We've been at this for about 6 months now and don't want to get stuck in a rut - nothing's worse than a boring Bumble don't you know. So we're throwing some thoughts out there and looking to you for advice. Now's your big chance to let us know what you love, what you hate, and what we really should have figured out ourselves by now.
2. Share More? Less memes would allow more time for us to share personal stories about ourselves with you - like yesterday's post about a disturbing development with Andy's upper lip. Although sometimes sharing more can lead to Too Much Information.
3. More Posts? Maybe you like to visit us through all these memes but wish there was more interesting original writing going on to give you a reason to visit on non-meme days? Do you want to work us to the bone and read double the posts? Could we even manage it? Brainstorm posts like this don't just write themselves you know.
4. Put That Teaching Degree To Use? We could sprinkle in more posts with tips on whatever it is that we learn - which isn't always that exciting. We've helped explain to random bloggers out there on comment threads how to make a
5. Focus! Speaking of focus, do we cover too much stuff here? Do the ever changing topics from Movies to Books to Music to Sports, etc. make you dizzy? Do you wish we'd just make up our minds and become a niche blog? Or do you like being surprised? Picking one would show farily quickly how little we really know about any one thing but the quality of our minimal knowledge would be awesome.
6. Enough About Us? Should we feature Guests? Since we have such little knowledge, why not find people who bring something to the table and give them a forum every now and then? Like yourself for example. Plus, we'd have more time to watch baseball if someone was guest posting.
7. Contests? But however would we pick someone to share knowledge when there are so many great choices amongst you all out there? Could a writing contest help to decide? We certainly don't have any spare Red Sox tickets lying around to give away and we get all our books from the library so any winners would have to be happy with pure public recognition via guest posting and a virtual pat on the back. Do cheapskate giveaways really work?
8. More Reviews? Molly does all her detailed book reviewing on Goodreads and Andy only seems to share his opinions on music and concerts in person. But would reviews be interesting every now and then? Maybe only review the things that suck?
9. Less Posts? Is daily posting too much for you to keep track of? Are you suffering from Bumbles overload? This would be another way for us to catch up on watching baseball.
10. New Topic? We've got some vacations planned this summer and fall. Would you care to know how things go in our travels? Should we post a travel journal? Should we solicit opinions about what we should do on our trips? Do you want to learn vicariously through us and let us be your travel guinea pigs?
11. Polls? We could post Reader Polls - if we figure out how those particular widgets or gadgets work. You could let us know which site to see on vacation, or which book to read next, or which movie to rent, or which font to use. But if no one voted wouldn't that reflect poorly on The Bumbles? Could we handle the rejection?
12. Visual Changes? Do we need to make your surroundings while you're here more attractive for you? Do you cringe whenever you look at something on our page? Or maybe you never even notice the page beyond the words and don't see the dust bunnies. And since this is all about suggestions, could someone suggest a way for us to do something about our header? We think it leaves room for improvement but don't know how to go about it.
13. YOU! Enough about our ideas. This is a Suggestion Box after all. Drop your suggestion in the Comments below and let us know your ideas - because although we will never stop talking about sports on this blog, we would like to talk about things that interest you every now and then too!
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ON SPORTS ~ Gotta Support The Team...
The above photo comes from the Boston Bruins website and is not a joke. This is a fund raising program designed to get the fans involved in a fun way while showing their support of their favorite hockey team by growing a playoff beard along with the players. I think this is a fun idea and quite entertaining. Just not on my husband.
Andy has decided to play along. Except he's not participating officially with any charitable pledges and he's not growing a beard, but rather, a mustache. I have never heard of a playoff 'stache - in hockey or otherwise. I have heard of a porn 'stache - which is what this ridiculous growth of hair looks like at the moment.
Andy's hair is light and so the 'stache has the appearance more of a fuzzy little caterpillar taking up residence on his upper lip. Others have referred to it as peach fuzz.
I am not a huge NHL fan. I enjoy College and Olympic hockey but the pros have never really inspired as much passion in the game for me as baseball or football have. And the Bruins have been a pretty underachieving bunch for the last few decades. Until the end of last year, when they had a nice infusion of youth and energy that stirred up some excitement. It carried over to this year and the team has been fun to watch. But if the Bruins getting bounced from the playoffs means that Andy shaves that thing off his face, I wouldn't be all that upset.
