My Talented Friend Alex

I met Alex about 7 years ago. He is just one member of a family that Devin introduced me to soon after he and I started dating. They are just about the nicest and most interesting people you'd ever want to meet and I am glad to call them my friends too!





That's Alex on the left, then Shannon ( known as He-Shannon), Kelley and Jared back in 2004. We spent Thanksgiving with them on Cape Cod. We had a blast!








Now Alex is a teenager! Time flies doesn't it? He has always been very creative. Check out this optical illusion he came up with. Sierra appears as a tiny fairy on Alex's hand.







I really enjoy his blog full of his art and musings. His work is getting even more interesting as he matures. His most recent work called "Isolation" is just GORGEOUS! Way to go Alex! I still have a signed sketch of the air fairy he drew for us when he visited us a few years ago. Hey..maybe that will be worth something some day! Check out "Isolation" and the rest of his work here: Immortal Lands

Protest at Glendale Community College

Recently Devin got wind of the pesky Westboro Baptist Church latest protest plans against The Laramie project, a play about Mathew Shepard, in memory of the 10Th anniversary of his death. In case you are not familiar with the story:

"In October 1998, a 21 year old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay."

The protest was set to happen just blocks from here at Glendale Community College. Westboro is the same organization that shows up to funerals of gay service men and woman spewing their "Christ like" hate. We almost went....but didn't. I am so mad at myself because what would the world be like if we all stayed home and didn't get involved and let this kind of crap go on unchallenged? Luckily for all of us, at least 100 like minded people showed up to counter protest. I am grateful others are more brave than I am. Kudos to Hero organization, the Secular Free Thought Society and, our friends from the Atheists Meetup group for showing up while Devin and I sat on our butts playing Dungeons and Dragons. More pictures here if you are interested.

Oh yeah...the fact that we passed the discriminatory law here in Arizona against Gay marriage is disappointing. I thought we were making progress. Sigh....

LOL Cats

We really enjoy reading the LOL cats blog. Check it out http://icanhascheezburger.com/

I'm pretty sure our pets do not wish to dress up for Halloween. If looks could kill.....

Our very own LOL Cat Sammy who, after eating his daily 1/2 can of cat food will sometimes relax on the plate. I'm looking for a witty caption to upload to LOL cats! Any ideas?

Darwin Song

Can you believe you can get Darwin bobbleheads? How cool is that. It just shouts "Geek" doesn't it?

Another Darwin song to add to my small collection of songs about Charles Darwin. This one by Chumbawamba.

A video of the song is here.

All of nature in its place
By hand of the designer
Comes our Charlie spins the world
From here to Asia Minor
In between the Platypus
And perfect Aphrodite
Charlie come with opposing thumb
To question the Almighty

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

See the dancing President
The congressman and teacher
Jumpin' to the music of
The wealthy Midwest preacher
Charlie come with a brand new dance
Get on the floor and follow
Find yourself a partner and
We'll swing into tomorrow

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

Armed with truth we're stepping out
Come join the worldwide party
Charge your glass and face the world
We'll drink a toast to Charlie

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder.

I become one of THOSE people

I can't believe it. I am capable of spending several hours in another world, slashing, bashing, casting spells and running around dungeons. Devin and I play together, each of us in our respective offices. It's been good for my brain because it forces me to think in ways I'm not used to. Finding my way around a dungeon is not easy for me. I don't have a great sense of direction in the real world so that doesn't help! This is one of my characters loosely named for Elves from LOTR, Elbereth Greenleaf. Some of you may realize that "Greenleaf" is Legolas's sir name. She dies a lot, but some day I hope to figure things out so she doesn't die quite as often.

Pumpkin Wine?

Election Night at Geek Central

You know what I mean. TV is going and three computers are are tuned to different election sites. It's looking like senator Obama will be the next president of the United States of America! Whoo hooooo! Arizona is actually too close to call. I can't believe it. My vote may have actually counted this time. I wish my dad were still alive. He would have loved this whole thing.

7:05PM
Sierra just called to tell me that Obama has 175 electoral votes. She is so excited that Obama will probably win..more because she thinks McCain is just old and weird looking. It's sort of like a sporting event for her. She picked Obama and is excited to see him win.

