Catie's Day!

Just got to witness a very touching and sweet event at the Emanuel Temple in Denver.

It was the official naming ceremony, adoption ceremony, and birthday party for the newest member of the Smith Family! Our cousin Dave and his partner Ron have been fostering baby Catrina for over two years now. She's an amazing child and Ron & Dave are amazing parents! It's so great that they have now been able to officially adopt her and have given her a "forever family" to call her own. And to go with her new family is a new name -- Catie Mayah.

Such a sweet name for a tremendously sweet little girl!

Case and Claire had sooo many questions about Judiasm and the Hebrew parts of the ceremonies, but had absolutely no questions about the brunch and cake that followed. Though Case had never heard of lox before :)

What an uplifting day!

Colbert Wins NASA's Node 3 Naming Contest

Hahahahahaha...

"Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters "the most consideration.""

Darfur Action - Children need our help!

This was forwarded to me by my fellow Peace, Liberty, and Justice Task Force-er, Bob Shellenberger. This is a subject I feel strongly about and wish I could do MORE to fight, especially now since most of the aid groups have been forced to leave the area. When Bob wrote to us he stated: 

This is the first time I have sent you an email concerning a world
crisis and the need to donate. But the situation in Darfur is
beyond comprehension. The one shred of hope is that one organization
alone is still allowed in Darfur to help its children, UNICEF. Please
consider sending in a donation to help the children of Darfur.

Below is the info he sent on, I encourage you to help however you can...


The situation in Sudan, following the decision by its government to
expel 16 aid organizations (also known as non-governmental
organizations or NGOs), is urgent. These 16 NGOs represent roughly 40%
of the humanitarian workforce in Sudan and partner closely with UNICEF
to provide lifesaving assistance.

UNICEF is still operational in Sudan, including Darfur, and is working
around the clock to meet children’s immediate needs. UNICEF has urged
the government of Sudan to reinstate the NGOs as soon as possible and
expressed grave concern that children will suffer should humanitarian
aid be further disrupted.

Water, sanitation, health and nutrition programs provide essential aid
to 4.7 million people in Darfur region alone. The next three months
will be especially critical. But the impact of the absence of NGO
partners—and the resulting loss of capacities—will continue to be felt
well beyond this period.

Today we are asking donors and friends to help us by increasing the
support you already show. We're asking you to go one step further—and
quickly—so we can keep the water flowing, the food supplies delivered,
and the vaccines administered for the next couple of months.

Regardless of the complexities, politics or cultural issues at play,
zero children should have to die as a result of humanitarian aid
disruption. We are asking the millions of Americans who have
supported the Darfuri people to help during this very difficult time.

Click on:


https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?idb=890602751&df_id=1621&1621.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr008=y8qoxmroh4.app27a



Caryl M. Stern
President & CEO
U.S. Fund for UNICEF

I wonder...

...what my best friend is doing in Ireland today?



I've heard about the man with 2 first names (don't quite know what the hell that's referencing, but I bet it's funny!) and the Guinness by the sea (soooooooo jealous). Can't wait to see the vaca-pics and hear the drunken tales!!!

Bad Coffee Made Good by Excess?

So I was getting ready to go to the morning meeting in the "Think Tank" when I decided to cap off my java on the way. It's a generally known rule that coffee makes the meetings go faster!

I headed to the kitchen and started to set up the slop in industrial grade coffee machine we have. Now, it's no secret that I hate our company coffee. We all do. It's bitter and unkind :) Makes my teeth hurt after the first cup, BUT I'm a caffeine addict so I will drink it even if I don't enjoy it.

Anyway, I'm setting up the new batch of coffee to brew and before I hit the "go" button (well, it's green and it starts the brewing process - it doesn't say "go" but I always think of it as the "go" button) a co-worker halts my progress with urgency and asks me to Wait! She said we needed to make this pot "taste better" (well, duh! But how the hell are we going to do that???).

