Fretting the Pats

So the preceding sunsetscape came form our drive down to D&C's on Saturday evening. Dan had enticed me with a simple text message Saturday AM that read something along the lines of "Pats, pizza and Wii Guitar Hero?" Realistically, that's an unpass-upable offer. So when I got off the full day tutoring train and beck came home from work, we piled into the enviro-friendly mobile and headed down to Phoenix to kick it with the DC. The game was sweet; the pizza tasty. Como fue the Guitar Hero? Well, with all apologies to Frank and his coolest picture ever, the DCNB crew submit their parodical entry:

In short, DCNB rocked the Guitar Hero world. It's clearly a game with dubious merit - we've asked the dreaded question here before, why rock out to a video game when you could rock out to an actual physical style guitar? Well, mostly because it's fun, also because it entails fewer hours of preparation. I humbly admit that it's a bit toolish for me to play the guitar hero in lieu of expressing myself artistically via the real deal; I can do no more than hang my head and point to my own following of the masses. But really, who can deny Dan "God" rocking out in a turtle neck?:

We will eschew textual commentary for the now customary table of nyet-pictures:


See, you may think that by now you must have seen the awesomest of pictures. Well, it turns out that your favorite and mine, the Beck, likes to gyrate quite a bit while she rocks the 'Hero. And as a result, you get 5th dimensional images like this:

Wowsers. To cut to the details, we started the night on the "Easy" setting, ripping through a fair number of tunes before we decided we were up to a greater task. Medium! Yeah! Of course, the medium setting required religious rituals to overcome the adversity. Enter the DC's mystic ornament, the Lobster Hat. That's right, it's the Rock Lobster - or, as some of you may remember, the Lock Robster. Christina bravely took on the adornment, and when I needed it most - a fierce battle vs. Rage's Tom Morello - I, too, donned the eight-legged wonder:


We made a formidable GH team. I brought several years of guitar playing, Christina brought a keen sense of rhythm, and Dan brought all kinds of coffee house music crit witticisms. But we all paled next to Beck, who not only rocked with rhythm and accuracy but brought unbelievable dance skills to the table... er, floor. Here is the world premier, available on nyetjones.blogspot.com only, of the Beck rocking out (and NAILING) Social Distortion's "Story of My Life." Warning: this is a two minute clip, so feel no obligation to watch the entire performance. However, if you need some enticement, check the background for Coffeehouse Dan's approving sip of wine, which carries more approval that the standing ovations of millions could hope to muster:

I see you all, cowering in a state of stun.

All in all, a fantastic night - the Pats won taboot! Here's to several more rockabilly evenings in the swinging abode of DC. Maybe someday we can throw some wood and steel strings in place of the Wii plastic, and Dan and I will get the Pleasure Pumas off the ground. Until then...

Another Pleasant Valley Sunset

Camelback, as viewed from the 101 whilst traveling south at a crisp 117.5 km/h clip.

He's a (BUM BUM) 21st Century... Dog Lady

That is either the opening scene from Apocalypse Now or the view of our rainy street from yesterday. I am uncertain. The Beck and I decided a powerfully fun warm-up drill would involve walking the dogs 2 miles through the rain so they would be nice and calm during the afternoon of playoff football. And it was a great walk. And you might think that 2 miles would wear the dogs down, but now for your moving picture entertainment, I present to you a fairly routine enactment of the dogs returning home after a long walk ritual:

Ay Caramba! Sparkle naturally decided to do some panting poses for the camera, and invites you to play the "in which picture is Sparkle not panting?" game:


Hint: it's the bottom right one. That is her, "Come on people, let's be serious: it's dinner time" face. Speaking of the Sparklinator, she received an odd compliment yesterday. A little boy we ran into in the park, let's call him "Mr. No Sense of Self Preservation," tried to come up and pet the Sparkle sans permission. Beck politely told him no, that she gets scared around people she doesn't know (and will deskin your face). Mr. NSOSP that's okay, he just thought she looked cool. Beck says, "Most people think she looks funny," and NSOSP replies, "That's what I mean, she looks cool because she's funny looking." So Sparkle has attained a reasonable amount of street cred for her anti-conformist looks. Tres punk! Coincidentally, Sparkle stopped a traffic line and replied "bark" when someone asked her the time.

Eventually the walk had its intended effect and the dogs spent the bulk of Sunday sleeping. Bask in the impossible cuteness of my dogs!


