You're going where?

So, my brother is awesome. In case you didn't know.

There's this thing out there, this video, that poses the question, "Are you anyone's favorite person?" It's a great little video and a good question.
(here's the video if you're interested)





Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm my brother's favorite person. Yeah. He's awesome.

Anyway, so he calls and he's all excited about this new job he's got for the fall. Listen to this.

So, once upon a time, he got into theater, right? He got this exclusive apprenticeship gig working for Jeffy D at the Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea. Then, when that was over (as if that wasn't enough!) he got this extra exclusive internship gig at Juilliard. (YES. Freakin' Juilliard) in their electrics department - lights, sound, that kind of stuff.
From there he gets a summer job near the Hamptons which is nice.

And now, check this out. He's got a three week job in December on a tour which starts in Florida and ends in Mexico City, Mexico.
So, while I'm sitting here in Michigan twiddling my thumbs, in an office, alone, he's going to be in freakin' Mexico.
AND! There's more! The show is the Nutcracker. And not just any Nutcracker, the one with the Russian Ballet.
AND! He'll be making more money than me!
So, again... In December - there's me - who's alone and lame and poor and cold and bored in an office in Michigan. And then there's my brother, hanging out in Mexico with Russian Ballerinas.

I'm pretty sure it will look something like this:



I so got into the wrong field of work.

Um, karma?

I just said a bunch of mean stuff about people living where mother nature can get them.
I don't know if I cosmically pissed someone off, but I'm sorry, I take it back, I didn't mean it.

Cause somebody threw a really, really big tree at me - only it landed in my driveway and scared the crap out of my car.



There's more photos in my flickr stream - but that's a big tree, that's my little car and we have no power, no cable and though we don't use it, the phone line's out too. And since it was from the pole to the house, my neighbors have power so we'll probably be the very last ones on DTE's "fix it" list.

We're "hunkered down" at husband's parents house so we can shower with hot water and recharge the laptops.

Supposedly all should be repaired Tuesday.

Anybody you know take away trees on the cheap?

What are you, stupid?

Excerpts from Washington Post.com

"Officials in Galveston, which took a frontal attack from Hurricane Ike, received emergency calls through the night from residents seeking help, but it was too dangerous to send out rescuers.

The fate of many Galveston residents is still unknown. Thousands stayed, despite impassioned requests from state and federal officials for evacuation. Alicia Cahill, spokesman for the City of Galveston, told reporters this morning that the Emergency Operations Center has received scores of calls through the night from people trapped in their homes, seeking rescue. But firefighters and police had returned to the command center Friday night, leaving citizens to ride it out on their own."

Okay, they basically told people in Galveston - get out or you will die. They weren't messing around. They were serious and put out serious evacuation warnings. They told people it was coming. People decided to stay anyway, knowing the danger. I don't know what coastal dwellers believe, but being up here in non-hurricane land it's easy to say they are all stupid.

However, knowing full well what was coming and after being told to evacuate they stay - and then! which should be no surprise to them they get into trouble of some kind and what do they do? They call for help. Seriously? You are on an island. How in the world is anyone supposed to come rescue you - DURING A HURRICANE? Why do you think rescue services are magical? Superman is not going to come get your sorry ass!

I would get fired if I was an emergency responder down there. It would go something like this. "We told you to evacuate, now your house is flooding/collapsing/losing it's roof and you need help. Guess what? We aren't putting our emergency services in danger. Suck it. You chose to stay - suffer the consequences." And somewhere around there I'd hang up.

Heartless? Probably. But this is bullshit. The amount of time, effort and money spent to rescue people plainly and clearly told to GET OUT is just asinine. You live in a hurricane zone, you suffer the consequences. I don't care if they come every 30 years - that's what you get.

You live in a brush fire zone? You live in a tornado zone? You live in an earthquake zone? You live on a flood plain? You do not get to cry when your house disappears. You live in mother nature's clearing grounds - danger zones. Don't be an idiot. There are plenty of other places to live that are free of natural disaster.

Don't mess with Texas? Suck it Galveston.

What's that mommy?

So, I'm at Whole Foods this evening, eating dinner, waiting until I can go play volleyball.
I'm sitting in the back, and I hear this little boy behind me.
"What's that?" He asks his mommy, and I glance over and see a little blond-haired boy pointing at this shiny metal box on the wall with a black piece of plastic attached to it by a shiny silver cord.
"It's a payphone," she says to the little boy. "It's what people used to use to make phone calls before cell phones."

Wow.

simple things

This makes me laugh more every time I see it.