Why am I unsatisfied with BEING? Why must I always try to “do, do, do”.  Sometimes that even means trying to “learn, learn, learn” or “realize, realize, realize”.  I seem to be in endless pursuit of the next best thing…and I don’t want to be any longer.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
~Leonardo Da Vinci

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”
~Albert Einstein

This inspirational moment brought to you by Jeffrey at Shadows of Love.

I’m continuing to improve!  I can transfer to the wheelchair on my own.  With some assistance, I’ve stood in a walker and sort of taken a few steps.  My hands are becoming more limber.  One of the best things has been my friends.  I have had visitors almost every day and frequent meals brought in from some of my favorite places.

Next Tuesday will be 4 months since this began.  It will be interesting to see how this  experience changes me.

I don’t know what’s going on with Michael but he’s had a rough time.

I recommend not watching before the debate and after the debate. I recommend that after the debate you turn the debate off and you talk with your family about what you saw and what was important to you. And you think about what you saw.

–Media and politics expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson

h/t: Bill Moyers Journal

It’s only been a short time since I discovered LeBlanc over at a natural deficiency of moral fiber and since then I have fallen madly in like with his posts, like I did with Newscoma two years ago.  So here I am flailing around as Miss Real Estate and Neighborhood person who needs to find some more real estate and neighborhood bloggers.  You can sense the desperation when I can tie-in spackling with real estate - even this kind of spackling.

There’s some of THAT spackling that needs done at my house.  Meanwhile, shoot me your URL at that linkie-email-hoo-haw on the right (aka tips @ musiccitybloggers . com) if you write about neighborhoods or real estate and I’ll add you to my feed reader or reader feed.

Oh, and thanks LeBlanc for Le dessin animé.

A couple of tips for you:

Sam at Cool People Care gives us a tip on how to save fuel. And over a Planet Trash, there’s a link to an article about how to recycle anything.

Did you know that the Nashville Humane Association will also take your old (digital) cell phones? And your used printer (laser or inkjet) cartridges. Geez, I’ve got several phones and ink cartridges laying around here that I’ve been meaning to take forever. I’ve got no excuse, so that’s going on the to-do list for next week.

Beautiful…

by Deb at Sugarfused and Sugarsnaps

Shaun Groves reminds us that even the most successful people in their fields had to start somewhere…

“Sounds like something a Muppet would sing,” I said out loud to my empty tiny office. “I can’t believe that’s Michael W. Smith. That really really sucks.”

After getting a degree in music composition I moved to Nashville in 1993 with my new bride to begin work as an unpaid intern at what is now Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing. My dream was to write songs for other people for a living. My job though was running a cassette duplicating machine, typing and filing lyrics, and other not-songwriting-related stuff.

But on my lunch breaks I would listen to tapes full of old demos from Christian music’s biggest writers. The first one I perused was ”Michael W. Smith DAT #1”.

Before he was Amy Grant’s keyboard player Michael wrote songs for Brentwood-Benson (when it was called the John T. Benson Publishing Company) and I got to jump in a time machine with a sandwich in my hand and hear what kind of stuff he wrote at my age - in his early twenties.

It turned out to be awful. And hearing it was the biggest boost to my writing I’ve ever received. If Michael W. Smith the Grammy winner and radio star stunk as badly at my age as I do then there’s hope for me, I thought.

Shaun goes on to share a track of his early stuff…

I hope you laugh. Because it’s awful. And I hope after you laugh you sit down and write, encouraged that in time, with enough practice, almost anyone will improve.

So, where do the bloggers come into play?

It’s the government’s idea of a really bad day: Washington’s Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York go dark. Bloggers reveal locations of railcars with hazardous materials.” That’s right: bloggers are the new terrorists.
The AP obtained classified government documents detailing mock disasters in the Homeland Security Department’s “Cyber Storm” wargame. DHS runs the tests with “with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others,” in order to make sure all the agencies are prepared for the inevitable blogger war.

That’s from Gawker.

Here’s the AP story.