Then again, I am starting to like these tough B's so it would be a shame to root against them. Our friend recently gave her son a haircut in his sleep. Which gave me a nice solution to the problem. Andy might want to sleep with one eye open during the playoffs because I know where he keeps his shaving kit.
Monday, April 27, 2009
ON BOOKS ~ Location = Chicago...
ON BOOKS ~ The Devil In The White City...
MizB asks you to:- Grab your current read.
- Let the book fall open to a random page.
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
- Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
- Please avoid spoilers!
From pg. 109 of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Eric Larson (non-fiction)...
"I was born with the devil in me," he wrote. "I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing."
I don't remember where I first heard about this book but I think it was in a newspaper review. I am a fan of non-fiction that reads like fiction and that is how this one is moving along. Andy read it first and wasn't sure if I would like it because of all the architecture talk, but I have read other such books ("The Architect of Desire: Beauty & Danger in the Stanford White Family" was a juicy biography/memoir) that were very entertaining. In this book, the architecture is an important character, along with the architect and the serial killer. Except they aren't characters - they were real. That part is hard to forget since the writing is so good, your forget it isn't a story.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
ON MOVIES ~ Some Like It Hot...
This week's movie topic is all about Steamy Love Scenes...
This weekend in Boston a heat wave arrived. Usually the only things this hot here in April come from a steamy love scene. You know the kinds I'm talking about - where the screen just sizzles with passion and you would be embarrassed to watch it with your parents. Sometimes they are key to the plot development, and other times you know the director just threw it in there to be "titillating." (ha ha) Hopefully this warm weather spell will stick around for a while, but just in case here are some steamy scenes that came to mind should we need them to warm up. What ones have fogged up your screen?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
ON FUN ~ It's Gettin' Hot In Here...
Mark @ An Eerie Tapestry is a fan of many things - comic books, the Muppets, writing novels, and movies to name a few. But it appears that he is also a fan of us! Yay! We love to count Brits among our fans.
There don't seem to be any formal "rules" to this award, so we are going to pass it along to someone who's site we just recently came across and enjoy very much. Cardiogirl is very funny - and although she is a busy Mom, she finds time to blog about all kinds of things in her life that just happen to crack us up. If you go to visit her, you'll find all kinds of good stuff, such as the Teaser below from a topic close to our heart - the Gym:
"I don’t like change. It messes with my mojo and I am completely against it.
"So when I workout at the YMCA I hop on an elliptical machine in the third row. It’s what’s comfortable and I don’t care to be in the front row which faces a wall of mirrors.
"But there’s a woman who uses the machines in the third row who I have dubbed The H Bomb. She passes noxious fumes as part of her routine. Apparently it must vary with her diet because I have been the recipient of shock and awe bombings that occur every four to six minutes as well as spaced out bombings that range between 10 to 15 minutes.
"Obviously I prefer a low fiber day around her, but overall I don’t think it’s asking too much to workout without smelling another person’s gas. Am I being a prima donna?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This one does come with some rules, which - as you know by now - we always break by only focusing on one blogger.
Here are the blogs that allure, amuse, bewitch, impress, and inspire us:
Let us introduce you to Kristen @ No Small Thing. She fits the above criteria and if you go to visit her you'll find some great posts from a great mom - like this teaser from her post about shopping at Target with her kids:
“HEY MOM, HENRY WANTS TO KNOW IF HE CAN EAT THAT BOOGER.”
"I now understand that this booger issue is not going to evaporate as I had hoped, so I rifled through my bag for a tissue, but there was nary a tissue to be found. As quickly and as quietly as I could, I said “NO. Just wipe it on the floor Henry.” Of course, Henry can’t hear so well, so he says “What?” and William says nice and loud so that Henry (and all of the other nice, clean, respectable moms who are now peering through the clothing racks to watch) can hear
“SHE SAID JUST WIPE IT ON THE FLOOR!”
"So, with that, I gathered up the few shreds of dignity I had left, paid for my groceries and went home. As for the booger, not sure where it ended up."
We hope you enjoy these ladies' blogs as much as we do. And thanks to Mark & Carrie for the "cool" awards. They seem to have done the trick for our mini heat wave this weekend!
Friday, April 24, 2009
ON SPORTS ~ College Ball - Part II...
OVAH THE MONSTAH
College Ball, Part II:
where previously Molly moved to Boston for college and visited Fenway Park for the first time
My Mets fan friends from high school were also going to college in Boston. Being a few years older than me they had been in town for a while and so logically I got in touch with them for more familiar faces and to learn more about what else the city had to offer.