This completes today's quota of pet-obsessed blogging. Otherwise it's been about the same here - watched some football this weekend, played some fantastic Ultimate yesterday (I was en fuego) and am now hobbling around the house this morning because my back has stiffened up like crazy. Argh. I actually need to run to tutoring now, and hopefully I'll be able to catch the second half of the NCAA "championship" tonight. Until then - hope you enjoyed the short film of the Sparkle / Wrigley 500.

Quiero que ser contigo, ser contigo noche y dia

And welcome to 2008. The Lovely Beck and I took the pups up to the local park the other morning for a jaunt / sprint around the vast expanses; a good time was had by all. We're lucky to live smack in the middle of the suburban heaven that is Scottsdale; just check out the view we get from said nearby park:

Borderline idyllic. The titular New Year has been treating us reasonably well. As predicted, Beck fell asleep at approximately 9 pm on the eve, leaving yours truly to a Dick Clark-less rockin' NYE of the Eddie Murphy / Richard Prior classic Harlem Nights which, for all its stupidity, was actually quite palatable. I sucked in a couple of episodes of Family Guy on TNT in an effort to stay up for the grand moment, and a firework or something went off on TV and/or in real life, because Beck actually deigned to grant me her conscious presence for the 12 am moment. We ecstatically watched a two hour old replay of New Yorkers celebrating the new year, proposing to their girlfriends and the like. Tres monumental. Phoenix wins super bonus lame points for failing to display its own NYE celebration, bowing to a rerun instead. Must be the writer's strike.

New Year's day, in contrast, was quite excellent. I went on a 5.5 mile run in the AM, arriving home in time to shower and watch the first outdoor NHL game in America, Pittsburgh at Buffalo, which was a lot of fun. Sidney Crosby is a bad-ass. I took some notes on the game with some kind of blog post in mind, but all I ended up noting was how ridiculous their focus on the weather conditions was (it's snowing! Yep!) and how reverent they were towards one of the announcers anecdotes from the 70s or 80s or so in which hockey players went into the stands and beat spectators with the spectators' own shoes. Contrast that aw-shucks reminiscence to the holy-hell terror of the sports media coverage of the Ron Artest melee from a couple of year's back, and I'm sure you have at least a thesis or two on the unequal treatment of white & black sports stars in the U.S. Just sayin'.

The rest of the week went swimmingly - I tutored a bit, by far the highlight being my efforts to teach an 8 year old girl how to add and subtract the numbers 0-9 without using her fingers to count. I kept her mightily entertained and engaged - she even said, "wow, I only feel like I've been here ten minutes!" when she had to leave at the hour and a half mark, shattering all reasonable scales of cuteness in the process. Tutoring otherwise continues to merely roll on.

It thankfully sounds like the Sime-ster is doing reasonably well up in Boston; I would say to pray for his recovery, but Richard Dawkins has been telling me that such thoughts are frivolous at best, pernicious at worst. I've been listening to The God Delusion over the past couple of days as I've walked to work; so far I am limited to the impression that Dawkins is way too pissed off on the topic for a true "rational" discussion and that his complaints thus far are wholly unimaginative and played. I.e., I haven't really heard anything new thus far, which is pretty disappointing.

By far the biggest news of the new year is that after a year of here and there, non-focused and interrupted effort, I've finally sorted my iTunes library and now everything is correctly dated and album covered. (I know, I know, hold your applause). This takes a RIDICULOUS long time, but it's pretty satisfying to me to be able to sift through my album collection on a computer screen as though it were a real set of albums. Somewhere, there's a french guy screaming about simulacra and simulations. Seriously, though, my iTunes is pimped. So.... yeah.

Otherwise, it's been a fair amount of running (5.5, 4.8. 3.2, and 4 since 2008 began, go me), culminating in today's sitting around and watching the first couple of games of NFL playoffs (see outraged extra point diatribe below). Beck and I also hit up Before the Devil Knows You're Dead last night (review pending) which left us both wanting more (and less, in terms of PSH sex scenes - egad). And beyond that, it's the usual game of feeding, walking, and observing the dogs in their natural state of extreme sleepiness - some all-timers in this set. Enjoy the pics below as I drift to sleep wondering if this blog has devolved into a SW shrine. I am a 21st century cat lady.


Of course, you can't pass up an opp to post a pic of the sleeping Beck AND a Sparkle, the former modeling her schwank Candy Cane pajama pants:

Goodnight Peeps.

Dear Pittsburgh

The sun is up
The sky is blue
It's beautiful
Why'd you go for two?