A snippet:

Imagined villains included hackers, bloggers and even reporters. In one scenario, after mock electronic attacks overwhelmed computers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an unspecified “major news network” airing reports about the attackers refused to reveal its sources to the government. Other simulated reporters were duped into spreading “believable but misleading” information that confused the public and financial markets, according to the government’s documents.

Read them both. Interesting.

Can anyone explain the cognitive dissonance with Hillary Clinton?

In six years as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, between 1986 and 1992, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world’s largest retailer waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers.

Clinton has been endorsed for president by more than a dozen unions, according to her campaign Web site, which omits any reference to her role at Wal-Mart in its detailed biography of her.

Kerry Woo ran across an old item the other day. One that for a guy of the WonderDawg’s technological savvy is like two soup cans and a string…but for me, I still use mine during power outages!

Reading Woo’s post and the comments about it over at GearDiary, just depressed me…I just realized that my Watchman, as well as my other portable, battery-operated TV will not work after the digital conversion next year!

It would be interesting to have a Linked In Answers or Yahoo Answers in the area of a) non-profits b) spirituality/philosophy/faith. For non-profits it could be hosted at Net Squared–with a Facebook application for current zeigheist of questions.

I also think Beliefnet is interesting and its social aspects are massively expanding, but I wonder if a more robust video.

From Compassion in Politics. 

No, seriously. That appears to be the new consensus. (At least for white guys who aren’t voting Republican, that is. I’m sure Ned’s not shallow.) I heard two talking heads on NPR last night discussing how we are lost now that Edwards has pulled out because all we have to choose from is a black man and a white woman. He had no idea who the liberal white buy block would vote for. I had no idea we even were a block. I mean, conservatives have called liberal white guys the intelligentsia for years and years, for heaven’s sake, but that must not mean we were smart, just pretending or something. I had absolutely no idea. (I have to confess, this isn’t the first time I’ve found myself to be clueless - after all, I’ve been married for decades - but still….)

I guess I just have to envy Mack because at least Hispanic guys can make choices. They’re also talking about this over at Aunt B’s. Sigh. All those years I spent learning about the issues, all wasted. Now what? Oh, wait. I am married. Maybe I’m supposed to wait for a woman to tell me what to do. Whew. I feel so much better about this now.

CeeElCee discusses the unusual things you can find living in Nashville as well as some unusual folks.

There were hundreds of people queued up waiting to enter the Doubletree for their chance at their 15 minutes of fame as a contestant on “So You Think You’ve Got Talent.”  There were auditioners of every size and shape, in and out of costumes, with and without instruments and all various shades of bluish purple as they stood in the sub-freezing cold.  The best adjective I can think of is “motley.”

I drove to a garage a few blocks away and still had to park on the 10th floor.  The clincher was the elevator ride down which I had to share with two prospective contestants who wanted to try out their acts on me.  One had an accordion.  The other was a ventriloquist.

He was just trying to conduct some business. He apparently got all of that and a side of fries. Did the accordion player entertain him with “Lady of Spain”?

I had to laugh at Jerry’s post at Aimlessly Unbalanced featuring pictures of ads and classifieds found in Franklin’s some newspaper today someday.

Stop the presses!  I want to prescribe subscribe!  There’s more hilarity and goodness over here.   Mrs. Wigglebottom won’t much like the pitbull ad. 

David at The View From Below explains a case of continuing injustice…

The next time you get caught in some relatively minor bureaucratic nightmare, consider the case of Paul House. House is very literally rotting away on Tennessee’s Death Row for a crime he didn’t commit. House was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Carolyn Muncey. House was sentenced to death because he was convicted of both rape and murder. He was convicted of rape because forensic testing revealed that semen found on Muncey’s clothing was consistent with House’s blood type. He was convicted of murder because blood stains found on a pair of House’s pants was Muncey’s blood.

Sounds all neat and tidy, right?

Wrong.

I hope you will go over and read David’s excellent post about this case.

I have been out of town (and out of pocket to some degree) since Sunday, so my apologies for not posting anything. But today I have an important (for me) announcement. If nothing else, it highlights the dynamic nature of selecting a candidate.

Things are happening fast and furious in the political world. John Edwards drops his official bid for President and begins his official bid for vice president.