Amazingly their roommate was from Long Island and was a Yankees fan through and through. But since this was before the Yankees 90’s dynasty there wasn’t much hostility in the group – and being friends to this day there isn’t hatred for Yankee boy – call it misdirected anger, or jealousy. With all the schools in Boston there are a ton of "Lawng Ilanduz" transplanted here and the same is true with "Bawstoniens" relocated to New Yawk. So it is not uncommon to run into the opposition on your hometown turf. But still, I find it comical that my Mets friends introduced me to my new Yankees friend. And the rest of their circle of friends were all born and bred Bawstonien Sox fans. It made for a lot of good-natured ribbing.
Before I moved to Boston for school I had really only thought of my heritage as being Southern. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over the adjustment of being born in the South and transplanted to the North. It is a huge cultural difference, not to mention the temperature. But when I stepped into Boston and was introduced to my Mets and Yankee boy’s local Bostonian friends, I realized that having an Irish surname in addition to an Irish first name meant that all of a sudden I fit in with the historic and overwhelming heritage of Boston – I was an Irish Lass.
Because of my Irish name, people in these parts always incorrectly assumed that I was also a good Catholic girl. In fact, my future husband’s grandmother convinced herself that I must be Irish Catholic. I’m not sure if she knew I was a Protestant with roots in Southern Baptist and Presbyterian faith upbringings working for a Jewish boss. But if she did she chose to deny the fact that a girl in MA with such an Irish name could be anything but Catholic. I had long since stopped correcting people – it was just easier that way. Just as it was much easier to say I was raised a Sox fan rather than explain why one would actually choose to be a part of the long-suffering Red Sox Nation at that time. One would think with all the luck of the Irish and the prayers from the Catholics in this town it wouldn't have taken the Sox so long to win the big one since the other big one was shuttled off to the Yanks.
After my first pilgrimage to Fenway I decided that more visits were necessary. Ticket prices for the bleachers were still affordable for a broke college student at that point in time. Although the vantage point from the bleachers was not quite the same as the first base box seats I had during my first visit, I learned that there really are very few bad seats in the joint. Every section offers unique views and experiences – and all of them are better than the seats I had with my Dad at Yankee Stadium. You really only need binoculars at Fenway if you want to check out the fielder’s ass.
It was near the end of my freshman year – the night before the start of finals to be exact. Some friends of my Roomie and I decided that would be a great night to go sit in the bleachers at Fenway to take in one last Sox game before we left Boston for our respective real homes for the summer. Funny thing is, all these people hailed from NY. But never once do I recall any pre-determined sports allegiance. We were all rooting for the hometown team. Problem was, neither team on the field could do anything to take control and win the game.
The game went into extra innings. Now, mind you, this was the night before final exams. None of us had put in the time required to pass our exams. We had all counted on the game being over on time so we’d have the whole rest of the night to cram what information needed to be had. So when the game went long we had to leave. We spent the rest of the night cramming information into our caffeinated brains, sparing no minutes to sleep. We took our exams and came back to our dorm room cots to crash until the next exam called.
We found out after the fact that the game lasted another few innings with a Sox loss. I am very thankful that my Sox obsession had not taken full hold on my being at that particular point in time or I may not have shown up and passed the exams that kept my parents paying tuition bills for another year. These days I would have stayed to the end, been completely dejected, and not had the desire to study my lessons – I would have watched Sports Center highlights until I was confidently miserable. But then again, we didn’t have cable in the dorm and Sports Center wasn’t yet the fixture it is now.
next week, GAME TIPS, where Molly shares the life lessons college tuition provided, such as scalping tickets and parking tips for Fenway...
ON PHOTOS ~ Bridge...
to post or VOTE for this (Bumbles) or other interpretations of this week's challenge
Thursday, April 23, 2009
ON MUSIC ~ Chinese Democracy...
The Music Memoirs asks us to name the Top 5 artists we wish would put out new material soon and why...
