, or at least not without retaining my Heritage Hills swim membership, because I couldn't let my child swim for that team. Grace's team is taught from an early age to stay in their lanes after a race until the swimmers on either side have finished the race, congratulate them, and THEN get out. Now, the little kids frequently forget this, but they're reminded every meet, and the parents are reminded every meet, and the coaches talk about it every meet, and the volunteers are asked to remind the kids every meet, all in the hopes that by the time they're older, they WILL remember.

I've never seen a Heritage Hills swimmer over the age of about 9 NOT stay in the pool. At the meet with the unnamed-neighborhood, I saw MANY of their kids get out of the pool when they were done without even glancing to the right or left, and more than once saw them get out when there was a kid right next to them with their hand stuck out to congratulate them. And no one seemed to care, which is what bugged me.

But, I think the swim team really showed their sportsmanship colors this past week. Grace's team had, we thought, and undefeated season as a team. However, one of our volunteers realized that in an event a couple of weeks ago, they had given us points for first and second, and the other team points for third, which was the reverse of what really happened.

Now, in the swimming world, representatives (i.e. parent volunteers) from both teams have to sign off on the score sheet. Once it's signed off on, it's done. The meet's over, the winner is announced, and it's done. And this score sheet had been signed off on.

But it was wrong. And we knew it was wrong.

So, they called the other swim team to let them know of the error, and called the league to let them know of the error, and it was corrected. And, rather than winning that meet by 10 points, we lost by 4, and are now tied with that team for the best record in the regular season.

Now, how many college teams would do that? Heck, how many HIGH SCHOOL teams would do that, and don't even get me started on the pros!

How many referees, knowing they made a bad call, would insist it be corrected?

For that matter (giving kudos to the other team), how many college or professional coaches, having been informed of an error, would work to figure out a solution rather than turning it into a sound-bite media frenzy?

I love how my team acted, because this is what sports, particularly recreational sports, are supposed to teach kids. Do the right thing. Play fair. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Along with, of course, do your best, try hard, etc.

But so often, parents SAY all of that, and then scream at a ref when they make a close call. Or DQ a kid. Or call off a shot because time has expired. So often parents blame someone else for a loss; a coach, a ref, a player. So often, parents show, by their body language if not their verbal language, that winning matters, and matters a lot.

And, yes, winning is fun. No one denies that, and when we thought we were undefeated, we loved being undefeated.

But it's nice to know that there are still people who really do believe that winning isn't everything.

The things we do for produce

Chapel Hill basically has only one chain grocery store, Harris Teeter. They do have a few Food Lions, but no one over the age of 25 and income of, oh, 20k shops there. There are nice Food Lions in other parts of the world, but in Chapel Hill they're skanky (apologies to any Chapel Hillians who DO shop there!)

Anyway, there's a Harris Teeter about 2 miles from my house, and also one near my work. I generally do my weekly shopping at the one near my house....but I really don't like it.

I don't know what's happened to that store in the past couple of years, but it's become a real challenge to find good produce there. The squash is battered, the green beans spotty, the peppers squishy, the tomatoes go bad within about two days. The carrots, potatoes and onions are typically OK, but those are not particularly fragile veggies.

So, I've been known to drive ALL the way across town (which, granted, is not very far!) to the HT near my office to do my shopping. But I always felt kinda silly; it's not as if the produce is rotted, it's just a little....blemished.

Well, today as I was going to HT to buy things for my lunch, I saw my neighbor coming out, grocery cart loaded with bags! Apparently I'm NOT the only one who will drive across town for better produce!

There are TOO copperheads in my neighborhood!

Friday night the kids and I went to dinner in Southern Village with my friend David. We tend to walk when we go to Southern Village (it's only a mile); Grace uses it as an excuse to ride her scooter, and Peter uses it as an excuse to hang with me and chat about nearly anything (my taciturn son basically has three times that he tells me about his world: when the two of us are alone, usually at a doctor's visit, when we walk to Southern Village, and every so often will come into my room before bed to chit chat).