She ran to her desk and brought back a half packet of the same coffee grinds we usually use to make the really bad brew. She said - "If we make it stronger it will taste a lot better!"

So I said - Sure, let's give it a shot. Not really believing in the process.

Funny thing. It was so strong I couldn't even tell if it was good or bad. I was just so overpowering that the taste just faded into some bigger sensory abyss. So my immediate reaction was - Huh?  Maybe it *is* better because technically it's so strong, you can't tell if it's bad. 

But does that really make it NOT bad????

The question I'm left to ponder for the rest of my work shift is this:

Does more make worse better?

Dharma Initiative Comicon '08 Vid

Lost ponderings (a post I left on The Transmission blog)

1. LostNTonic Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
   March 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

   Wow! This place is amazing I was a Lost-aholic from day one of season one. Right about season 2.5 I stopped watching “live” on tv and would watch via the internet. Sadly, I lost track but was able to catch up to season 5 just last week (I’d call myself Lost saturated for sure!) and I’d love to share some ideas with you all…

   Here’s a hunch (could be a bit of a stretch) from La Fleur…

   When Sawyer and gang “rescue” Amy from the hostiles we don’t see any of the events that lead up to that scene. What we see is Amy, hooded, 2 men who look like hostiles with guns, one man in a jumpsuit - dead. The armed men are shot immediately so we never get any story but Amy’s. Let’s ponder for a moment the scene. Looks like a friendly picnic was interrupted. Amy says David was her husband. But for all we know she was romantic-picnicing with her “hostile” lover — they are beyond the sonic zone after all. I mean why would two Dharmans need to lunch romantically outside the safe perimeter?

   I think she was meeting her hostile friends, one who she was perhaps more friendly with than the other. I think her husband David was on to her, followed her there, and confronted them. I think the quick drawing hostiles got one up on David and shot him before he could react and maybe we are misinterpreting the scene by thinking she and David were jumped by hostiles.

   Didn’t guyliner say that the sonic barrier couldn’t keep them out? Well, maybe it’s thanks to Amy - she does obviously know the code. Amy could be their plant and why, eventually her son Ethan becomes a Hostile not an Other. This would answer why she was ok with handing her husband’s body over to the hostiles without much fuss. Just a thought to throw out there.

   Now a question — are we sure Ms. Hawking is Mother Faraday? Did Daniel give his mom’s name as Hawking or are we taking this as the truth? Did anyone ever say Hawking = Faraday’s mom? For sure?

   My observances of the Kate/Sawyer/Jack/Juliet situation — Kate does not seem happy with any guy she’s with. Not Sawyer, not Jack. Especially not Jack. I don’t think she needs to be with EITHER guy. Juliet - I still don’t trust. I think we’re going to come up with some big wiz-bang episode where she rocks our Losties world and turns on them. The whole reason she stays is to carry out this one big upsetting event. Don’t know what or why. Just have a feeling. I’ve been known to be wrong before.

   I love the Rose/Bernard = Adam/Eve in the cave. That has to be right!

   And what if Whitmore and Ben are both NOT the bad guy? What if there is an even bigger baddie calling the shots and THEY are pawns? What if Jacob is the bad guy pitting Whitmore against Ben for total annihilation to get the island all to himself. A master contortionist of human weaknesses, so to speak?

   or…

   What if Jacob is Jack in time travel state - Jack could be a nickname.

   Ok, I’ll stop there.

   ’till rescued,
   Tammy

Lost Listeners Map

Fun Stuff :)

Namaste

There seems to be a lot of junk rattling around in my head after tonight's episode. Could be the 10.5 hour day I just pulled at work. Could be because I crammed 2.75 seasons worth of Lost-viewing into a 4 week period. Could be that the GLTs were a little too strong (gin, Lost & tonic for those of you left wondering). Whatever the reason I have lots of little thot-bits flying through my skull and I'm going to plop them down haphazard like here with not a lot of explanation.