1. Peter Gabriel (so he'll create some of his own music again now that he's explored the World Music scene)
2. Pearl Jam (so we can feel like we're in our 20's again - surely Eddie Vedder is done stumping for the Dem's by now)
3. Jane's Addiction (now that they're touring again maybe a new album will follow?)
4. Queens of the Stone Age (haven’t seen an album from them in 2 or 3 years and all their previous ones were good)
5. Cake (such a fun, quirky group - they're actually due to have a new album out this summer)
ON BLOGGING ~ What We Have Here Is A FAILURE To Communicate...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
2. Except for our Maid of Honor who was hospitalized for an emergency procedure after the Rehearsal and missed the wedding & reception altogether
3. It rained - all day - putting the kibosh on those outdoor ceremony & photo plans
4. One group of guests went to the wrong location with a similar name and missed the ceremony
5. Instead of "taking" Molly's hands during the ceremony, Andy stuck out his hand as if to shake on it
6. No one paid the Reverend after the ceremony and we had to send him his money after the fact - maybe that's why he didn't stick around for dinner?
7. The Mother of the Bride forgot to bring the confetti bouquets she had made for guests to shower the Bride & Groom with after the wedding
8. The bride and bridesmaids forgot to wear the wraps they bought for the pictures
9. Molly forgot to wear her bedazzled Red Sox hat veil to the reception that her Mother had given her at the shower
10. The vegetarian guests were never given the specially prepared meat-free meals they had elected
11. The hotel booked a non-wedding guest on the floor where the post-wedding party took place and he complained about the noise until Molly's Uncle bribed him with free beer and good conversation
12. The vet tried to refuse to board one of our cats on the way to catch our flight for our Honeymoon because she was a new patient and they didn't have record of her shots
13.None of these stumbling blocks kept us from having a total blast and the most memorable day we could have possibly wished for.
At our Best Man's wedding they lost power during the reception, and the Bride had to laugh that now no one would notice how perfectly she had matched the linens to the Bridesmaid dresses. But everyone remembers dancing by candlelight to an acoustic band. Some great moments just can't be planned. Don't sweat the details Megan, and enjoy the June weather Mother Nature is giving you this April weekend in New England!
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
ON BLOGGING ~ Really Simple Stupid...
Do you recognize the symbol above? Of course you do. You always see it lurking at the top of your browser, or on the sidebars of people's blogs. Do you associate it with the term "RSS?" Probably you do. Now, do you know WTF RSS actually means? Do you know what it does? Don't be afraid to admit it - we had no idea either. In fact, that little orange symbol can make you feel a bit inferior. Like it is a big inside tech joke you aren't privy to. RSS kept taunting us - like a sideways smirk. So Molly decided enough was enough and went to find out what it was once and for all. Lucky for you, she also decided to share the secret meaning of RSS and dispel any further mystery.
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a type of Feed. Uh. OK. That didn't really clear things up. In layman's terms (or laywoman's terms) it is like an alert sent to you whenever your favorite websites post an update. Some refer to it as a Really Simple Subscription.
For example, we have a "Follow Me" widget on our sidebar like many Google sponsored blogs. If you are a fellow Google Blogger and elect to "Follow Me" you are subscribing to our Feed which dumps our blog's posts into your Blogger Reading List on your Dashboard. That's in essence how RSS works. It really is that simple. But not everyone uses a Google blog and not all blogs have a Follow Me widget in place to make it easy for you. So you can look for that orange RSS symbol instead. We have one of those too at the top of our sidebar. You just click on it and tell it where you want the Feeds sent. But where is your Reader that you need to send the Feeds to? If you sign up for a free Google or Yahoo account, they come with one. There are lots of other choices as well.
But say you wanted to get alerts from a site and they don't have any of these sign-up tools in place for you? Well, depending on your type of browser you should see that orange symbol at the top of your browser or in the address bar if the site you are viewing offers a Feed. You just click on that symbol (it is actually not so scary after all) and a window opens with a link for you to click to subscribe and the Feeds will be placed in an RSS folder in your browser.
So go ahead. Don't fear the little orange guy. Click on him whenever you come across a place that you want to stay updated with, but don't want to have to bookmark and remember to come back to. Updates of every post will be sent to your Feed Reader or RSS Folder and it is one stop shopping. Peruse those updates at your leisure. Scan through the post titles and read or delete at will. Interact with the post and go leave a comment just like you normally would if you enjoyed it. If you are really lazy like we are, elect to receive those alerts via e-mail instead (if that option is offered) and you don't even have to remember to visit your Reader. That's the Bumbles way. Try it out with us today!
Monday, April 20, 2009
ON BOOKS ~ Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (again)...
MizB asks you to:- Grab your current read.
- Let the book fall open to a random page.
