Kenny Cetera

Peter Cetera's younger brother, Kenny. He's been singing and drumming
for years. I have a couple demo recordings of his from the 80's or
90's, one of which is "Could It Be You" (on this site). Not a bad
voice, but other than having a strong hint of the tenor "air" like
Peter once had (now I consider him more of a present-day crooner), I
can't detect any vocal resemblances like I do with Peter and his
daughter, Claire. To me he sounds more like Michael W. Smith, Tony
Lewis, Russell Hitchcock and Paul Simon, all mixed in together as one
voice and stripped of power. I think this impression would be
lessened if his voice was mixed better with his music, though, and if
he wrote his own stuff (the stuff on the site, I'm not sure he did
write it).

Anywho, here's the site for him:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=280844120

Oh, in case you don't know some of these:
Peter Cetera - currently a solo artist, but was once a lead singer and
bassist for Chicago (You're The Inspiration; If You Leave Me Now;
Glory Of Love; Feels Like Heaven)
Michael W. Smith - a Christian Pop singer (I Will Be Here For You;
Place In This World)
Tony Lewis - lead singer for The Outfield (Voices Of Babylon; Alone
With You)
Russell Hitchcock - the higher voice for Air Supply (Lost In Love;
Making Love Out Of Nothing At All; All Out Of Love)
Paul Simon - the higher voice for Simon & Garfunkel and he did lots of
solo work also (Slip Slidin' Away; The Sound Of Silence)

Rant on Minorities (again)

I'm also looking at statistics for the various state school systems.
I'm noticing that the majority of states with a high percentage of
folks getting free or reduced lunch rates also have corresponding
black and hispanic numbers.

Massachusetts (where I grew up) is one of the top players (not the
highest by any means) with 73% of students receiving this benefit.
13.5% of the students are classified as "white" while 40.9% are black
and 35.2% are hispanic. I love statistics but having grown up in a
mostly-black-and-hispanic neighbourhood, the only thing I can see
about the "minorities" failing in life is that they CAN'T SPEAK PROPER
ENGLISH.

Far be it from a little poor city girl to figure THAT out, though...
zheezh. And I state this: To someone growing up as a white minority,
it's very hard to fathom why they're still being called minorities in
the first place. Equality, people. We gots it. Let it rest, go
learn English, and do something with your own life instead of crying
about your poor peoples. Egads, every people on earth has been
discriminated against. If it's not happening to you now and you're
not actively involved in stopping it for others actually in the
situation, then get over it.

I simply do not comprehend why race and sex have anything to do with
anything anyway. The only logical thing I can think of is that women
give birth and men don't (for the most part). But race is foobar
aside from potential physical differences. I've seen some pretty
athletic white folks, though, which blows the "blacks are better
basketball players" idea right out of the water.

Listen up, people: We've all got our strengths and weaknesses. Learn
how to exploit your strengths and curb your weaknesses for the
betterment of Society, and the world at large may just have more
respect for us as a Nation.

End Rant.

Teacher Quality my butt

You know, the word "deserve" is really getting on my nerves, too,
these days. I read the first paragraph of this site about teacher
quality and cannot stand the use of the English language anymore.

"The National Council on Teacher Quality is a nonpartisan research and
advocacy group committed to restructuring the teaching profession, led
by our vision that every child deserves effective teachers."

Children do not DESERVE effective teachers, because to deserve
something, you must be worthy of reward. Children are too young and
moldable to _deserve_ a headstart in life because they haven't done
anything with their lives yet to warrant such a statement. Rather,
knowledge is paramount to every child's future. It isn't deserved;
it's a necessity in our society to give every child equal
opportunities. What each child does with those opportunities is up to
them.

I have trouble placing stock in the site at all if the authours
themselves have not been correctly taught. Perhaps their vendetta is
due to their own lack of study when they were younger.

Anywho, otherwise it's a neat site with all sorts of data compiled.
It's just that, like my beliefs in journalism and any public text,
sites about teaching should be linguistically correct.

End rant.

