Democratically

Since I'm waiting for the sidewalks to get cleared up before I go for my Sunday long run, I thought I'd regal y'all with my awesome goings-on. Yesterday I attended, nay, I was a delegate, at the winter convention of the Michigan Democratic Party. BTW, it's super easy to be a "delegate" of a political party-just be a member of the party at least 30 days before the convention and then show up. You'll have voting rights then. :D
So, Delegate LJS woke up way too early for a Saturday and rode to the convention with some fellow Dems. I dressed like a graduate student (khakis with tshirt and sweater), with a bit of extra makeup so I wouldn't scare the masses. NB this point-it will come into play later on. It was good to see people I had met earlier, and it felt like I am becoming less like a stranger and more like a participant. Yes, my stalker was there too and was a bit stalkerish.

(Now don't act too suprised that I have a stalker. My divine sensuality combined with my killer intelligence and awesome legs would almost dictate that I have at least 2 or 3 stalkers in each state. Still, repeat after me. "Stalker. Ewwwww.")

Since it's a non-election year, we broke up into caucuses in the morning. I went to the Justice Caucus (of which I am a deputy treasurer) and the Blogger Caucus and learned alot about issues that are important to these groups. I had lunch with the folks in the 15th congressional district-a very nice meal hosted by our congressman.

**NOW BEGINS THE SECOND AWESOMEST MOMENT OF THE WEEK**
During lunch, the other two girls I was with asked "Would you like to get your picture taken with Granholm"? Now, for all of you in the know...I absolutely ADORE Jennifer Granholm, our current govenor. She's up there with John Roberts in terms of geek crushes. So, I answered "oh yes" and for 2 minutes we held audience with JGran. She's even more energetic and prettier in person-periwinkle is her color indeed. For 120 seconds, I could think of nothing but "dammit I should have worn something nicer today". But at least I wore makeup.
**NOW ENDS THE SECOND AWESOMEST MOMENT OF THE WEEK**

Later, I'll muse about the irritating politics of hand clapping, standing O's, the appropriate use of the "woo woo" in public venues, and the inexplicable P-factor (the "thing" that makes someone a good politician). Trust me, that's at least an essay's worth of deep thoughts.

And, the photo is forth coming. Don't be jealous Ber, I have something for you.

My insanely bright and talented readers, you are wondering "so what was the first aweomest moment of the week"? Wait and I'll tell you.

Later.

:) LJS

Tips for the DIY porn addict

1. Secure your wireless network
2. Remove all sharing capabilities in your folders, with your software. iTUNES automatically allows you to share your music, podcasts, and videos.

Why such sage advice? Because sometimes pirates find things that are too much even for our stout tummies.

:) LJS

Lil LJS has her Thursday Thirteen

On my long run, I had a brilliant idea for today’s Thursday Thirteen. I forgot exactly what that idea was, but rest assured it was brilliant. So it got me thinking “gee, I must be getting old because now I’m forgetting my brilliant ideas”, followed quickly by a knee-jerk “well, just because I’m aging doesn’t mean I’m getting OLD”. So here I offer thirteen points of evidence that Lady Jane is not getting old, mostly generated to mollify my phobia with facing mortality. An alternate hypothesis is “thirteen signs that LJS is more than a little nutty”. Take your pick. 1. I love to read kids’ books. Case in point: the Harry Potters, Eragon, Little House on the Prairie. 2. I still talk to animals, and I firmly believe that they talk back. Case in point? This morning I spent a few minutes communing with the (rather large) squirrels on the diag. I think I’ve perfected their come-hither chirrup, but they always seem to go away when I tell them I won’t feed them. 3. When I drive long distances I bring my favorite stuffed teddy bear, Toby, and have chats with him about anything and everything that bugs me. 4. I get excited and super happy about all the good things that happen to my friends, loved ones and me. 5. My iTUNES is filled with hip alternative music like John Coltrane, The Beatles and Elvis. (yes, Virginia, there is such thing as sarcasm) 6. I don’t FEEL my age. Never have. I perpetually feel 4-5 years younger than my chronological age. 7. My massive toy collection will one day come alive and bring forth the revolution in my name. 8. Everything new is cool and fun and exciting to me. 9. I wish we all had recess. Don’t you? 10. My younger sister seems sooo much more mature ;) 11. I sing with the radio in the car and do the “butt dance” if the song is very jam-worthy. 12. I prefer to think of the wrinkles near my eyes and my smile line as evidence of a happy life instead of signs of aging. 13. Today is sponsored by the letter T and the number 13. Thank you Sesame Street! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

LJS-World Traveller Wannabe

Thirteen Places on Earth that LJS would like to visit 1. Italy-This kind of goes without saying. But, I can see myself saturated in Italian grappa, artwork, and mountains for a month. Or several. One of my “things to do before I die” is to spend a day inside the Sistine Chapel to adore the works of my fave TMNT-Michelangelo. Plus, I’ve heard the Dolomites are breathtaking. 2. The Colorado “fourteeners”-a bit of heaven on earth. No visas, sherpas, or extreme gear required. 3. Any marathon course-it’s a goal, and I wouldn’t be as lazy if *someone* would train with me. I’d love to see the world from mile 26.2. It’s just that the training is tough and lonely. 4. Mt. Everest trek-After years of ego-cruising on the thought I can scale Everest, I’ve returned to earth. But I’d still like to trek to the base camp or Kala Pattar. It’s still not an easy trek-you do go to 5400 meters. So, instead of climbing Everest, I’ve decided to climb… 5. Kilimanjaro-it’d be great to see the icefields before they melt 6. The Gemini and Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea 7. New Zealand-The Milford trail is the “finest walk on Earth”, so I’ve heard. Regardless, two islands of great beauty. Not to mention…I *may* just run into Viggo Mortensen and a few hobbits. 8. London, Paris, and Berlin-all the museums, all the history. 9. Torres del Paine-I’ve seen trek pictures of this national park in Chile and I fell in love. It’s been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1978. Mountains, clouds, beautiful water. Heaven. 10. Biking across ‘Merica from the saddle of a hog. Just letting the wind and skies guide the way, leaving our troubles behind. 11. Any of the sites where the Leakey’s dug 12. The Galopagos-ahhhh evolution at its finest. 13. India-spending a month, or two, or three in India sounds very exciting to me. I’d love to get a feel for the diversity in the culture and visit all the non-touristy places. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Sweet flakes of corn