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
- Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
- Please avoid spoilers!
From pg. 160 of PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER by Patrick Suskind (fiction)...
"In essence, he could tell people whatever he wanted. Once they had gained confidence in him - and with the first breath, they gained confidence in him, for they were inhaling his artificial odor - they believed everything."
Not my cup of tea. I didn't enjoy it and felt the writing style was less lyrical and more lulling - to sleep. The story of all things perfume and the life of a man without a soul - or personal scent - whose goal is to create the most powerful kind. Interesting concept poorly executed for my tastes. I kept feeling like I was reading list after exhaustive list of the facts the author researched about the ingredients and steps in the process of creating a perfume in the landscape of France in the mid-1700's. Too many minute details and too little action. I know this book is loved by many - just not by me.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
ON MOVIES ~ Get Your Popcorn...
This week's movie topic is all about Concessions...
See our happy logo for the Monday Movie Meme? It is a shot of the "Dancing Concessions" that used to play before every movie for one of the big theaters that has probably since gone out of business. It was their way of reminding everyone to get up and go spend money on snacks and drinks before the movie started - as if we hadn't already remembered to do this on our way in. The allure of buttered popcorn is pretty strong after all. Movies and snacks go hand in hand - whether you watch from home or out on the big screen. Here are our favorite movie snacks. What are yours?
+ 
Friday, April 17, 2009
ON SPORTS ~ College Ball - Part I...
OVAH THE MONSTAH
College Ball, Part I:
where previously Molly was distracted momentarily from baseball in CT by high school and the cute football players
When it came time to deal with the whole stressful process of deciding where to go to college, the type of sports region the school was located in was not on my radar screen. I’m not real sure exactly WHAT was on the radar screen come to think of it. I started off looking at small schools and determined that I really didn’t like the idea of moving from one small school environment where everybody knew everybody else’s business to a college version of the exact same thing. So, with the guidance of my Dad, I turned my search toward the universities. AH – here I could lose myself - I mean literally lose myself. No one needed to know anything about me except what I chose to divulge. So I went from visiting tiny schools in rural areas to applying to major universities up and down the East Coast. Boston Universiy was the only one that accepted me in my requested major with on campus housing.
So we loaded up the car and got me moved in to Beantown. I went for the academic opportunities, the challenge of a big city, the separation from living at home, and the new friends I could meet, along with a few old friends also living as students in Boston. I experienced all of those things. I loved the experience so much it is the reason I chose Boston as my adult home. My move here at the age of 18 to begin my college career was the first move I made that I had any say in whatsoever. One thing I didn’t count on was the utterly complete impact baseball had on me as soon as I stepped foot in Boston.
My dorm was located in an old brownstone within two blocks of Kenmore Square – which is one block away from Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. I quickly learned that if I was watching the Sox game on our tiny black & white TV set in our room and a Sox player hit a home run, I could turn the volume down on the TV and hear through our window the fans at the park cheer and rave from Fenway. That was like the first reality TV to me. And very interactive for that matter. This was absolutely the coolest thing I experienced.
This Freshman guy I met in the dorm – damned if I don’t remember his name now – came to me and said that his Aunt had season tickets to the Sox and she couldn’t use them for that night’s game. He asked if I wanted to go. Well – of course I said sure! Seemed like a fun, new, and exciting thing to do my first week in the city. So we went out for dinner for a quick bite in Kenmore Square first. I was getting a bit anxious since it seemed the game was about to start and we were still chatting while waiting for our check. When we finally got out of there and made the short walk over the MA Pike to the gates of Fenway I had a déjà vu.
Here I was walking up another ramp into a ballpark and it hit me like a ton of bricks! OHHHH! OHHHH! WOW!!!! Perhaps it was because I hadn’t made such an entrance in a very long time. Perhaps it was because it was a perfectly clear and beautiful New England September evening. Perhaps it was because it was the first event I had attended in my new home. Perhaps it was that his Aunt’s seats were right along the First Baseline. Perhaps it was because it was Fenway Park, and I had never seen such a beautiful sight. Groundskeeper Joe Mooney’s ball field was meticulously groomed and shining under the floodlights.