Asus Eee Pc 1000HA

I read a gazillion reviews and asked around and so... Last night I
finally took the plunge and ordered an Asus Eee Pc 1000HA in
sleekandfingerprintyforsure Ebony Black. I wanted the 1000H but it
was hard to find, most places said it was either out of stock or
discontinued. But it basically added 802.11 -n- to the b/g along with
bluetooth, neither of which I can honestly say I NEED. So I ended up
with the next model down for $100 less and at a store I like to do
business with.

Other specs: Atom processor, 160GB hard drive, XP Home, three usb
ports, a VGA port, ethernet, 802.1 b/g, 10" screen, 6-cell battery
that can last "up to" 7 hours, and according to a few sites it's got
the smallest power supply available, too.

Due date is within two weeks. This will be my ninth [current] "child"
and the first new computer I'll have had since Dale enticed me to
marry him with Shady in October of 2006. The one before Shady, was
Raven, which I built in August of 2004. So, I'm definitely due for
another one.

I am very very excited. With this little doodad I can sit on the
couch, upstairs in bed, on the stairs, outside on the porch (once it
warms up), in the truck, et al and get a good 5 hours of fun time. I
can also take it with me to friends' houses and the occasional
client's when those creep back into my life (which they always do
somehow). YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cough recipe

I *think* this works... at least, it seems to, or maybe I'm not
extremely sick so it's only coincidink.

Tight chest, bronchial intermittent cough with post nasal drip, one of
those coughs that hurts while being only slightly productive... I hate
them, because it sounds like I've got bronchitis but for such a minor
irritation it's overkill. Anywho, I discovered that this concoction
may hold it at bay:

One crushed clove of garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne
About four cloves with stems, whatever that turns out to be - crush
them coarsely
Some powdered fennel, garlic powder, salt (it was an existing blend I
had for cooking)
about 1/2 tsp mustard seed, crushed or not... I suspect crushed is
better
1/2 tsp vinegar
1-2 tsp honey
6 oz hot water

Place all of the above into a cup and stir together. Let sit about 15
minutes. Take a few sips, then sip every time you feel a cough coming
on or right after coughing. It seems to loosen the plegm a bit and
make new coughs more productive for a while, and open up airways. It
also seems to stimulate mucous. Finally, I haven't yet noticed a very
sore throat just yet from the coughing, just a bit of itchiness.
While I'm most definitely sick, it seems that it's not as bad as it
could have been.

I have a few theories as to why this recipe seems to work. First,
Cayenne Pepper improves circulation, makes your (or at least my) nose
run a bit, and is supposed to be good for mucous production overall
anyway. Garlic is an antibacterial, strengthens mucous membranes, and
overall has been a "healthy" herb anyway. Cloves have a numbing agent
in them as well as antibacterial consituents. It's long been used for
toothaches. Vinegar is another cure-all, honey is also antibacterial;
in the past I've used them half-and-half to dampen or prevent a sore
throat (burns like hell but it works if done right away).

Not sure what fennel and mustard seed do, but salt is a good cleansing
agent and helps clear the slime out of your mouth when you're sick. I
didn't want to mess with a recipe I believe works, so I left the
ingredients intact.

I figure the garlic, vinegar, honey, and cayenne are working on the
bug I've got, and the cloves and vinegar and honey are helping to keep
my throat from getting sore. The cloves, I discovered, have an added
benefit - they keep you from "tasting" the crap in the cup. I noticed
this because this last time, I didn't crush them much at all and the
stuff burned like holy ol' - well, you get the idea. Then I chewed on
a clove for a bit and next thing I knew, I couldn't taste _anything_
anymore. :D

So I stayed home from work today, I may be well enough to be there but
I don't feel very rested and I do feel irritable and by God, I bet no
one would want me around with the garlic smell anyway so I decided to
stay home and read in bed all day. It's not like I'm crucial
anymore... it's a new job where I haven't made myself totally
invaluable yet so I think I can be easy on myself just this once and
do what I'd tell anyone else who was sick. STAY HOME.

~nv

The victim

Dale's words echo my sentiments: "Once again, I found myself faced
with a bad smell. It smelled of death. So we looked around, followed
our nose and found it. It appears This APC unit must be defective. It
could not provide battery backup to save this little guy."

The little critter is pretty much in the center of the photo. If he
were still alive, perhaps he could sue APC? At any rate, may he rest
in peace.