And on the GOP side . . .:

“John McCain’s wave of political momentum is building as he comes off a major win in the winner-take-all Florida presidential primary and prepares to receive the endorsement Wednesday of one-time Republican national frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.”

At least for me, the decision to back a candidate is generally very complex. Character. Political positions. Track Record. And finally, “electability.”

The GOP primary in Tennessee is in less than a week. The GOP race has (likely) narrowed to McCain, Romney and Huckabee (oh, and Ron Paul). And despite much research/consideration, I have long been unsure about whom I would be supporting for the GOP nomination. But the deciding factor for me was the extended conversation I had today with a former Arkansas state legislator who worked closely with former Governor Mike Huckabee while they both were in office. In sum, all the negative things I’ve heard about Huckabee’s views on spending reminded me too much of former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist. And all the negative (regarding fiscal policy) things I’ve heard from Huckabee’s detractors were accurate. That being said, I still disagree with the focus by Huckabee detractors on Huckabee (to the exclusion of other candidates). But that leads me to my last point: electability.

In light of recent GOP political developments, I do not believe that Mike Huckabee is going to become the Republicans’ nominee for President. With or without my support . . . with or without my vote. And among the two Republicans likely to be in the running at the end of the day, I unreservedly believe that Mitt Romney is the better candidate.

Now where can I get a yard sign . . .

Jeff Atwood’s daughter, Suzie, is physically and intellectually challenged. She rides the proverbial “short bus” to school. And that is how Jeff refers to it, the Short Bus. But Suzie is getting older and will soon be in middle school. It was in middle school (or junior high as many of us knew it) that Jeff has some troubling memories of the Short Bus:

For a couple of wintertime months during seventh grade, me and a group of my friends would sit on the curb outside Pennwood Junior High School, waiting for the morning bell to ring. Some days, when we got there especially early and had nothing better to do, we would
just sit there on the cold curb, waiting for the “Short Bus” to pull up and drop off the special education students.
I am still not sure why this was such great entertainment, but even so we would just sit there, waiting for the “retards” to arrive. (“Retards” was my word then. I now realize the power of words like that.) Most of the time me and Mike Antonio and the Perry brothers and Terry Ricini would just point and laugh at the handful of kids as they would get off the “Short Bus.” On days when we were really pumped up, some of the guys would try to out do one another by calling them names. “Hey you retard…look over here…what’s the problem, you can’t walk or what?” It was a bonus if we could get a rise out of someone in the group. Seems like it was always Mikey Pulaski starting that talking part.
Sometimes, when the teacher’s aid or bus driver were looking the other way or maybe helping one of the kids down the wheelchair ramp, we would scoop up a crunchy snowball and just wing it across the parking lot at the short bus. Most of the time we didn’t have very good aim and if we were lucky the snowball would hit the side of the bus or maybe the sidewalk. Every now and then one of us, mostly Mike Antonio cause he was a baseball pitcher too, would get lucky and plunk one of the retards. One time Mikey hit one guy in the leg and then before the retard figured out what was going on Mikey busted him in the back too.
But one day, I was the king of the “curb-sitters.” It was the day I hit a “retard” smack up in the face with a snowball. I scooped up a handful of the nasty gray snow, smashed it into an icy rock and fired it across the parking lot. I can still see it now, flying through the sky, almost as if it was in super slow motion.
I heaved that snow bomb towards all those kids and just wished. Bam! Caught the kid in the green coat right in the face.

He goes onto say:

Ohh, how I hate the “R” word now.
I hate it in much the same way I would guess that those kids at my junior high school hated getting laughed at and pelted with snowballs.
I used to think that riding on the short bus was as a badge of dishonor or a label of imperfection. The bus, and the kids who rode that bus, were a never-ending supply of cheap laughs. I have come to know that the short bus really is the exact opposite of all those things that I thought before.

Go read the rest. See how something that is the butt of so many jokes means the world to those who are on it.

I fear and dread the day this happens at my house. Please send good thoughts Kathy’s way.

I think I’m going to go give my baby a hug.

She may not post a lot about politics (OK, never), but Sista has now and we’re linking to it.