I had never ever been so close to the action – no need for binoculars here. And Mike Greenwell hit for the CYCLE in the first MLB game I had attended since I was eight years old! Needless to say we had missed his first hit while dilly dallying around at dinner. Before it happened I never would have thought I would have cared. But when I was there and knew I had missed a quarter of the final act it really steamed me. Which may explain why I didn’t have any further contact with my date and why his name still escapes me. I know that I thanked him in between the complaining over missing the first hit but I really wish I knew how to reach him now because he and his Aunt’s tickets are the reason I am the obsessed Sox fan that I am today.
next week, COLLEGE BALL - PART II, where Molly meets up again with her Mets fan friends from high school and fits right in in Boston...
ON PHOTOS ~ Rain...
to post or VOTE for this (Bumbles) or other interpretations of this week's challenge
Thursday, April 16, 2009
ON MUSIC ~ TOGA!!!...
The Music Memoirs asks us to name the Top 5 songs that make us want to party...
1. "Honky Tonk Women," Rolling Stones
2. "Burning Down the House," Talking Heads
3. "Wooly Bully," Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
4. "Mama Kin," Aerosmith
5. "Musta Got Lost," live version J. Geils Band
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
2. Longevity - John "Young at Heart" Kelley competed in a record 61 Boston Marathons, winning it twice.
3. Pain - Heartbreak Hill is in Newton and is actually a slope of a couple hundred feet, but it continuously breaks lots of spirits and hearts by being located 5 miles away from the finish line.
4. Scandal - Rosie Ruiz was not a very good cheater. Not only did she jump onto the course partway through in 1980, but she came in first and set the Women's Course record. She was stripped of the title and safe guards were put in place to protect against future cheaters.
5. Local Strength - Joan Benoit was far from a cheater. This New Englander won the Marathon twice and the first ever Women's Olympic Marathon within 5 years of each other in the early 80's breaking world records along the way. Local hero Bill Rodgers won 4 times and set American and Course records while helping to revive the sport in the 70's.
6. Dominance - A Kenyan has won the Marathon 17 of the last 18 years for the Men and 7 of the last 9 for the Women. 1983 is the last time an American won - Joan Benoit and Greg Meyer both won that year.
7. Equal Opportunity - The Boston Marathon was the first to allow for a wheelchair division, which has been competing in it since 1975. It is amazing to watch these athletes in their slick, fast chairs fly through the streets, power up hills and maneuver over trolley tracks.
8. Support - Over half a million people line the course to cheer on the athletes, elite or otherwise, but some of the most noticeable are the girls of Wellesley College who scream their support and provide all kinds of motivation at the halfway point of the course.
9. Charity - The Marathon allows over 20 charities and their runners to compete and recently they have been able to raise approximately $10 million each year.
10.Love - Every year there are inevitably a few marriage proposals and wedding ceremonies at the finish line as well as Heartbreak Hill (for those with a sense of humor). There are also lots of people devoting their efforts to loved ones in need, fighting overseas, or gone from this world.
11.Holiday - Every single Marathon has been run on Patriots' Day which commemorates the first battles of the Revolutionary War at Lexington & Concord. It is only observed as a state holiday in MA and ME.
12.Traffic - Not only are major roadways completely barricaded in and around the 26.2 mile course, but certain Boston T (subway) stations are closed as well. As if Marathon spectators aren't enough, the Red Sox always play at home on Marathon Monday and start at 11AM so that when the game ends the crowd can walk over to watch the runners cross the Finish line.
13. The Runners - Not the elite athletes, but the regular runners, who compete with Pride and Determination, Defiance and Resolve. Good luck to you all on Marathon Monday!
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Monday, April 13, 2009
ON BOOKS ~ Perfume: The Story of a Murderer...
MizB asks you to:- Grab your current read.
- Let the book fall open to a random page.
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
- Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
- Please avoid spoilers!
From pg. 81 of PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER by Patrick Suskind (fiction)...
"I took him to be older than he is; but now he seems much younger to me; he looks as if he were three or four; looks just like one of those unapproachable, incomprehensible, willful little prehuman creatures, who in their ostensible innocence think only of themselves, who want to subordinate the whole world to their despotic will, and would do it, too, if one let them pursue their megalomaniacal ways and did not apply the strictest pedagogical principles to guide them to a disciplined, self-controlled, fully human existence.
"There was just such a fanatical child trapped inside this young man, standing at the table with eyes aglow, having forgotten everything around him, apparently no longer aware that there was anything else in the laboratory but himself and these bottles that he tipped into the funnel with nimble awkwardness to mix up an insane brew that he would confidently swear - and would truly believe! - to be the exquisite perfume Amor and Psyche."