Things that are exceedingly stupid in the realm of professional football: the severe lack of understanding of late game point strategies. There's 1:39 left at this moment, and jacksonville is down by 1, 29-28, but they're marching and look sure to get in field goal range for the win here. Why are they even in this position? 29 points seems like an odd total for the Pitiablesburgh Steelers, eh? Well, they scored a touchdown with roughly 10 minutes left in the fourth to close it to 23-28. Extra point to close it to 24-28, but some idiot with a chart declares that they should go for two, with the short-sighted idea that putting themselves within a field goal is the way to go. A reasonable idea if we're down to one or two possessions left for the game, but - with ten minutes left? Huh? Ne'er mind that an EP and a TD puts you up by 3. The chart says do it! And worse, they get it, but a holding penalty puts them back at the 12 yard line. Surely now you kick the EP???!?!?? No, they go for it, and don't get it. So it's still 23-28. They score again, it's now 29-28, and of course they go for two this time. And don't get it. Clearly two EP's would have put them up by 3, but two failed two-point conversions have left them up by one.

Sure enough, Jax just marched and kicked a figgie to go up 31-29. And "Ben" (not-the-grin) just fumbled to lose the game.

STOOPID!!!!!!!!!! Just for the math record, .97 times 1 equals .97, and .4 times 2 equals .8. And whatever the percentage for two point conversion attempts from the 12 yard line is, "?" times 2 points is probably less than the .9 times 1 the EP attempt would have grabbed.

I can't stand it. I will post something more substantial later about life in 2008 in Phoenix, but for now i shed tears for the future of mankind - if the leaders of football squads can't follow simple rules of math & logic, where does that leave the rest of us? Surely doomed. For future reference, if you are down by 5 with a substantial amount of time left, kick the EP!!!! Don't be STOOPID!!!

Membangun Kepercayaan diri

Dari milis tetangga...

Bagi sebagian kita yang punya masalah seputar rendahnya kepercayaan-diri
atau merasa telah kehilangan kepercayaan diri, mungkin Anda bisa menjadikan
langkah-langkah berikut ini sebagai proses latihan:

1.Menciptakan definisi diri positif.

Steve Chandler mengatakan, "Cara terbaik untuk mengubah sistem keyakinanmu
adalah mengubah definisi dirimu." Bagaimana menciptkan definisi diri
positif. Di antara cara yang bisa kita lakukan adalah:

o Membuat kesimpulan yang positif tentang diri sendiri / membuat opini yang
positif tentang diri sendiri. Positif di sini artinya yang bisa mendorong
atau yang bisa membangun, bukan yang merusak atau yang menghancurkan.

o Belajar melihat bagian-bagian positif / kelebihan / kekuatan yang kita
miliki

o Membuka dialog dengan diri sendiri tentang hal-hal positif yang bisa kita
lakukan, dari mulai yang paling kecil dan dari mulai yang bisa kita lakukan
hari ini.

Selain itu, yang perlu dilakukan adalah menghentikan opini diri negatif yang
muncul, seperti misalnya saya tidak punya kelebihan apa-apa, hidup saya
tidak berharga, saya hanya beban masyarakat, dan seterusnya. Setelah kita
menghentikan, tugas kita adalah menggantinya dengan yang positif,
konstruktif dan motivatif. Ini hanya syarat awal dan tidak cukup untuk
membangun kepercayaan diri.

2. Memperjuangkan keinginan yang positif

Selanjutnya adalah merumuskan program / agenda perbaikan diri. Ini bisa
berbentuk misalnya memiliki target baru yang hendak kita wujudkan atau
merumuskan langkah-langkah positif yang hendak kita lakukan. Entah itu besar
atau kecil, intinya harus ada perubahan atau peningkatan ke arah yang lebih
positif. Semakin banyak hal-hal positif (target, tujuan atau keinginan) yang
sanggup kita wujudkan, semakin kuatlah pede kita. Kita perlu ingat bahwa
pada akhirnya kita hanya akan menjadi lebih baik dengan cara melakukan
sesuatu yang baik buat kita. Titik. Tidak ada yang bisa mengganti prinsip
ini.

3. Mengatasi masalah secara positif

Pede juga bisa diperkuat dengan cara memberikan bukti kepada diri sendiri
bahwa kita ternyata berhasil mengatasi masalah yang menimpa kita. Semakin
banyak masalah yang sanggup kita selesaikan, semakin kuatlah pede. Lama
kelamaan kita menjadi orang yang tidak mudah minder ketika menghadapi
masalah. Karena itu ada yang mengingatkan, begitu kita sudah terbiasa
menggunakan jurus pasrah atau kalah, ini nanti akan menjadi kebiasaan yang
membuat kita seringkali bermasalah.