Picture courtesy of New York Entertainment


*WTF happened to Walt??? Up until season three he was central to what was going on with the islanders/Losties. I thought when he started "appearing" to Locke again that his integral nature to the plotline would be revealed a bit. But it doens't seem that his presence is necessary for this return trip even though everyone else in some way, shape, or form was present or proxied on flight 316 back to the island. I don't get it. Lack of plot follow-through? Or am I wrong in thinking that there was a lot of emphasis put on the kid in season 1 & 2, sorta kinda in 3, now -- not so much. Doesn't make sense. At least not yet.

*Christian sure is creepy. Dude, if he was my daddy I'd not want to hang out with him dead or alive. I like the theories flying around out in the cyberhood about the Shephard family being central to the island's story. Seems like there could be something "magical" about the lineage and the island: daddy/Jack/Claire/Aaron/Ray all seem to be tied to it somehow. And yes, I beleive grandpa Ray will show up no the island. Just wait - he was probably there with da' bomb!

*Where is Aaron and why did that last interaction between Kate and Jack preflight (316) seem so ... weird.

*I do not like Juliet. I don't think she's on the level. I think she's waiting for something (the second coming of Ben perhaps) to show her true colors, but I don't believe she is on Team Oceanic 815. Nope.

*Kate & Jack? Kate & Sawyer? Both fits seem ill matched. Can't figure out who Kate should be with, but seriously it seems that she and Jack only work when they are *not* working. Kate and Sawyer got the sex-thang goin' on. That works pretty ok if you ask me :) Neither Kate nor Jack seem happy when they are together. Sawyer is happy when he and Kate are together. Kate is always thinking about the other guy when she's with one of them so the point of her being happy is moot. Completely.

*I bet you $50 that Kate is preggo. That's the Aaron/baby proxy for flight 316.

*I still think this is all some "plugged in" reality thing (thinking matrix type shenanigans or dream therapy). My theory from day one was that this is some kind of rehab effort, off the books. Sanctioned years ago and never fully embraced due to the fact that it is so NON politically correct that it would and could never be brought to light.

*I need to go back and watch from season one to five again. Definitely. And take notes. Lots and lots of notes.

*Lots of speculation that Ben killed Penny (hence his bloody appearance at the pier) but I don't think so. I have a feeling we've not seen the last of Desmond though.

*Could our Losties be the reason Ben turns bad? He doesn't seem like a cruel and heartless kid. He seems a bit geeky and, well, lost. Seeing his background I don't blame him for feeling like he doesn't fit in. Who does he have to confide in? Show him love? Nurture him? I think he desperately wants to find his mom with the hostiles and our gang somehow (through events they can't control) interfere with them/her and that has an ugly outcome for our little Ben when he grows up. He needs to exact revenge and is blinded by the need to do so. Not sure exactly how it will play out but I have a hunch that this time travel stuff makes our characters cross paths in more than one way.

*Is season 6 the end? Why did we go from 20-something epi's per season to 14? Is it me or does it seem that the writers are kind of cramming/rushing a lot of info into a little time frame?

More thoughts to come when the gin wears off :)

Pondering the Vices that Help Get You Through the Average Workday...

Crappy Coffee

Fat Free Hazlenut Creamer (powdered form, unfortunately)

Westby All Natural Yogurt

A Podcast of "The Transmission" w/ earphones

Dasani Bottled Water (new w/ Black Cherry Essence)

a 5 minute Facebook break (guilty pleasure)

Sugar Free Red Bull (due to no lunch break)

Baked Cheetos - 100 calorie pack (weakness due to no lunch break)

a 30 minute "discussion about work" w/ a co-worker (topics covered: Top Gun, British roadsters, the weirdness that is Tom Curise, teeth whitening, bones left in the sun, Connect 4, Spongebob, Star Wars, kids and therapy, and boobs - that was work related)

Diet Pepsi (because we don't have Coke in the machine)

a box of raisins (really wanted the Gardettos but the raisins have less fat, poo!)

Promises of sadistically hot pad thai for dinner keeping me going (only 5.5 more hours to go) *phuck*