WHEW! I am tired just typing all that out. Yes, that is only 2 sentences. This guy needs an editor to shorten those thoughts. That is my biggest trouble thus far - not getting lost in the sparsely punctuated thoughts. Maybe it is just the translation from German? But this passage does paint a pretty clear picture of the main character, Grenouille. And since this book came recommended to me by Betty @ Betty's Books, I am looking forward to seeing how Grenouille develops.
ON BOOKS ~ Location = Paris...
Sunday, April 12, 2009
ON MOVIES ~ You Gotta Have Faith...
This week's movie topic is all about Restoring Faith...
No - I'm not talking about experiences from Easter or Passover here. What drives this post is the fact that this weekend I lost all faith in my alma mater to win the National Championship in the NCAA College Hockey Frozen Four. The Boston University Terriers were down 2 goals at the end of the game against Univeristy of Miami, OH. I gave up hope completely, thinking there was not enough time for the #1 ranked program in the country to pull it out. And yet they did! They scored twice with less than a minute to go to tie the game and send it to overtime where they subsequently won. My faith in my school was forever restored with that tying goal. There is a hockey movie called Miracle that was all about a U.S. Olympic hockey team restoring the country's faith in itself. There are lots of examples that cinema gives us about the restoration of faith in all kinds of things. Here are some that we thought of -what can you come up with?
Friday, April 10, 2009
ON SPORTS ~ Roots - Part III...
OVAH THE MONSTAH
Roots, Part III:
where previously Molly learned how to play softball in upstate NY before being moved to CT
Just as I was getting adjusted to my life in Rochester, I was uprooted once more - this time to Connecticut. Here I stopped playing softball because I was entering High School and knew that as many other ways I could reinvent myself to new friends, I would NEVER be able to pass myself off as an athlete. So of course I promptly joined the track team. I still couldn’t run but at least there was the bonding of teammates & friends. By Senior year (out of sympathy I am sure) I earned my Varsity letter. I had so many distractions those four years of high school – having to find all new friends, playing violin on weekends in the local University orchestra program, learning to drive, working part-time, homework, and partying with those friends I did find. Baseball took a back seat – temporarily.
Dad & I played catch in the front yard – that much I know. Somewhere along the way I have a memory – true or contrived I am not sure – where my Dad chucked the ball to me nowhere near my glove. In fact, it was at my head. It hit me. I told you I was not talented (although I was a catcher). I learned to put that glove up there at all costs. I became less afraid of the ball after that – I don’t say unafraid – I think one is always afraid of the effect a baseball has on one’s scull. Just ask Bryce Florie.
My Dad. He never seemed to have A team. And he never dressed me up as a baby in a specific team’s garb, choosing my team for me. To me he is someone who just is in love with the game itself. He picks and chooses his rooting interests. All Dad wants to see are two talented teams going at it for all the marbles. Never once has Dad said to me – “This is MY Team.” In any sport. He loves all sports. It seems to me that he roots for the team that he wants to win – but would put his money on the opposite team most of the time. He reserves his right to change his mind from season to season.
1986. This is dooms year for Sox fans. I know that I was rooting for the Sox, if only because, as a Cards fan, I did NOT want to see the Mets win anything. I know that the Sox lost in heartbreaking fashion. Yet I don’t recall watching this World Series (although I have seen the replays so many times it seems as if I did watch it after all). I was busy doing all of the other things teenagers do. I do remember a classmate coming to school the next day with a T-shirt that said something unflattering about McNamara. The general consensus among CT high school Sox fans was that he should have pulled Buckner in Game 6 and the whole thing would have been avoided. I don’t disagree.
If there were Yankees fans in my school they were quiet. I still remember the angst of my Sox fan classmates. I also remember Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary toss for Boston College from an earlier fall season and the joy that brought the New Englanders I was surrounded by. I am reminded of it constantly now as a resident of Flutie’s home town – full circle yet again! I thought it was pretty cool at the time but had no idea what it meant to the locals I lived amongst. This sums up my feelings on that period – good for you guys, whatever it is that happened.
