Our Life and Times

When You Say Nothing At All

2007-01-30T23:18:00.000-05:00

It's fairly amazing to me that a piece of furniture could change our lives so radically, but it really has. I. Love. Our. Sofa. Not only is it the first piece of furniture we bought together, it makes it actually manageable to watch TV together without scrunching onto an ity-bity loveseat (or as Dave once said, lovecouch). And I get to keep it in my apartment until we have an our apartment to put it in.

Yes, I know I have to do something about the artwork hanging above it now.

Total Eclipse

2007-01-28T18:04:00.000-05:00

We have been debating the exact meaning of the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart". And by that I mean, I keep talking about it and Dave listens.

It's pretty clearly a break up song, with the singer begging someone to come back. But there are much deeper and more complicated issues still unresolved. What is the eclipse? Who are the players? Whose fault is it?

My main theory is that Bonnie Tyler is the Earth and the ex is the sun. In this case, something (the moon) has come between them, their hearts are unable to connect and everything goes dark. The Earth is no longer basking in the brightness of the sun. This theory is supported by the line "Once upon a time there was light in my life/ But now there's only love in the dark" and by repeated requests to "turn around."

However, "Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time" would imply that in fact the love itself is the darkness that can't be shaken... ideas, anyone?

This kinda reminds me of 11th grade English, actually, when we had to explicate John Donne poems by drawing what we thought the central metaphor was. I really remember a pencil drawing of a compass rotating on a man. No idea what that was about.

Flea Market Montgomery - Long Version

2007-01-26T14:53:00.001-05:00

Friday Fun

The Price Is Not Adjusted For Inflation

2007-01-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

I'm watching the Price is Right today, and I'm a little surprised that they haven't updated some of their prizes. The main thing that I've noticed is that if you get $1 in the big wheel thing you win $1,000 and a bonus spin. The bonus spin can get you $5,o00 or $10,000 more. Now I used to love the Price is Right when I was younger (I actually loved ALL tv game shows for some reason). I'm sure those are the exact same dollar amounts that you would win 20 years ago. Lame. Come on Bob, it's pretty hard to get a freakin' dollar on the big wheel and all they win is $1000??

e-Charity and 6 degrees

2007-01-18T14:08:00.000-05:00

Kevin Bacon is finally using his Six Degrees fame for something interesting... he started www.sixdegrees.org as a way for people to find out what charities their favorite celebrities use and allow them to donate directly to that group.

I'm less interested in why Jessica Simpson supports Operation Smile and more interested in all the ways that the online world has changed fundraising in just the five years I've been in the biz. In the last year, PB raised more than $1 million online--money that was deposited directly into our bank account and started earning interest immediately, while reducing the data entry and human error on our side. All in all, a MUCH more efficient way to give and to receive.

And the good news about sixdegrees is that it seems to somehow turn me into a celebrity, too.

2 Truths & a Lie

2007-01-16T09:34:00.000-05:00

It's a tradition at work that on the first day that the new campaign team starts, we play 2 Truths & a Lie as an icebreaker (already you can tell it's Margaret posting as Dave doesn't a) go to work and b) wouldn't work somewhere that does icebreakers).

It's pretty hard to come up with 2 truths and a lie under regular circumstances, but when you are playing with people you work with--people that report to you--there is an added layer of concern for making all three items things that won't necessarily come back to haunt you.

I've settled on a TV themed round for this morning.

Three shows I loved that are off the air are:
A. Alias
B. Ally McBeal
C. Joe Millionaire

Colour me your colour, baby

2007-01-10T14:31:00.000-05:00

Iphone - It has Visual Voicemail that lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. This service also enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

I noticed this feature while checking out the iphone. It could revolutionize Margaret's life.

How to fix things

2007-01-09T14:41:00.000-05:00

My dad once taught me that the best way to fix something, is to take it apart and put it back together again. The lawn mower that I used to cut our lawn had failed to start, and although my dad couldn't say exactly what was wrong with it, we started to fix the problem by taking the mower apart. After disassembling some things, looking at them, and then putting them back together he asked me to try starting it up again. I remember being somewhat dubious thinking that.. we hadn't really fixed anything, but despite not knowing what we had fixed the lawn mower started and I was back to my mowing.

If I had only remembered this lesson, a recent problem I had with my cable would not have been an issue. My roommate and I had started getting "One moment please. This channel will be available shortly" messages from Comcast. It was very frustrating because it would only affect some channels and only at certain times during the day. I thought it must be an issue with Comcast and waited a while to see if the problem would work itself out (this is a strategy for fixing things that I use frequently, but rarely works). Weeks later, nothing had improved, so i eventually called comcast.

The first guy I talked with decided that he should send a "refresh" signal to our cable box, but that didn't solve anything. I called Comcast again and talked to someone else who said I should try checking the cable connections and plugging the cable directly into my tv (skipping the box). This seemed like a good idea, but before I even unplugged the cable from my box I checked the connection coming out of the wall. I tightened the cable about 1.5 turns and all our cable problems disappeared!

New Family and New Traditions

2006-12-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

This was the first year that Dave and I spent Christmas morning together. It's an odd transition...

Christmas is about tradition and family--and now there is this other guy hanging around changing things up. So traditions have to change and we have to ask our families to add someone new to the definition of family. I would say our parents and siblings did an excellent job, including us as much as possible and even giving up their own stockings (thanks, Mom!).

Dave's favorite Christmas presents from my family:
-My senior portrait from high school
-A matching sweater with my brother

My favorite Christmas presents from his family:
-Wooden salad bowls from Hawaii that Dave left in VA
-Scrapbook of family photos including baby pictures of Dave