The Mills

Amen. That’s all I can say.

I don’t watch much TV, so I haven’t seen the ads for Songsmith, but this is the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.

So we hear often about how cultures ought to be treated as equivalent, none better than any other – a claimed attempt to reverse the trend of victors writing biased histories. But as this post points out, Brits were enjoying personal property rights and women in particular had the right to own property in thier own name long before any other culture in that era or since that I’m aware of. Too bad not every culture can make that claim.

RULES

1. Post rules on your Blog
2. Answer the six “8″ items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

TV?  What’s that?  Like Dave, I’m reaching here…

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation
2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
3. VeggieTales
4. Highlander
5. Leave It To Beaver
6. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood
7. Sesame Street
8. CyberChase

8 THINGS I DID IN THE LAST 24 HOURS

1. Go to church
2. Take a nap
3. Watched a video about Burma-Shave (they only had 35 employees at the height of the company!)
4. Ate orange rolls
5. Read scripture stories with my family
6. Tickled the kids incessantly
7. Looked at Mom’s tulips and other prospective garden plants
8. Caught up on memes (C just reminded me of more!  oh dear…)

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Paying my house off
2. Buying a truck (Tacomas are made here in SA!)
3. Getting Zelda for the Wii
4. Getting the hot water supply in the house working right
5. More school!  (am I a masochist?)
6. Friends and family coming to visit
7. Miss P’s wedding
8. Scripture study

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Olive Garden
2. Carrino’s
3. Los Portales
4. Olive Tree
5. TGI Friday’s
6. Joe’s Crab Shack
7. Ruby Tuesday
8. MTC Cafeteria

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. More time with C
2. Ability to go on cruise proposed by in-laws next Jan, while meeting family goals too
3. Less American political “don’t just stand there, do something!”  and more “Don’t just do something, stand there!”
4. Maintenance-free vehicles
5. The house fixed up and painted already (it’ll be years before it’s done)
6. To be at peace with myself
7. To find a conservative group with which I identify
8. Return to solid foundations of a federated democratic republic, instead of a national democracy

Tagging:

1)Ryan and Amanda
2)Dave & Kerry
3)Natalie & Karl
4)SG

Here’s my second meme, also from SG:

I am… slow in responding to memes, apparently.
I think…trying to avoid societal pain (eg bank failure) is equivalent to a dog chasing it’s tail – sooner or later, it’s gotta stop.  Better before the nausea starts.
I want…a PhD with no pain (yes, I know, see above ).
I have…a weakness for fixing people’s computers.
I miss…the Rockies.  badly.
I fear…powerless catastrophe.
I hear…mom and C discussing economics.
I smell…the carrot cake Mom fed us tonight.
I crave…peace.
I cry…only when I’m exhausted.
I regret…only those things I can’t improve.
I search…exhaustively.
I wonder…if I’ll ever be satisfied.
I wish…I could help my sis with her house situation.
I love…being at Mom’s.
I care…more about people than about things – yes, including the environment.
I always…check to see if I can do better.
I worry…about underperforming.
I am not…an overly emotional person.
I remember…great times in Japan.
I believe…in the simple things.
I sing…especially with my family.
I don’t always…care enough about what other people think.
I argue…about economics and evading pain.
I write…for a living, even though I have a computer science degree.
I lose…my temper too much.
I listen…before I talk, so I don’t misunderstand.
I can usually be found…near a computer.
I need…to go to bed soon (but I have one more meme to go tonight).
I forget…to do anything with the pictures I take.
I am happy…with people who share my values in life.

Tagging:
1)Jared & Kim
2)Ryan & Sara
3)David

Optimal Autumnal Aspen

Originally uploaded by Fort Photo

Another gorgeous post by Fort Photo. I really like this guy’s work – he focuses on nature shots of the American West as I see it.

So I read track on the order of 135 blogs. It’s too much. Every so often I unsubscribe from one or two, with a twinge of regret (yes, I’m an information addict.) This time, I figured I’d post it, in case somebody else wants it.

Virtual Collector (http://virtualcollector.blogspot.com) focuses on posts related to Russia and the Georgian conflict remnants. It’s very eye-opening, on the spot stuff. While I highly recommend it, I can’t track it any more. Enjoy!

We’re working on painting the kitchen. It was wallpapered when we moved in, and with Jenny and kids’ help we pulled the old wallpaper off. Now we’re repainting with a nice sky blue.

I’ve been feeling frustrated at work for some time now. I’m struggling to get along with a couple of people at times. I travel more than I’d like, but professionally I’d be derelict if I didn’t – and I really ought to be at a few more meetings I’m missing. (There’s really not anyone else to send). The career path upward at my employer is througy sales – selling more service contracts to keep more people employed and pad the pockets of the higher-ups. I really don’t feel like I have peers or a mentor in my company, and I feel like my co-workers with are respectful but hard to relate to. (Most of them are retired military).

So I’ve posted my resume a couple of places. I’ve intentionally not applied to much, waiting for something interesting to come along. I’ve gotten a few nibbles, but nothing I’d really spend too much effort on. Then the other day I got an email from someone on the east coast. I responded back saying that I’m not interested in relocating. They persisted, saying the contract is substantial. We continued discussion for a few emails, and so I sent what I thought was just beyond the outer limits of acceptability. I figured for sure they’d say no, and we could all go on our merry way. However, the recruiter has said they’ve put the info in front of the client (yes, another consulting group).

I may actually end up considering moving again. This was not in the plan at all.

Holy cow. That’s all I can say about this screed. This guy has defined intelligent womanhood in such a way that no woman I know well (not my wonderful wife, with a degree in physics, and not the amazing friend of ours working on her PhD and already teaching at 3 universities) would want to fit his definition of intelligent. He seems to believe only the violently anti-male version of the women’s rights movement has any validity.

The painful quotes:

“every thoughtful or liberal or intuitive or open-minded white woman I know worth her vagina monologue and her self-determination and two centuries of nonstop striving for equal rights and sexual freedom and exhaustive patriarchal unshackling is right now openly horrified, appalled at what the addition of shrill PTA hockey-mom Sarah Palin seems to have done for the soggy, comatose McCain campaign…”

and

“Truly, among women in the know and especially among those who fought so hard to bring Hillary Clinton to the brink of history, nausea and a general recoiling appear to be the universal reactions to Palin’s sudden presence on the national stage, stemming straight from the idea that there’s even a slight chance in hell such an antagonistic, anti-female politico could be within a 72-year-old heartbeat of becoming the most powerful and iconic woman of all time. “

Wow. There’s antagonistic, and then there’s this. The crazy part? I do actually know people who agree with him.