4. Memiliki dasar keputusan yang positif.

Kalau dibaca dari praktek hidup secara keseluruhan, memang tidak ada orang
yang selalu yakin atas kemampuannya dalam menghadapi masalah atau dalam
mewujudkan keinginan. Orang yang sekelas Mahatma Gandhi saja sempat goyah
ketika tiba-tiba realitas berubah secara tak terduga-duga. Tapi, Gandhi
punya cara yang bisa kita tiru: "Ketika saya putus asa maka saya selalu
ingat bahwa sepanjang sejarah, jalan yang ditempuh dengan kebenaran dan
cinta selalu menang. Ada beberapa tirani dan pembunuhan yang sepintas
sepertinya menang tetapi akhirnya kalah. Pikirkan ucapan saya ini, SELALU".
Artinya, kepercayaan Gandhi tumbuh lagi setelah mengingat bahwa langkahnya
sudah dilandasi oleh prinsip-prinsip yang benar.

5. Memiliki model / teladan yang positif

Yang penting lagi adalah menemukan orang lain yang bisa kita contoh dari
sisi kepercayaan dirinya. Ini memang menuntut kita untuk sering-sering
membuka mata melihat orang lain yang lebih bagus dari kita lalu
menjadikannya sebagai pelajaran. Saking pentingnya peranan orang lain ini,
ada yang mengatakan bahwa kita bisa memperbaiki diri dari dua hal: a)
pengalaman pribadi (life experiencing) dan b) duplicating (mencontoh dan
mempelajari orang lain).

Rasanya... inilah yang saya butuhkan saat ini. percaya pada kemampuan mu sendiri anak muda!!! struggle dengan kerjaan baru...

Vegan Trifle Recipe

A little bit of research effort and experimentation allowed the Clarion to develop a Vegan Trifle recipe this week. We have been enjoying trifle for many years, since it was first introduced to us by Foster's Market of Durham, North Carolina. The picture above is of the preferred shape trifle bowl.

Our typical non-Vegan trifle consists of bite sized chunks of white cake, pound cake or for a splurge, Krispy Kreme donuts, layered with fresh fruit, and Cool Whip or whip cream. The fresh fruit mix is simply seasonal. Strawberries are a stand-by. Blueberries and raspberries are great. Pineapple is lovely, peaches and kiwis are a fun experiment.

The Clarion has done almost no Vegan cooking, and absolutely no Vegan baking. Of late however, we have become fascinated with Vegan culture. Long radical Gaians ourselves, we see perhaps close cousins in the Vegans. Digging some into Vegan culture has inspired us to dig more. There are many voracious Vegan bloggers to devour.

Brainstorming the bloggers and other web sources yielded this nummy, nummy Vegan Trifle recipe.

First, bake the cake, then make the vegan whip cream equivalent. Refrigerate it for a minimum of three hours, if you have the space, chill the fruit and the trifle bowl, too.

the Cake

Banana-Flavored Vegan Cake

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 2/3 of a medium sized banana

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a cake pan. In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Combine remaining ingredients in a blender and puree, then add to flour mixture. Beat for 2 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out dry.

After the cake cools, cut it into 1" x 1" chunks.


Whip Cream Equivalent

In a blender, combine:

two 10oz packages of silken style tofu
3 Tbs of maple syrup (optional substitute-coffee flavoring syrups)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup white sugar

pour into a container and refrigerate for several hours before using (ideally better to prepare and refrigerate the night before.)


Fruit (suggestions)

1 lb. of strawberries (cut them into halves or quarters depending on their size)
1 pint of raspberries or blueberries (just wash)
1 pineapple (cut into bit sized chunks)

After preparing all the fruit we like to combine it in a mixing bowl and add a couple of healthy dollops of honey, then stir gently. (if you are very confident that your blood sugar is low, along with the honey, add a couple of heaping spoonfuls of sugar in the raw.) You don't want to mush the fruit, just get it mixed evenly, so you don't later have a layer of all strawberries.


Now you're ready to move on to the Trifle bowl. The Clarion recommends the base layer be whip cream equivalent. Just cover the bottom of the bowl. Then throw in a layer of your bite sized cake chunks. Next a layer of your fruit mix, then a layer of whip cream equivalent, back to cake chunks, back to fruit mixture, another layer of whip cream, and repeat. The Clarion prefers the very top layer to be whip cream, with just a few decorative pieces of fruit and perhaps a mint sprig.