Keeping Up With The 21st Century (sort of)

I'm getting to the age where I can't keep up with technological advances. My brain is slowing down and technology is advancing exponentially, just like my 10th grade math teacher Mr. Henningsgard told us it would.  I've been thinking about buying a smart phone and I get sweaty palms just by doing some comparison shopping.  I don't even know what's smart about these phones.  And I'll tell you the most embarrassing thing of all...I don't even get what "aps" do. 

And what about music?  I'm not a relic or anything but I actually remember the days of vinyl.  I have a nice little collection of albums stored upright in a cool place so they don't warp.  Oh sure, I went the way of 8-tracks, cassettes, and have even been getting duplicates of my favorite albums on CD because we don't have a turntable hooked up to our stereo system.  But iTunes?  What is that?  And these flippin' iPods?  I admit it's amazing those little, tiny, size-of-a-credit-card music player thingys can store so many songs but I can't get those little buds to stay in my ears. 

Time keeps moving forward and I seem to be lagging further and further behind.  But get this ~ Auntie B (aka Santa) gave a Christmas present to the entire family this year with some of the profits of her business.  It's an amazing piece of technology.  That's right, I took my sweaty little hands and marched into a store and asked, "do you have one of those machines that will magically turn my record albums into CDs?"  The guys said, "why yes, step right this way."  And so I did.

Installing, connecting, and getting my head around the whole thing took a while, but guess what?  I figured it out!  And now the magic begins. 

The '70s and '80s live again!

But this magical music machine isn't just for me.  One person who's really excited about this is my mom.  I've already begun transferring her old 45s to digital.  (If you're too young to know what a 45 is, well this entire post probably doesn't interest or excite you in the least.  A 45 is a little record that has one song on each side of it and is played at 45 revolutions a minute on a record player.) 

She's got quite a variety and she's indicated which ones she really wants like To Each His Own, Moonlight In Vermont and Unforgettable ~ she was such a romantic!  Even though she's flagged her absolute favorites, I think I'll transfer them all just for fun and because, as amazing and shocking as it seems, I can.  I feel like such a Techno Queen!

So today I'm recommending, if you love your old record albums, that you get one of these contraptions.  It will pay for itself with the transfer of about eleven albums, and the nostalgia it stirs up is priceless.

Wordless Wednesday

Yin And Yang or Half Empty/Half Full

*Icky Things I Have To Do This Week

1.  Finish putting away all of the Christmas decorations. 

2.  Makes sure all business paperwork is in order in preparation for submitting sales tax to two different states.

3.  Go to the day job as a person completely different from who I really am.

*Great Things I Get To Do This Week

1.  Create an environment that is tidy and organized!

2.  Start a fresh new year of business prosperity!

3.  Come home from the day job and be cozy in a dwelling where I am completely me!

How do you choose to approach your life?

The Twelfth Day Of Christmas

I know, I know, the twelve days of Christmas have passed.  I need to regress, not to relieve that most terrible day, but to get all caught up with myself ~ I've been decompressing since.

The twelfth day of Christmas was January 6th and it so happens it was one of the worst days I've had in the thirty-plus years of my day job working career.  Career?  Did I say that?  I meant job.  It's just a job, a job I want to do well for forty hours a week.  The end.  I don't want to advance my status.  I don't want to climb the government ladder.  I just want to do my job with no obstacles for the next five years or so in order to retire early and finally live life with abandon.

Unfortunately some of my coworkers didn't understand the 6th was still part of the Christmas season and decided to put aside their holiday cheer.  One created an obstacle to my doing my job, another backed her up.  Did I say I just want to do my job without obstacles?  I meant it.  Don't get in my way or there's going to be trouble.  And there was.

I have no regrets about my accusations.  I have no regrets about expressing my frustration with the human-unfriendly human service agency for which I work.  After all, what is life if we live it with regrets?  Without getting into too much detail I'll once again just say it was about the worst day I could have imagined having in what should be a mundane day at the job.

It didn't end there.  After I composed myself and stopped trembling out of anger I was afforded a trip to the dentist for a cleaning.  Except I got more than a cleaning.  I got news of all sorts of major work that needs to be done.  I'm not talking fillings.  I'm talking multiple crowns and a nice little root canal.  I suppose it's my payback for losing my verbal composure at the day job. 