Where I lived in CT was pretty much the dividing line between fans of Boston teams and New York teams. All CT had, after all, was the NHL Hartford Whalers. Thankfully the UCONN Huskies came along later to fill the void the Whalers made when they moved, coincidentally to of all places, my birth state – North Carolina. In the meantime CT residents were left to choose amongst the sports teams of their neighboring states. I had some friends from high school whose parents were New Yorkers, transplanted to CT. They were NY supporters all the way. My ability to visit their home was seriously in jeopardy (as Mets fans they were intolerant of my Cards allegiance) until we found common ground with the NY Football Giants and my first football hero – Phil Simms. The Giants had this coach named Bill Parcells who was pretty popular as well as this assistant coach whose name was Bill too. I knew good things when I saw them – even way back then.
The Giants’ success and my newfound interest in learning the game of football put baseball on the backburner while I lived in CT. Football was only played once a week – on Sundays, when it didn’t interfere with my teenage activities – so it was much easier to absorb than the energy following baseball seemed to take. Plus, there were some really cute guys on our high school football team so it made sense to learn as much about that game as possible. Whereas baseball coincided with my track career.
next week, COLLEGE BALL, where Molly makes her own move for once, to Boston...
ON PHOTOS ~ Not Boy...
to post or VOTE for this (Bumbles) or other interpretations of this week's challenge
Thursday, April 9, 2009
ON MUSIC ~ Groove Is In The Heart...
The Music Memoirs asks us to name the Top 5 reasons we need music in our life...
1. Makes driving tolerable - have you ever tried to drive without a working radio/CD player? Don't.
2. Pumps you UP - would any team ever win a game without stadium rock pumping through the speakers at high velocity?
3. Spurs on laughter - what else would motivate Uncle Joe to dance so hysterically without a bad '80's wedding playlist? Well, other than alcohol.
4. Encourages love - it moves us, OK? Sappy love songs, stirring classical strings, moving lyrics - they get our minds and hearts in touch with ourselves.
5. Creates bliss - the pure joy of making our ears smile while turning the strangers next to us into people we can bond with over groovin' tunes is what life is all about!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
We're not really sure how our freakin' CATS were given an award on OUR blog - but after stewing over the jealousy for a month we decided to go ahead and give them the forum that was requested. By allowing them to accept this auspicious award, they are supposed to write a post bragging about it, linking back to the name of the misguided soul who thinks they deserve such acclaim. Then they are to pass it along to blogs that are brilliant in content or design, but only after listing at least ten honest things about themselves. Welllll - since the kittens cannot (that we know of) create said post themselves, we get to reveal the honest truth for them.
2. Tedy is named after Tedy Bruschi, a compact and tough linebacker for the New England Patriots, since he likes to barrel his way down the stairs and tackle things. He is also named after the Teddy Bear since his nose looked a little like a bear when he was small and he is very cuddly. Tedy is a much more masculine name than Sophie, which was his original name back when Molly & Andy were under the impression he was a girl!
3. Lucy is named after Lucille Ball's character in "I Love Lucy" because she is a little bit nutty and always getting herself into crazy predicaments. Her middle name is No - As in "Lucy! No!"
4. Tedy has always been the tagalong with Lucy first on the scene. She is most likely to greet you at the door while Tedy eventually shows up wondering what he's missing out on.
5. Tedy likes to chase the mouse - on the laptop. He also is interested in bookworms. He's the more creative of the two.
6. Lucy is a big sports fan. Football and hockey are two of her favorites.
7. Tedy's T.V. of choice is the fishtank. He traumatizes the fish on a daily basis.
8. The activity Lucy & Tedy engage in most often is traumatizing Andy & Molly with their destruction. They knocked over the X-Mas Tree which ruined the hardwood floor, they have broken countless sentimental fragile objects, turned on the gas stove burner and almost blew up the house, shredded plenty a roll of t.p., scattered packing peanuts up from basement storage all over the house, dragged grapes off the counter and chased their squished remains all over the floor, and made it impossible to keep plants of any kind in the house.
9. Which is why this Spring Andy is threatening to kick them out of the house now that they are big enough. Lucy has already escaped 3 times anyway.
10.Until then, Molly torments them with the Roomba vacuum cleaner.
11.Most of the time they torment each other though.
12.Andy did manage to teach Lucy to fetch. She loves to chase balled up paper torn off of, appropriately enough, the page a day "Bad Cat" calendar. And she brings it back to you over and over and over - just like a dog.
13.All that destruction, tormenting, fighting, and fetching leaves Lucy & Tedy the way we like them best...
We think the kittens would approve of our selection to pass this award along to Walter @ The Things Pets Do. Go visit his site - it is truly entertaining.
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