Anyway, so Peter was in chatty mode, and was telling us that, so says neighborhood lore, there's a copperhead in the neighborhood, specifically in our yard. Now, this wouldn't surprise me too terribly much; I have by far the most wooded back yard in the neighborhood, and I've sort of cultivated it; I like a buffer between me and my neighbors, especially in the back where the deck and hammock are.

David, on the other hand, didn't seem to think that there would be a copperhead in my yard without a watersource; a real one, like a runoff stream, not just a marshy area (which I do have).

I don't really know the habits of copperheads, other than if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone, so I didn't argue the point. I CAN, however, identify them, due to a terrifying indicent when I was a camp counsellor involving a dozen 8 year olds, a lack of judgement on my part, a dirt road, and a copperhead (no one got hurt!).

So Sunday, I finally got around to cutting my grass; it hadn't needed cutting for weeks because there was no rain, then we got several days of rain, and suddenly it needed cutting BADLY!.

While I was out cutting, I saw what looked like a twisted little stick by the curb. On closer examination, it was this:

Yeah, it's kinda hard to tell from that picture (I've GOT to get a real camera and stop using my phone), but that's a little baby copperhead. Granted, he's dead and fried, but a copperhead nonetheless.

So, it looks like I DO have copperheads in my yard! Though, apparently, one fewer than I used to....

Why I Go to the Waffle Shoppe

The kids and I shook things up a little today and had breakfast at The Waffle Shoppe on a Saturday rather than a Sunday! And, yes, the wait staff DID comment on the fact that we were there on the "wrong" day.

This is why I LOVE this place - the waitress brought me my coffee without my having to order it!

My world has been rocked

There are some things that just shouldn't happen. They rail against all logic, all principle, heck, they might even rail against actualy physical laws.

• The sky should be blue.
• Grass should be green.
• The sun and moon should (more or less, given one's lattitude) rise in the east and set in the west.



• AND MY DAD SHOULD NOT BE ON FACEBOOK!!!

I was playing on Facebook earlier today, and checked my email contact list against Facebook Folks.

And my Dad came up!!!!

That just seems wrong!

'Course, I'm sure there are those out there who think I shouldn't be on Facebook, given my age and sensibilities!

If it's not one thing....

It's the boys.

Yep, Jack and Dusty are back with Auntie Meg for awhile. And, like always, they get into everything.

I bought a new bookcase last weekend at World Market; it's probably about 5 feet tall, and has 4 shelves.

This is Dusty, on the top-most shelf:

Dusty in his perch

We're not entirely sure how he got up there, but he made himself right at home. Just after I took this, he settled down for a nap!

Silly boys....

What do we do now?

What do you do when a nemesis dies?

Are we really defined by who we....hate is a strong word (maybe), perhaps dislike more intensely than any other human in the entire world?

Jesse Helms died early Friday morning.

For a liberal in North Carolina, Jesse was the personification of all that was wrong with the world. He was intolerant, condescending, unkind. And, he did all of it knowingly and openly in the name of patriotism and democracy, making it very hard to fight against him.

Jesse played upon people's worst instincts. He played upon their fear of others who were different, whether that difference was in the color of their skin, their beliefs, or who they loved. He made it very clear that those who were different that us (him) were to be ridiculed, and that their rights, feelings, emotions were not to be taken seriously.

And sadly, he did this very, very well. He did it with folksy humor; he famously once opposed funding for the North Carolina zoo, saying it would be cheaper to put a fence around the University in Chapel Hill (not nearly as pinko-commie as people thing, but certainly WELL to the left of Jesse).

