I had an errand to run this morning that took me through Bushnell Park. It was fairly early in the day, around 10:30, and there were groups of kids from a day care/day camp running around playing. It made me sort of nostalgic for my days working in daycare. I remembered the feeling of being the luckiest person ever to be getting paid to sit outside on such a perfect day, the feeling of panic when one or two stubborn little ones would wander away from the pack, the feeling of just really wanting to take a nap on the grass ...

Anyway, it reminded me of one of my favorite day care stories. My aunt owned a day care in Hoboken, NJ through most of my growing-up years, and my cousin and I would "work" there during school breaks, mostly assisting teachers with naptime, etc. One summer, however, I was a FT employee living in Hoboken. It was heaven. Everything in Hoboken is within walking distance, including any manner of transportation to NYC. The daycare closed at 6:30, so there was plenty of time afterward to walk around, shop, meet friends for dinner, and such. There were also a good 5 large parks crammed into Hoboken's one square mile, so every day we'd take the kids to a park and rotate which ones they went to so they wouldn't get bored.

On particularly hot days, we'd take them to First Street, which was a park that jutted out on the river and had spectacular views of Manhattan. It also had a fountain that came right out of the ground for the kids to cool off in. This particular day, we had taken the kids to the fountain park, they were running in and out of the water, playing games, splashing, just being kids. We had one particularly difficult child with severe ADD with us. He had just started that week and was testing the boundaries. Medication time came for this child while we were at the park and he wanted NO part of stopping playtime to go take a pill. So, he ran into the middle of the fountain and refused to come out. The other teachers and I all looked at each other, not sure what to do. I took a deep breath and ran into the middle of the fountain and dragged the kid out. He was so shocked that I had come after him that he didn't put up a fight. I was drenched. It was the middle of the work day and I was looking for all the world like a drowned rat. Fortunately, though, since I lived in Hoboken, I was able to walk/drip/squish my way home and change.

Sometimes, when I'm at my desk and it's 80 and sunny and blue skied out, I miss my day care job. I do enjoy the security of getting dressed in the morning and knowing that my clothes will most likely make it through the day without getting fruit punch, popsicle juice, or mud on them. I do enjoy the ready access to email, and the ability to leave my desk to use the restroom or get a drink when I want to. Sometimes, though, on days like today, I remember how it was to feel so lucky to be able to just be outside on days like today.

In the past few years, these are some of the mistaken-age mishaps I've encountered:

--The usual being carded for alcohol
--Being carded for buying scratch-off lotto tickets
--Being carded for using a credit card because I "didn't look old enough"
--Being carded for an R-rated movie
--Being asked by D.A.R.E. representatives if my "school" had their program and if I was interested in learning more about it
--The woman I got into the fender-bender with this weekend was in all likelihood assuming that I was 16 or so and could not possibly own my car

There are more I can't think of right now.

Sigh. It's getting really old (rimshot), but makes for some great stories. I guess.

This is young James on his big day out. Jimmy belongs to my friend Amanda, of Me, My Dogs, My Life fame. Really I'm just using Jimmy to test out blogging from Flickr. Isn't he cute, though? He had a blast swimming in the river and chasing his new ladyfriend, Molly (who belongs to my friend Lisa of The LisaGaumond.com Blog). Sadly, however, Young James sadly experienced the bitter taste of unrequited love.

I'm going to need to find a picture of Jimmy's brother, Junior, to make this all equal.

Lisa is the craftiest crafty person I know. She knits! She makes jewelry! She cooks! She bakes! She draws! She's a master mixologist! She slices, she dices, and she doesn't break a sweat!

What else can she do? Well, she can celebrate a birthday like nobody's business. Here she is with a funny bird. Oh, and Luke.

I knew I needed a new mix to celebrate the new season and the new sunshine! Halfway through I had an overwhelming urge to watch Dirty Dancing, so that soundtrack snuck in here toward the end. And I just. can't. stop. listening to Jesse Malin.