Never mind that the USA doesn’t have a woman president. Never mind that most women still make only 70% of the salary of their male counterparts for equivalent jobs. Never mind that women comprise a woefully small percentage of tenured university professors. Oh no. The true TRUE mark that women still haven’t “made it” in today’s society is the urinal hanging out in the ladies room at McGill University’s Chemistry Building.

Why, oh why?

Is it an old men’s room converted? Is it a new social experiment in retraining women to try to stand and peee? Or..perhaps they are far ahead of our time in recognizing equal and fairness for everyone?

In preparation for the massive amounts of snow that we’re about to enjoy, I thought a contest was appropriate. The name of the contest is “guess what the map means”, akin to a Rorschach Test. Creative interpretations and drawings are welcome. Dance videos are not welcome, unless you’re Kukka-Maria, because I’d hate to bust the bandwidth of my Canuck hosts. My personal guess is that it’s a 7^th grade health class diagram gone horribly horribly awry. And, many karma points to anyone who can figure out what those large bat-like splotches are on the left (no, your other left).

Cavorting, canoodling, and deep thoughts

Although Wednesdays are synonymous with hard work and getting lots of things done, I mean it is known as “hump day” in the American workforce, leave it up to a pirate to find a way to the Promised Land of halvah and slackerhood. Normally the slacker lifestyle (as I like to call it) is not for the faint of heart-you have got to want to slack. In the three hours I’ve been “at work”, I managed to completely and utterly get no work done yet on sheer accident. I like to call it Slacker Nirvana. Here’s how it’s done folks.

10:20 am: Show up to work, after a nice breakfast and morning phone call with your hunny. Delayer your outer wraps, because, even though it’s 150% warmer today than yesterday, the temperatures rival McMurdo’s.

10:25 am: Re-apply said layers, because there’s a fire alarm going off

10:45 am: Enter the warmth and shelter of the chemistry lab. Ask yourself if the smell of acetic acid in the hall complements the dark purple shirt you’re wearing or if maybe you should go for the sweet almond aroma of cyanide.

10:50 am: Start your daily barrage of emails, spam blocking, and blog stalking. Start chatting with your hunny. Check in for your flight, see new post-doc J’s (who, btw, is very awesome) pictures of her and her hunny, and schedule long runs for the next two months with G-man. Open your data, and contemplate the fact that the past week of experiments have ended very very poorly. Avoid looking at the spoon as an agent of hari kiri.

11:20 am: “Why yes, I’m still free for lunch”. Conversations about deep issues like canoodling with Angelina Jolie, phallic symbolism inherent in the shape of a guitar, global warming, and dental care in the UK ensue.

1:20 pm: Pick up prescriptions so that you can avoid being in a coma for the month.

1:45 pm: Return to the lab, and write in your blog. Mild guilt-related twinges over a lack of efficiency are best neglected. Surf gossip rag website(s) and quietly debate the finer points of Jessica Simpson finding herself a whole bunch of collagen.

4:15 pm ETA: Yogi Deb picks me up for yoga class.

6:30 pm ETA: Arrive at home where mountains of chores await. Your day of Slacker Nirvana is over.

I hate slacking off like this completely. My philosophy on slacking is that it is best applied as a seasoning-like one would salt and pepper a tomato. Best in small doses. Seeing as I’m so excited to see my hunny, I doubt I’d be too terribly efficient anyway. I’m going to try to get some work done. That is, unless there’s new photos of Angelina and Brad.

Ahoy! J LJS

Baby, it's cold outside

Yeah, the obvious thing to do today is kvetch about the frigid temperatures. But I've been itchin to write some fiction, any ideas? Because I'm sure that you'd much rather NOT hear about my conspiring samples. They haaaaate me, I tell ya.
Oh yeah, saw Joshua Bell on Saturday. Wowza. He can make a violin sing.
The den will be a bit empty, starting late this week. I'll be up in Montreal. Howie's skills as a guest blogger are not quite up to the standard of adequacy that we expect here in the Den. So..I encourage y'all to visit the pirate galley. There are two new additions!
Ahoy!

Domie's Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Dominique that Lady Jane admires and/or remembers fondly 1. Those lovely chats at night while drinking tea 2. Skipping anthropology class to live life 3. She knows how to have fun in a way that is joyful and doesn't hurt or harm other people. Good clean fun. (at least that's what they can prove) 4. She's stubborn, but not stubborn enough to try new things. Now she likes popcorn! 5. Thank you for introducing me to the world of "two-for-one" movie deals 6. She's really brave when she's up against the wall 7. Comment dit-on "bait"? 8. Rearranging everything in Kip's room, then decorating it "under the sea" 9. Her hugs make me feel loved 10. She's always on my side, even when I'm wrong, and she's always there when I fall to both laugh with me and clean up my tears 11. Someone else is as fanatic about Harry Potter as I am! 12. "Well, Larry told me class was going to be boring, so I'm doing my nails instead" 13. Knowing that hundreds of miles can't separate love between two sisters by choice. Je t'aime Domie. I'm glad you're my older sis. Kisses and hugs, LJS Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants