Monday, October 29, 2007
spectacularly spectacled
I don't particularly like getting dressed up for Halloween (bah humbug!), but you gotta love this clever costume from one of my workmates!
Friday, October 26, 2007
nice outlook for the end the week...
... and appropriate, too!
TGIF...
Capricorn Dec 23 - Jan 19
You may be feeling positive effects from this Full Moon in your 5th House of Play. You may be ready to enjoy yourself, but you aren't willing to slack off and let the day slip by. It's time to put your creativity to work. And, even if your dreams seem far away, pay particular attention to them, for they will play a growing role in the new few weeks.
TGIF...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
addicted to my dvr
There, I said it. I must add, too, that I've been recording old episodes of Dawson's Creek lately (don't ask -- maybe it's to take me back to a time of innocence with the freakishly sophisticated vocabulary of those crazy teens -- pre-TomKat?). Anyhow, something must be in the air. First, the Beek makes his way onto Ugly Betty (which I don't watch, but it was cool to see his mug on E's Watch with Kristin blog under Korbi's Quickie) and now it's being reported that Pacey will be on Grey's Anatomy. Woo hoo! What next? Katie on The Office?
Friday, October 19, 2007
changes on the way...
It's been awhile since I've posted an "inspirational" (some friends may say, "cheesy") quote... Here goes, as I feel it's a bit apropo...
I know, it's a bit ironic considering it's the end of the work week.
More...
Happy Friday! Have a great weekend.
"Work is love made visible." -Kahlil Gibran
I know, it's a bit ironic considering it's the end of the work week.
More...
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." -Buddha
"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." -Unknown
"Do one thing every day that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the live you've imagined." -Thoreau
Happy Friday! Have a great weekend.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
the trivial pursuit
Thought this NYT op-ed piece was worth re-posting...
By BOB HERBERT
Yesterday began with the gratifying news that Al Gore, derided by George H.W. Bush as the “Ozone Man,” had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The first thing media types wanted to know was whether this would prompt Mr. Gore to elbow his way into the presidential campaign. That’s like asking someone who’s recovered from a heart attack if he plans to resume smoking.
Mr. Gore, who won an Academy Award for his documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and an Emmy for his cable TV network, Current, knows better than anyone else how toxic and downright idiotic presidential politics has become.
He may be one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, talented men in America and remarkably well-equipped to lead the nation, but it’s Mr. Bush’s less-than-curious, less-than-distinguished son, George W., who is president.
There are all kinds of ironies wrapped up in the title of Mr. Gore’s latest book, “The Assault on Reason.”
When I heard that Mr. Gore had won the Nobel, my thoughts wandered to the younger Mr. Bush and to Rudolph Giuliani, who is leading the current field of Republican presidential candidates.
Mr. Bush came to mind because, for all of the obvious vulnerabilities he exhibited in 2000, it was not him but Mr. Gore who was mocked unmercifully by the national media. And the mockery had nothing to do with the former vice president’s positions on important policy issues. He was mocked because of his personality.
In the race for the highest office in the land, we showed the collective maturity of 3-year-olds.
Mr. Gore was taken to task for his taste in clothing and for such grievous offenses as sighing or, allegedly, rolling his eyes. It was a given that at a barbecue everyone would rush to be with his opponent.
We’ve paid a heavy price. The president who got such high marks as a barbecue companion doesn’t seem to know up from down. He’s hurled the nation into a ruinous war that has cost countless lives and spawned a whole new generation of terrorists. He continues to sit idly by as a historic American city, New Orleans, remains wounded and on its knees. He’s blithely steered the nation into a bottomless pit of debt.
I could go on.
Mr. Gore actually polled the most votes in 2000, but he was criticized for not having whipped Mr. Bush decisively enough to have avoided the madness in Florida.
Mr. Gore knows the system is in trouble, and not just because of the way he lost in 2000. The last time I spoke to him, a few months ago, he said: “Having served in the White House with the Gingrich Congress, and having watched the best of intentions so often turned into small changes ballyhooed as revolutionary, sometimes having no lasting mark, I really do believe that fixing the dynamic of democracy is an urgent task.”
That’s just the kind of thoughtful comment that can’t get a real hearing in our sound-bite politics. The result is that reality, untidy and complex, is almost always trumped by well-crafted phoniness.
Which brings us to Mr. Giuliani.
The entire basis for this former mayor’s candidacy is his contention that he is some kind of expert, a veritable guru, on matters related to terrorism.
“I understand terrorism,” he says, “in a way that is equal to or exceeds anyone else.”
And yet in the two most important decisions he has made with regard to terror, he has miserably failed.
Mr. Giuliani foolishly insisted, against expert advice, on placing New York City’s state-of-the-art emergency command center on the 27th floor of a 47-story building that was known to be a terror target and that was destroyed in the World Trade Center attack.
And he pushed hard for the corrupt and grotesquely underqualified Bernard Kerik to be appointed to the top antiterror post in the Bush administration, secretary of homeland security.
In an episode that humiliated the president, the nomination had to be scrapped after boatloads of damaging information began to emerge about Mr. Kerik. (He has since pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and remains under federal investigation.)
But Mr. Giuliani, who shares with Mr. Bush a Manichaean view of the world and an aggressive, authoritarian temperament, remains not just a viable candidate, but the G.O.P. front-runner.
Al Gore is a serious man confronted by a political system that is not open to a serious exploration of important, complex issues. He knows it.
“What politics has become,” he said, with a laugh and a tinge of regret, “requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply.”