1. Twilight Creeps - Crooked Fingers
2. Your Little Hoodrat Friend - The Hold Steady
3. Downliner - Jesse Malin
4. Change Your Mind - The Killers
5. Girl Like That - Matchbox Twenty
6. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
7. Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes
8. California Love - Tupac & Dr. Dre
9. Bananza (Belly Dancer) - Akon
10. Gold Digger - Kanye West, feat. Jaime Foxx
11. Objection (Tango) - Shakira
12. Senorita - Justin Timberlake
13. I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen
14. You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac
15. Joking - Indigo Girls
16. Lola - The Kinks
17. Can't Get You Off My Mind - Lenny Kravitz
18. Mysterious Ways - U2
19. Some Kind of Wonderfun - The Drifers
20. Hungry Eyes - Eric Carmen

Blah. This is why I hate parking lots. The other car is fine. The other driver also didn't believe that I was giving my own name and that the car was indeed mine. Jerks.

Any insurance experts out there? I have some questions. :(

testing the flickr photo blogging right from my phone and how i'd look if i got contacts!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

By a huge margin of 85% to 14%, moveon.org members voted to support Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman in the August 8 primary for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat. Woohoo!

Now for MoveOn to work their magic ... eeeeexcellent ...

This is my list of five. It's a little something some of my friends and I do. The concept is similar to the Friends episode where Ross makes his list of five people he could have a no-strings-attached, no-questions-asked fling with and he laminates it and then he meets Isabella Rosselini. If you haven't seen it, it won't make much sense. Anyway, we keep these lists and talk about them everytime we get together (see: Girls Nights) and sometimes fight over who gets to have who on their list (we really strive to avoid overlap, because that could get ugly). Occasionally, we update them. Last night during the Lost finale, I decided that I might like to have Henry Ian Cusick, the actor playing Desmond, on mine. This lead me to reconsider my whole list and update it. So without further adieu ...

1. Dan Abrams, host of MSNBC's The Abrams Report.


Dan has a permanent spot on my list. He's been there since the beginning. He's smart, he's sarcastic, he's funny, he's compassionate, he's ... dreeeaaaaaaaaaamy ... I mean, how could you read something like the Dan's Under a Decade Fans and not be completely charmed?

2. Henry Ian Cusick, Desmond on Lost



Desmond is a new addition. He's cute and he has a charming accent. What more can I say?

3. Rob Thomas, singer and frontman of Matchbox Twenty



I'm keeping Rob on here even though I hate his crewcut. Hate. He just seems so down to earth and friendly (and I've heard that from someone who's actually spoken to him!) I'd listen to him read me the phone book.

4. Eddie Vedder, singer and Pearl Jam frontman



Now I can tolerate Eddie's short hair. Something about his intensity and passion is so attractive. I'd probably buy a swimsuit in Iceland from him. He's fallen off and reappeared on my list a few times, but he's always on my radar and I never stop loving the music.

5. Milo Ventimiglia, Jess on Gilmore Girls



I actually think this is a case of me loving the character more than the actor, simply because I don't know much about the actor. However, he's still really cute, and he's the one that gives Jess-the-character life and depth. I have never wanted to be a TV character so badly.

So this Gnarls Barkley fellow (oops, I have been corrected by reading a review) duo I've heard so much about has done a cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." First of all, strange strange choice. Second, not sure how I feel about that. The only review I've found of that particular track online describes it as "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." That doesn't bode well for a reinterpretation of one of my favorite dance-in-my-chair songs.

Anyone else wanna weigh in before I suck it up and listen to a sample?

Gnarls Barkley aside, the Violent Femmes version is so going on my next mix CD.

Edited to add: Okay, I just checked out a sample and itunes and it's ... okay. It's inoffensive enough. There's some cool percussion underneath it, but for the most part, it's thin and lacks the substance and heft of the Violent Femmes version. Eh.

I now officially hate New Britain. I spent three days there Friday night.