Why?  Not cause I’m a feminist although I do think a woman can do the job as good as any man, plus with multi-tasking skills get more accomplished.  The big reason…healthcare and the economy.  That’s it.  So what if she’s not icky gooey sweet and charming.  Charm and fashion sense doesn’t mean a hill of beans if my house is foreclosed and I’ve got some horrendous disease and can’t afford to go to the doctor because I was laid off. 

And there’s more. Go check it out.

‘Fixin’ Supper‘ beat me to it.  Here I was all planning to wow you with some of what I believe to be the best cookbooks around and what does she do?  Exactly…

Hey! Guess what! It turns out there are actually several of you out there reading my blog. [Hi, Mom!] I’m always kind of stunned to discover that. I had a good question recently from one of you: I see your list of cookbooks, but which ones are your favorites? Why?

Well, being that I am of a very forgiving nature - AND that her list is quite good, I thought you might want to take a look at her response to this ‘bleaders’ question. And after you’ve soaked up her TOP 4 personal cook book recommendations, I will then take over and begin to make a weekly suggestion, sharing with you all the books that i continually find to be the most well written and helpful in my kitchen on a regular basis.

But hopefully these should keep you busy for at least this first week.

If only to get your mind off politics (momentarily)…

According to an AP report (and posted at Volunteer Voters, John Edwards will announce that he is dropping out of the race today. He’s not endorsing anyone. From TennViews:

Edwards planned to announce his campaign was ending with his wife and three children at his side. Then he planned to work with Habitat for Humanity at the volunteer-fueled rebuilding project Musicians’ Village, the adviser said.

With that, Edwards’ campaign will end the way it began 13 months ago — with the candidate pitching in to rebuild lives in a city still ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Edwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn’t hear the cries of the downtrodden.

Very cool that he’s going to devote some time volunteering at Habitat.

Soothing sounds?

I’m laying here reading my Google reader and listening to what sounds like water descending from upstairs and making its way through pipes in my wall.  It’s a nice sound, if you can imagine it, the refreshing OOOooossshhhhhooohhhssshhhh of running water.

Go see why these sounds from over at Aunt B.’s place might not be so soothing after all…

I haven’t made my way through the blogroll yet this morning, so how’d you guys fare the storm? Here in West Nashville, the lights flickered a bit and I was a little worried about that dead pine tree that looked destined to flatten my car, but this morning, it’s beautiful and clear outside and everything is still upright save for a few garbage cans.

Is it wrong that the only part of Sunday’s big game I’m really looking forward to is the special episode of House that airs AFTER the game?

The problem is having two weeks between the AFC and NFC championship games and the Super Bowl.   There are only so many stories and ways to cover the game you can come up with before kick-off.  And I swear, if I hear one more time about the Patriots’ pursuit of perfection, I may scream.    Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know this team is undefeated and going for the perfect season?!?

I fully expect that by Thursday, we’ll hear about the guy who plants the grass at the stadium and which blend of grass he uses.   Because, by then, that’s ALL there will be left ot discuss that hasn’t already been discussed.

Don’t get me wrong–I love football and I’m mourning that after Sunday, it will be a long time before we get a meaningful game again.  And maybe it’s just that I don’t really have a team in the race and I can’t find a reason to get behind either team.  But I’m just ready for the game to start just so we can stop hearing about the same tired stories we’ve since  last Tuesday.

Well, at least the commercials will be good…and hopefully that House episode will start sometime before midnight.

Note: I tried to post this yesterday afternoon, but somehow it stayed in the queue.This morning was the second monthly Nashville Geek Breakfast. There were a dozen or so people in attendance and I think everyone had a good time.

• Rob Robinson has posted the things he learned at the Nashville Geek Breakfast this morning as well as a link to the associated Facebook Group
• Chris Wage is wondering when the Nashville Geek Late Lunch is going to take place so he can attend
• Dave Delaney unveiled his new twitter-esque business cards (anyone got a picture of one?
• I posted some photos on Flickr
• Mitch Canter not only post about Nashville Geek Breakfast, but also did a video post.
• Right at the end of the breakfast, Kate O’ sparked a great topic which I will post more about next.

More as you post them and I find them.