Well I just had the worst day ever, and on the Twelfth Day of Christmas.  I got home, on the verge of tears, and Husby came to my rescue as he usually does.  He said to me, "you really need a cup of cocoa.  It will make you feel much better." 

It did.

Wordless Wednesday

Pinocchio Doesn't Live Here

You know how it is when you've been on holiday and you spend lots of time with people you like, doing things you like, eating food you like, and drinking drinks you like?  And plus get presents?  And then you have to go back to the day job only to find one of your coworkers thinks everything would be better if you just didn't exist and a boss who is ineffective and provides no leadership?  And you have to stare at ugly beige walls all day long instead a bright and colorful Christmas tree?  It's a downer, man.

Some of you are tired of hearing how much I loathe spending time at the day job, but I know you feel that way from time to time too.  These are the times, when the human race disappoints us, when our talents are squandered and unnoticed, when the world in general is pretty much letting us down that we have to turn to a creative escape.

If you can create things yourself, yay!  On a day when you feel put upon, engrossing yourself in a project that is completely not on your list of things to do just might be the ticket.  You don't have to paint the Mona Lisa, for crying out loud.  It could be baking a batch of cookies or sewing some jammies out of an old set of sheets.

If you have no faith in your own ability to create (Work on that, won't you?  Everyone has the ability to create!), use others' creations to escape the meanness, frustration, or plain hum-drumedness of the everyday things that bring you down. 

Find a piece of art you can stare into and just dream...

Love Birds by TheLeftBank

...or one that simply makes you smile.

growing up by creativethursday

Read a book filled with whimsey, adventure, and imagination...

The Wind In The Willows

Or listen to some music that takes you away...

Chronologie by Jean Michel Jarre

The arts are a wonderful way to chase away the ickiness of an icky day and turn you back into the real live person you are, rather than the puppet they want you to be.

Dive Night ~ Ruthie & Ray's

Dive Night is a once monthly adventure undertaken by me and Husby, along with our friends Ruthie and Ray. Each couple alternates choosing a restaurant, one which must come under the category of "dive." Our definition of dive: a neighborhood gathering spot hiding under the radar. Casual atmosphere and good food. We're out to find the best food in the Minneapolis/St Paul area without having to pay a fortune or dress up. A sip of beer or wine doesn't hurt either.  See a list and links to the previous dive night posts here.

It has become a tradition with the Dive Night crew to spend December at the home of me and Husby or Ruthie and Ray.  This is done on a rotating basis.  The 2010 Dive Night year wound up at Ruthie and Ray's house.  I can assure you it was hardly a dive.

We have an hors d'oerve evening which was supposed to be pot luck.  I'm sorry to say I provided much less than half of the good food offered.  Ruthie put on a spread that could have stood alone and filled us all without my meager offerings.  My feelings of guilt were overridden only by my feelings of gratitude and satiation.

You can't have hors d'oerves without starting with a good assortment of crackers and cocktail bread.

There were olives and pickles, Ruthie's famous Bacon Bites, a really good herb dip/spread, herring, and M&Ms.

There was an assortment of meats and cheeses, a wine jelly, smoked salmon, smoked oysters, brie cheese, sardines, chicken wings, and bacon dip.

 There were pretzels, deep fried butterflied shrimp with cocktail sauce, and barbequed meatballs.

Ruthie also put out some delicious chocolate chip cookies for a sweet finish to a massive meal of appetizers.

Husby and I are so happy to be able to share the tradition of Dive Night with our friend's Ruthie and Ray, and look forward to the event every month.  Not only are we able to delight in the culinary adventures we embark upon, we also are able to share our journeys through life over a good meal with good friends.  And speaking of good friends, I can't forget to mention Husby's favorite friend at Ruthie and Ray's house...Hoover.

Yeah, Hoover, I see you there, wallowing in Husby's attention.  I have to admit I like snuggling with Hoover too, when he'll let me. 

As we say so long to the Dives of 2010 the four of us are looking forward to another year of gallivanting around the Twin Cities to indulge in and review the dives about town.  I hope you'll continue to join us in our adventures.  Cheers!