My fiance is in a show, Loot at the Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain. It opened on Friday and I, being the wonderful fiancee I am, was going to go. We drove out to the theater, dropped him off, and I headed off to Target with clear directions back to the theater. I shopped, I got in the car, I headed back for the theater, I ... got lost. For three hours. I spent three hours driving in circles around New Britain. I got near the theater, but not close enough to actually find it. Not even my mother, with three maps open on her computer, could get me there. I made another concrete scrape mark on the bumper (it matches the one I made when I backed into a fountain. Yeah.) Still, no theater. I gave up, found a Walgreens, and sat in the parking lot reading. I set out again for the theater, this time sure I knew where I was going. I got lost. Again. There were tears, and phone calls, and attempts by Loot's cast to get me to the theater. Then, as though I had conjured it up by sheer will, a sign for 9! I got on 9, and with some phone direction, arrived at the theater in 5 minutes.

I have never felt so stupid in my life. I swear the streets in that city change when you're not looking. I'd be on one street, turn on another to turn around, and I'd be back out on a new street. Certainly didn't help that it was dark and rainy and visibility was spotty at best. Oh, yeah, and that intersection with the stop signs in the middle of two of the lanes didn't help.

I ask you, Nutmeggers, am I crazy or is there just something about New Britain that turns it into a black hole?

I swear I'm to make it to a performance or two before the run is up. I'm not driving alone, though. Hell no. I'll go with Nate, or I'll go with my mom and her GPS unit. I'm no fool.

Pat Seremet, the Hartford Courant's (locally, at least) famous Java column reporter died yesterday. Here's the story from the Courant. Not much else can be said that hasn't already been said. She really did make Hartford feel like a cooler, hipper place than it gets credit for. If you were throwing a party downtown, you wanted Pat there. If you were going to a party downtown, you wanted Pat there. It really was an interesting phenomenon to watch people flock to her, practically engulfing her at times. If you wanted to find her, you looked for the flash of red in the center of a cluster of revelers. People wanted to talk to her. Hell, even President Gerald Ford couldn't resist her. Check out Colin McEnroe's funny and touching blog post.

The local downtown social scene will certainly be quieter, and it'll be hard to get used to not seeing her red hair from across the room. I can only imagine what her family and friends must be feeling right now.

My thoughts are with her family, and her coworkers down at the Courant.

I stayed home sick from work today. I wasn't coughing, I wasn't sneezing, there isn't a pile of used tissues next to the couch. I don't look sick at all. But I wasn't faking.

I have arthritis. Despite what you may think, I'm not "too young." I wish I was, but the fact of the matter is, I'm going on 10 years with this.

I took a shower last night, as usual, and when I stepped out everything started to go downhill. My knees were swollen and slightly bruised-looking. The balls of my feet gave the occasional shock of pain, causing me to yelp involuntarily. I tried to go to bed, but instead I tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position that didn't result in squiggles of pain across my lower back. I gave up, took a pain pill, and managed a fitful sleep. I woke up, I called in sick. I wanted to scream in frustration. I had been feeling so good! My allergies were under control! I had energy back! But there I was, slumped on the couch when just 12 hours before I had been feeling so energetic and cleaning up my office.

It's so hard to explain what this is like when I don't even quite grasp it myself. So hard to explain and be confident that people don't think you're "faking" when your own body can turn on you so quickly. It's frustrating to have to turn down friends because you're tired all the time, because constant, chronic pain can just sap your energy. It's even worse to be feeling better, think you're getting better, then get set back. That's where The Spoon Theory comes in. It's written by a woman with lupus, but applies to anyone with any sort of chronic pain.

Last night, I suddenly ran out of spoons. I wasn't doing anything overly active. I had gone to work, gone to Target, eaten dinner, watched TV, cleaned up my office, taken a shower. Somehow, yesterday, I had less spoons than I thought and I paid the price. Bleh. I hate calling in sick. Fortunately, I have such sympathetic, caring coworkers who understood. Some chronic pain sufferers aren't so lucky. To that end, I hope anyone who reads this will keep the spoon theory in mind the next time they encounter someone who "doesn't look sick."