By BOB HERBERT
Yesterday began with the gratifying news that Al Gore, derided by George H.W. Bush as the “Ozone Man,” had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The first thing media types wanted to know was whether this would prompt Mr. Gore to elbow his way into the presidential campaign. That’s like asking someone who’s recovered from a heart attack if he plans to resume smoking.
Mr. Gore, who won an Academy Award for his documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and an Emmy for his cable TV network, Current, knows better than anyone else how toxic and downright idiotic presidential politics has become.
He may be one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, talented men in America and remarkably well-equipped to lead the nation, but it’s Mr. Bush’s less-than-curious, less-than-distinguished son, George W., who is president.
There are all kinds of ironies wrapped up in the title of Mr. Gore’s latest book, “The Assault on Reason.”
When I heard that Mr. Gore had won the Nobel, my thoughts wandered to the younger Mr. Bush and to Rudolph Giuliani, who is leading the current field of Republican presidential candidates.
Mr. Bush came to mind because, for all of the obvious vulnerabilities he exhibited in 2000, it was not him but Mr. Gore who was mocked unmercifully by the national media. And the mockery had nothing to do with the former vice president’s positions on important policy issues. He was mocked because of his personality.
In the race for the highest office in the land, we showed the collective maturity of 3-year-olds.
Mr. Gore was taken to task for his taste in clothing and for such grievous offenses as sighing or, allegedly, rolling his eyes. It was a given that at a barbecue everyone would rush to be with his opponent.
We’ve paid a heavy price. The president who got such high marks as a barbecue companion doesn’t seem to know up from down. He’s hurled the nation into a ruinous war that has cost countless lives and spawned a whole new generation of terrorists. He continues to sit idly by as a historic American city, New Orleans, remains wounded and on its knees. He’s blithely steered the nation into a bottomless pit of debt.
I could go on.
Mr. Gore actually polled the most votes in 2000, but he was criticized for not having whipped Mr. Bush decisively enough to have avoided the madness in Florida.
Mr. Gore knows the system is in trouble, and not just because of the way he lost in 2000. The last time I spoke to him, a few months ago, he said: “Having served in the White House with the Gingrich Congress, and having watched the best of intentions so often turned into small changes ballyhooed as revolutionary, sometimes having no lasting mark, I really do believe that fixing the dynamic of democracy is an urgent task.”
That’s just the kind of thoughtful comment that can’t get a real hearing in our sound-bite politics. The result is that reality, untidy and complex, is almost always trumped by well-crafted phoniness.
Which brings us to Mr. Giuliani.
The entire basis for this former mayor’s candidacy is his contention that he is some kind of expert, a veritable guru, on matters related to terrorism.
“I understand terrorism,” he says, “in a way that is equal to or exceeds anyone else.”
And yet in the two most important decisions he has made with regard to terror, he has miserably failed.
Mr. Giuliani foolishly insisted, against expert advice, on placing New York City’s state-of-the-art emergency command center on the 27th floor of a 47-story building that was known to be a terror target and that was destroyed in the World Trade Center attack.
And he pushed hard for the corrupt and grotesquely underqualified Bernard Kerik to be appointed to the top antiterror post in the Bush administration, secretary of homeland security.
In an episode that humiliated the president, the nomination had to be scrapped after boatloads of damaging information began to emerge about Mr. Kerik. (He has since pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and remains under federal investigation.)
But Mr. Giuliani, who shares with Mr. Bush a Manichaean view of the world and an aggressive, authoritarian temperament, remains not just a viable candidate, but the G.O.P. front-runner.
Al Gore is a serious man confronted by a political system that is not open to a serious exploration of important, complex issues. He knows it.
“What politics has become,” he said, with a laugh and a tinge of regret, “requires a level of tolerance for triviality and artifice and nonsense that I have found in short supply.”
Thursday, October 04, 2007
fil-am enraged over desperate comment
Hat tip to Jocelyn at the Yahoo! NYC Public Relations Group:
Open mouth, insert foot… oops.
'Housewives'' Philippines comment sparks outrage
Susan’s always putting her foot in her mouth as the charmingly clumsy one on “Desperate Housewives.” But this time it’s the show’s writers who may be in trouble after Teri Hatcher’s character seemingly derided the quality of medical education in the Philippines. Susan’s gynocologist sent her into a panic when he suggested she might be starting menopause on Sunday’s season premiere, prompting her to ask for a look at his medical diplomas, “Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines?”
Since the episode aired, an online petition demanding an apology from the network has garnered more than 55,000 signatures, while others have called the network to complain. Several Filipino politicians have also chastised the network, and the story has been plastered across the nightly Filipino newscasts for days. Yesterday ABC put out a statement reading in part: “The producers of `Desperate Housewives' and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere. There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines."
Open mouth, insert foot… oops.
'Housewives'' Philippines comment sparks outrage
Susan’s always putting her foot in her mouth as the charmingly clumsy one on “Desperate Housewives.” But this time it’s the show’s writers who may be in trouble after Teri Hatcher’s character seemingly derided the quality of medical education in the Philippines. Susan’s gynocologist sent her into a panic when he suggested she might be starting menopause on Sunday’s season premiere, prompting her to ask for a look at his medical diplomas, “Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines?”
Since the episode aired, an online petition demanding an apology from the network has garnered more than 55,000 signatures, while others have called the network to complain. Several Filipino politicians have also chastised the network, and the story has been plastered across the nightly Filipino newscasts for days. Yesterday ABC put out a statement reading in part: “The producers of `Desperate Housewives' and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere. There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines."
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