He knew our baser emotions, and he played upon them. He ran what remains to this day one of the dirtiest, most negative political campaign in the nations history, a Senate race agains Jim Hunt in 1984. In another senatorial race, against Harvey Gantt, an African-American, very popular mayor of Charlotte, Jesse was behind in the polls....until he ran an ad showing a pair of white hands holding a layoff notice, with a voice over about how they EARNED that job, and DESERVED that job, but it was given to someone else.

And, quite frankly, Jesse defined liberals in North Carolina for a long, long time. Because he was the "face" of North Carolina in political circles, those of us who didn't share his views had to be more vocal, and more open. I once had a bumper sticker that read, "I'm from North Carolina....and I DON'T support Jesse Helms". I met Bella Abzug once at a family wedding, and when she learned I was from North Carolina, she was decidedly distant...until I explained my view on Jesse! I had a friend when I lived in New York who maintained her permanent address in North Carolina solely so she could vote against Jesse in his last senatorial race.

And now he's dead. I've tried hard never to wish someone dead; to paraphrase Dumbledore, it may be that there are many people who are alive who deserve death; but there are also many who are dead who deserved life; until you can heal the former, don't be so quick to pass judgement on the latter.

But this was Jesse. He used his role as a politician and a leader not to enlighten, not to raise his constituents, not to try to make the world better, but as a tool to divide, to promote hatred and intolerance. And he did this because hatred, fear and intolerance were what kept him in power and gave him his influence.

So, where do we go from here? Will the void from Jesse's death allow a more, shall we say, enlightened leader to rise to the front? But, honestly, I don't know who that person would be. Or, without a vocal and visible nemesis, will liberals in North Carolina drift away, and think they no longer have to speak out, and make sure that people know their beliefs?

Before the Parade

Peter and Grace sitting in the shade before the Carrboro 4th of July parade.

Peter wore his moon shoes this year, Grace used her skateboard!

I love my babysitter!

If you have kids, you know the trauma and drama associated with finding sitters. First, you don't want just anyone staying with your beloved offspring. Second, if your beloved offspring are like mine, they occasionally turn into demon spawn (yes, I know that makes me a demon), so said sitter has to have the patience of a sait, or at least good exorcism skills. Add in the plethora of activities and jobs that teenagers seem to take on, and their own social lives, and it's tough to find a good one.

I use a full-time sitter in the summers; sadly it's cheaper than full day camps (which really doesn't seem right). She's great; she drives (a neccesity since my pool is not in my neighborhood), she's creative, she loves my kids, my kids LOVE her, she frequently has rifles in her car to keep them in line (OK, they're color guard rifles).... All the things a babysitter needs.

And when I woke up this morning and went downstairs to make my coffee????

I realized she'd cleaned my kitchen! Not serious clean (no mopping or anything), but she did all my dishes, put them away, cleaned off the counters, etc!

What a great sitter!

Heck, what a great person!!!!! I was very happy.

I'm not getting deported!

Just in case any of y'all were worried! Though, depending on what happens in November, I still reserve the right to move to Canada.

Anyway, msnbc.com had a quiz today in honor of the 4th, taken from the most recent quiz given to immigrants applying for US citizenship.

I only missed two questions! I got 90%!!!! I get to stay!!!!!

It pays to listen to Schoolhouse Rock and be a history major....

Well, How about that?!?!

I was talking (ok, IMing) with a friend at work who lives in Apex, asking if his oldest can babysit yet (no, she's only 14 and I need a driver). That led us to the cost of gas, and he was commenting that when his daughter DOES turn 16, he expects the cost of gas to be so much that the cost to insure a third (inexperienced) driver will be less than the cost of the gas associated with the extra trips that her parents make driving her to and from her activities (when a parent drives her, the round trip doubles because they go back home during her practices).

As part of the discussion he said that to get her to her year round swim practice is a 40 mile round trip currently; 20 to drop off and 20 to pick up.

I was amazed, and made the throw-away (I thought) comment that I thought I could circumnavigate Chapel Hill and not drive 20 miles.

Well, thanks to gmaps-pedometer, I found out I was right! How about that????