Death hides not from mine nose

I have a really mild cold, and apparently my nose was affected last
night because I had absolutely NO problem with the garlic "tea" I was
drinking before bed. Well, this morning I made another cuppa and was
nearly blown over backward by the stench. Poor Daley-poo!! He hates
garlic!! Well, anyway, a few minutes ago, Dale called to me and asked
if my nose was working. I said, "Not sure, why," thinking perhaps I
smelled worse than last night or something and didn't know it. He
said he kept smelling "dead animal" smell.

Well, as much as I hate the smell of rotting flesh, and as much as the
mere thought of it can make me gag when my throat is already feeling
coated with slimy mucous, I can't turn down an informal invite to
define and locate the source of whatever it was he smelled. So I got
up and went to walk into his den.

I didn't get very far when I was hit with a whiff of death-aroma. I
stopped and fought a faint gag. It faded. So I told Dale he was most
definitely right - it was certainly the unmistakeable odor of death -
and then I took to hunting all over the floor, sniffing vents, behind
the entertainment center, the catnip scratch box... and only caught
the occasional whiff. Dale admitted that he smelled it more near the
floor, too, but otherwise, we were perplexed by the lack of source. I
tried to take note of any drafts that might be dragging wafts of the
stench our way, but those tests were inconclusive as the drafts were
not sufficiently strong enough to lead me. Like a bloodhound, I
scampered across the floor, holding my cough in check lest I catch a
whiff again and puke my brains out during a would-be short coughing
fit. I couldn't smell it under the couch or chair so I figured maybe
it's near Dale's desk? After all, he's still smelling it off and on,
and he's sitting there, and that's the wall where I first smelled it,
so...?

I stuck my nose in between his desk and the armoire and was greeted
with a reassuringly strong sign of death. I estimated it was likely 2
or 3 days since whatever it was fell off its mortal coil. Oh, joy.
He said, "Ok. I can look for it from here, then, thanks." But I
hadn't seen it. I wasn't satisfied with grossing myself out that
much, I wanted to know for certain as to what the source was, no
matter how heartbreaking or disgusting it might be!! He repeated
himself as I dug in behind the flags, the little foldup chair, peeking
behind the armoir, sniffing, searching, eyes piercing the dark
recesses for any sign of decay. The smell faded behind the armoir.
His desk, then.

'twas a fat little mouse, fast asleep for eternity upon his
Uninterruptible Power Supply. Just a foot from his foot, no less. It
would appear that UPSes only work for electronics, for when the little
bugger lost his life, the backup whose outlets he had so carefully
laid his tiny little body between utterly failed to generate power for
his tiny heart.

Another one bytes the dust, I'm afraid. I only hope it was a quick
death. I will say that with two hunters around, no mouse will live in
this house for very long without being a caged captive in my direct
care.

~nv

Western Rainbow

WESTERN RAINBOW
2009011762 c2009wlc

The other day I was driving home
When I looked up for just a moment
I caught a glimpse of the setting sun
And lo!
I swore I saw a sun dog
But no!
'twas a solitary rainbow
Growing with every passing second
To the left of the sun
Over West Mountain.

I kept on driving, no camera upon me
I looked up as often as I dared
Watching the rainbow grow ever stronger
So straight!
I swore it had to be alone
So great!
The minutes passed as time grew late
The sun still bright but going down
My heart alight and dancing
Across from West Mountain.

Around a curve, and then another
Still I could not cease to wonder
Another bend, no sign of thunder
The skies!
They were the clearest I could see
My eyes
Bedazzled by the scene displayed
Could scarce believe there were no clouds
Just a hint of wispy shrouds
Caressing West Mountain.

But on the other side of Sun
Over the spot where we turned One
The other end of the wondrous rainbow
Standing proud!
My foot eased off the gas
Still no cloud!
The silence of the air, it stilled me
For God Himself had all but willed me
To see that time had stopped
Up on West Mountain.

Over our mountain where we were married
The sun surrounded by a Promise
Even though you were not there
I felt you
And called you there in spirit
To share with you
The strength and love of such beauty
So akin to what we share
The Rainbow went not unaware
For I still see it
When I gaze at West Mountain.

~nv
"A life of struggle means you quit and stagnate or fight and change."
~me