Diet Dr. Pepper Berries and Cream

Two thumbs up! This soda has the most complex flavor I've encountered in a carbonated beverage. The first hit is straight DDP, then the berry spills over it, and finally the cream gives it a smooth, rich finish.

Unfortunately, the only form I can find it in right now is 20oz bottles, and it's only at one CVS. Fortunately, the CVS it's at is the one right around the corner! UNfortunately, that CVS closes at 9.

Just when I thought I might cut down on soda ...

I keep forgetting to post this music recommendation, but as I've been listening to it on repeat for awhile this weekend ...

Jesse Malin's album The Fine Art of Self-Destruction is fan-flipping-tastic. If you like introspective, thoughtful, rainy-day (also known as "sad bastard") music, then this album's for you. It starts out with "Queen of the Underworld," and if you can manage to advance past that track, then you're stronger than me. I've spent a lot of listenings hitting the "previous track" button to listen to it over and over and over again. It winds its plaintive way to the one-two punch of "Downliner" and "Brooklyn," through the retrospective "Almost Grown," and back to a different version of "Brooklyn."

I ordered his second album, The Heat, at the same time but, to be honest, I haven't been able to stop listening to Self-Destruction long enough. I have heard a few of the songs, though, and it seems like another collection of stellar tunes.

If you visit his website, there's a top-notch cover of "Hungry Heart." That's high praise from me, as I'm generally anti-cover, especially when it comes to my favorite artists. Springsteen himself is apparently a huge fan of Malin and even gave him a little shout-out at his Bridgeport tour stop last summer. What more could you ask for? What are you waiting for?

This story in the New Yorker really had me almost laughing out loud. Read that while I come up with my own Lonely Planet guide.

Take it from me: wear a hat when you go out in the sun. Those cute sun-streaks in your hair might look pretty, but no one will notice them once your scalp starts peeling ...

In the spirit of updating my new phone, a story:

Amanda and I just realized that I've had her cell # wrong in my phone for a year now. I never call her cell, but we'd text message, so god knows who I've been sending really screwy text messages to. Some of my missent texts have been:

"Don't turn around"
"I'm watching you"
and
"Bushnell in da hizzouse!"

Boy is my face red. Mostly from laughing hysterically to the point of crying, imagining who might have received these messages and what their reaction might have been. But still, I wonder if there's some sort of warrant or restraining order out there for me ...

I got a new cell phone today! It's an LG 8100 and it has a camera AND a video camera. I'm slowly learning how to use half of this stuff. Now begins the arduous task of transferring all of my numbers over. This is a good time to weed out people I don't talk to anymore, and a good time to update my contacts.

I love my little LG phone. LG is the best phone maker I've come across in my relatively short cell-phone-ed life. Hell, my old one's in PERFECT condition, I just didn't want to miss out on the new-every-two thing. I'll donate it and someone will get good use out of it. We have a drop-off box right here at work, score.

Last night on the way home from NJ (I've been down there a lot lately, haven't I?) we encountered a giant traffic back up on 84 around Danbury. We inched up the highway for an hour before we finally encountered the source of the backup: what looked like a terrible accident involving two tractor trailers, and possibly more vehicles. The guard rail was sheared away, the shoulder was full of pieces of a tractor trailer, and there was another tractor trailer sitting with its back ripped open.

I did the logical thing upon arriving home last night, as well as waking up this morning (okay, it was early afternoon ...): check around online for any mention of what happened. I found nothing, not one mention of this hours-long back up on 84, or about the horrific accident scene. What happened, news?

This is a new spam tactic-- anger and condescension. Interesting.

From: TJ Keegan
Date: May 3, 2006 11:46:27 PM EDT
To: [my email address, which I've deleted to prevent more spambots from harvesting it ...]
Subject: Forget it! I'll do it for you...

Every time I try to show someone how to copy my
success online, they always get hung up on the
silly cr@p. There's always one "roadblock" in
the way keeping peple from being successful.

