julieland

Got an email from Mel Watt (my congressman) yesterday,

Dear 12^th District Constituent:
Election laws prohibit Congressmen from sending out unsolicited mailings and newsletters during the 90 days preceding an election (August 5 - November 4).

This news filled me with hope for the future! Ninety days until we start turning this country around . . .

Art students painted this square in Weilheim, Germany to replicate the painting that Kandinsky did of the square 99 years ago. Very cool! Read more about it here, on Yahoo

aerial view of the project

the original painting

It seems that everything I have watched in the week or so has featured an actor from the British Isles playing an American:

• Eddie Izzard AND Minnie Driver in “The Riches” - I’d seen plenty of ads for this show and assumed it was set in England or Ireland. Much to my surprise, it’s set in Louisiana.
• Natascha McElhone in “Californication” - she always seems to play an American
• Robert Pattinson in the Twilight previews
• James McAvoy AND Richard E Grant in Penelope
• Jack Davenport in “Swingtown”

If you haven’t seen Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture”, watch it now. He died today.

read more about Randy and his legacy here http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

It has been almost ten years since I owned an SUV, but I clearly remember the feeling you get when you can drive over shit without fear getting stuck. I didn’t do it often, but I sure needed it the evening I was in a state park with my dog and and accidentally stayed past closing time - and got locked in. When I realized that I could easily drive over the curb, up a small hill, and around the locked gates, I felt empowered and vindicated for owning such a behemoth. The only other time I really felt that way was when I crashed it into a guardrail in Iowa during an icy storm. I totally smashed in the front left quarter panel, but I distinctly remembering noting that if I did not go over the side of the bridge, my giant car would protect me. That’s not really true in the Jetta, despite the multiple airbags.

This column in the NYTimes started this line of thinking.

p.s. Gabby got her driver’s license today!!

From today’s NYTimes Circuits newsletter

Tip of the Week: Look Up Books at Your Library From Home

By J. D. BIERSDORFER

Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading. You might even be able to look up books available at your library with the WorldCat database.

This is news? Even dinky libraries have online catalogs these days. I guess I should be glad they’ve even mentioned libraries, but it seems a little silly. WorldCat can’t tell you if the book is checked out, can’t place a hold, etc. But if folks click on their closest library, they should be transported to their library’s catalog, and maybe they’ll learn something!

Our boy is six years old! Here’s the proof of his forthcoming trading card to give to the kids at Brenner’s Children’s Hospital:

So ever since we have been digging ROCK BAND (see photo gallery), we have been using Microsoft Points to buy new songs, and also to rent movies and a couple of TV episodes from channels we don’t get. To add to our points online, we can put in a credit card either on the website, or through the xbox. Insty-gratification makes this waaay too easy to buy new songs on the fly, or order up something to watch. However, just try to gift someone else with points - there is no way to do this online!! I checked with Xbox Customer Support, who said

I regret to inform you that it is not possible to buy MS Points for someone else via website or Xbox Live, as you need to sign in and make purchases with your profile in order to do so. The only way to buy MS Points for your husband would be via MS Points cards. I apologize once again for this.

How stoopid! You have to purchase a physical card and mail it. And not in an envelope, that would be too easy. The points cards are encased in a clamshell that requires a box.

On Saturday, for Artie’s birthday, we went to Carolina Ziplines in Stokes County - reminded me of some of the shenanigans my daredevil older brother used to set up in the backyard . . . only this was safer, I think!

I was resisting yet another browser plugin, Microsoft’s Silverlight, but it’s worth it to browse the Hard Rock Memorabilia site. Now you can gawk at John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics, Bo Diddley’s homemade guitar,  and the Beatles’ Magical Mystery tour bus without having to endure gobs of tourists and crappy food.

p.s. Silverlight works in Firefox!