Former mayor Rudi Juliani is on NBC. Will he say it. Will he.. ? Say ....9/11? Not this time.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the evening. As if anyone is reading this real time. ha ha ha

7:28 PM
Networks still saying Arizona too close to call, but congressman Shadegg says " They are lying" Hmmm I'll be nice I guess and just say " No comment"
They are calling Ohio for Obama. Sierra informs me that Ohio has 20 electoral votes.
7:41PM
Obama hasn't won yet. " The fat lady isn't singing yet, but she's warming up." says a dude talking to Brian Williams on NBC named Tavis Smiley. Who's that guy? NBC calls 200 to 90 electoral votes. Hey..this is more exciting than the Superbowl.

7:55 PM
5 minutes until the Daily Show Special!

The next morning..........

I guess I'm not the greatest blogger in the world. After the Daily Show special ( which wasn't as funny as usual) I lost interest in this blogging thing. I thought McCain's speech was very gracious and as we watched Obama's acceptance speech Devin and I were so grateful to have an intelligent, articulate smart guy for a next president. We were excited to be part of this historic event. This morning we were dismayed to find that our fellow Arizonans voted to pass the so called marriage initiative. Sigh.....

Kiva, Make a Loan Change a Life

So, here is my latest obsession.

You know how people are always asking you for money. Charity drives at work, e-mails and phone calls, even people trying to hit you up while you are waiting at a stop light to get on the freeway.

Well, here is something different.

Kiva

Kiva does not ask you to give money, only to loan it. The idea is that many micro businesses in 3rd world countries can't raise capital to improve or expand their small business. These are people who live from day to day by selling firewood, or making clothing, or running a small food stall someplace. So these people who need loans apply to Kiva, Kiva posts a photograph and short description of what they need the money for. People chip in $25 a piece until the loan is funded. We are talking loans of $200 to $1000 here. Then they loan the people the money. As the people make payments, you get your money back. Some loans run for 6 months, some run for a year.

So you get to help someone who is working to help themselves, and it does not cost you anything in the end. Usually. There is about a 5% default rate. Businesses fail, people die, or the inflation rate runs wild and the money they use to pay you back is not longer worth $25. Sometimes Kiva gets scammed and the money is just gone. So there is a risk. But about 95% of the time you get your money back. You can either loan it to someone else, or withdraw it back into your Paypal account.

What could be better than helping people for free.

Here are the loans I have made.

PezRan Halloween Happenings

It was a dark and stormy night. Well.. not really. It was warm and clear and we could see Jupiter and Venus as we prepared for a night of pre-teen madness. Most of you know that Sierra can be very persuasive. What was supposed to be trick-0r-treat and then sleepover with four friends turned into 10. How does that happen you wonder? She starts small. " Mom, can some friends come over and trick-or-treat" Ok..that sounds fine. Then a few weeks later. "Can 1 or 2 people spend the night? Hmm well ok I guess we can live with that. Then Sierra reports that she feels bad for leaving some people out and I agree to a few more and then a few more. Oh well.. I'm so glad she has good friends and nice kids to hang out with! It turned out fine and although we are tired everyone had a great time and were on their best behavior. Kudos to Sierra for being a great hostess. We still added another 2 or 3 kids after this picture was taken. I lost count I think........












The evening started with 10 kids all trying to get into the bathroom to assemble their costumes and get as scary as possible. All that preparation and they were done with trick-or-treating after about an hour.



















Traditional Sierra and Zayda picture in front of the Great Ghosty Pumpkin. Pirate Duel!
















Devin catches up on his reading while waiting for trick-or-treaters. In case you are wondering, that's not some weirdo headpiece for his costume, its a strap-on flashlight. It's a tradition now that we wait outside for the kids to arrive. We enjoy it and its easier with the dogs! He is reading " Who Wrote the New Testament?" Such a scholar our Devin!


Exclusive Video!!! Scarrrrry PezRan House

They capped off the evening with something called Extreme bowling. Basically they turn the lights out and turn up the juke box. I had such fun watching them have an incredible time bowling, running back and forth to the juke box and dancing and singing along to the music. ( No pictures of this since I forgot the camera). I watched bowling and dancing until past midnight while Devin was busy at home trying to find sleeping places for everyone. A little giggling and a few rounds of " Guys! Go to Sleep" were heard, but I think everyone was asleep before 2:00am. This morning they all got dressed up again to make a scary alien movie. I'm looking forward to seeing that!

Night of the living dead? Nope... .. morning after a sleep over for ten. As I write this, there are three girls left and believe it or not it is noisier than it was with all ten. Sigh....