I'm sick of it. So, I created a system where I
pretty much have done all the work for you. Your
business is ready to go. Just open the doors and
keep 95% of all the profits.

If you can't make this work you should give up
and apply for a job at McDonald's. Seriously, this
is as easy as it can get. It's simple, it's
guaranteed, and it's like nothing you've ever seen.
I'll even give you a "goodie bag" of free stuff just
for testing it out.

See how my frustration can lead to your prosperity!


Show me by clicking here!

Regards,
TJ Keegan

Well, TJ, when ya put it that way ... how can I lose? Oh. Right.

Oh my ... I hardly know what to do with myself. I can't believe we didn't investigate it sooner. We have ... an entire channel devoted to KARAOKE. ON DEMAND.

Our inaugural karaoke selection? "Lightning Crashes."

I'm totally behind on this? Does everyone in the city/state/country know about this already?

ClearChannel controls what you hear on the radio, so you turn it off and listen to CD's. Blockbuster controls what movies you can rent, so you join Netflix. When it comes to a new Telecommunications bill barreling through Congress, however, your options may be slim-to-none.

Thanks to Network Neutrality, often referred to as "the first amendment of the internet," anyone with an internet connection can theoretically (pages with bad coding and bloated, blinking flash files aside) view anything from websites for the smallest interest group to the White House's website itself with the same ease at the same speed. Seems like a given when it comes to the internet, right? It's what we're used to, it's what we expect, it's what we intend to keep.

However, internet providers like Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T (or SBC or whatever they're calling themselves these days) are pushing to change that. They want to be able to control what pages load faster, what pages load slowly, and what pages load at all. They want to tax content providers to have their pages load faster. They're obviously going to make their own search engines and other proprietary sites load the fastest, while slowing competitors large and small to a crawl. The internet will go from being a level playing field for communication and civic involvement to ... looking like every other entertainment arena. We will go from choosing what websites we view to choosing from a selected menu of websites chosen by big corporate. Just like with TV, and even with cable, the network providers will decide what's available.

This will also affect small-business owners who rely on the web to grow their business beyond what is possible with merely a brick-and-mortar or catalog operation. They're entitled to use this tool without exorbitant fees imposed upon them by big businesses only interested in adding piles of cash to their coffers by forcing us to use their services. What happens if Verizon joins forces with Walmart, and deliberately throttles the website for your favorite mail-order catalog or neighborhood business?

Here's a little story about how the internet helps the little guys. I'm getting married in 4 and a half months (no, really?), which necessitates the purchase of a couple of pieces of jewelry. Early on, my lovely fiance and I decided we wanted bands with Celtic knotwork. I did a little internet research and found deSignet International, which has lovely custom-made designs. Seriously, go check them out. I'll wait. Anyway, we loved their work and went to visit their storefront when we were in their area over the holidays. We were warmly received, despite not having an appointment, and shown ring after ring. We had a custom design of our initials sketched. We got sized. Essentially, we were given the royal treatment within seconds of walking in the door. Imagine THAT kind of service at your local Filenes Macy*s or Walmart jewelry counter!

We got to talking with Reg, the owner, and he told us how his little website had affected his business in a big way. See, Reg's business is 96 years old and he is the third generation to run it. That page talks about their three shop moves and the dwindling local market much better than I ever could. But now, thanks to his major internet presence, he has customers from around the world placing orders! Where would Reg be, and where would I be, without access to his online catalog? We're planning a trip back to Reg's shop to order our rings soon, a trip to a little store hundreds of miles away, all due to the free market of the internet.

It's not just the little guys that support Net Neutrality, though. Some big names like Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo are on board, as well as the editorial boards at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and Christian Science Monitor, in addition to prominent national figures such as Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.

Think this isn't really happening, that this is some hypothetical threat? Check out some of these sobering examples:

In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.

In 2005, Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a labor dispute.

Shaw, a big Canadian cable TV company, is charging an extra $10 a month to subscribers in order to "enhance" competing Internet telephone services.

In April, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

Ready to do something? Great! Go to Save The Internet and they'll get you started.

Thank you!