Pez Ran Clan

There is a heaven!

2009-08-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that although I've attended various churches in the past, I've never really believed that there was some kindly man/woman/father/mother/God/spirit watching over me. I strenuously "acted as if" and that worked for me for awhile but always at the back of my mind I knew that things just didn't add up. I didn't even think much of the "new age" metaphysical background of my childhood and had a sneaking suspicion that a therapist in my life was right when she identified my " spirituality" as magical thinking. No..my thoughts do not control anything except myself and my reactions to events in my life. But..that's a subject for a future post! It was particularly freeing for me when it began to dawn on me that my lack of belief was OK! But does mean that I am not spiritual? Why NO..it does not!

I'm not above using other's work to articulate my feeling about this. The following is a comment on a blog I read on Skepchic's " Wednesday's Afternoon Inquisition". The question asked of us was this:

I assume that most of the readers of SkepChick are, like me, atheists and have rejected the concept of heaven and hell and indeed any sort of afterlife. Suppose there were an afterlife. If it were up to *you* what would your afterlife be like?

There are quite a few irreverent and humorous responses, but Zapski's response moved me:

In seriousness, I as an atheist think that there is no soul in the dualistic sense. However, I think that what is essentially us leaves our bodies at all times, every time we interact with others. Like raindrops in a pond, the ripples we make affect all the other drops, and all the ripples that hit us, are changed by our ripples, etc.

Humanity has one giant soul-soup in which we all make bigger or smaller ripples. What I say shapes you, what you say shapes me. When I recall something you said or did, or if some action of yours consciously or unconsciously affects me or my actions or ideas, that is your “soul” having its effect.
Carl Sagan (for example) made a big splash in the soul-soup. Many of us are shaped by his words and actions.
Religion has it backwards: Your soul doesn’t leave your body at the moment of death, it stops leaving your body, and echos in the lives of others.

We are the heaven in which our dead reside."

From my heaven, PapaTim says " Buh!"

2009-06-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

A letter and a video from one of the Kiva field partners. This helps explain why you loan money to Kiva interest free, but the people who get the loan pay interest. That money is not making some big maga-bank richer. But it is re-invested in the form of business education, schools, and admin staff. Because the small community bank does not have to pay interest to us, they can use more of the funds they have to help the community.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Devin Rankin,

Thank you for supporting entrepreneurs in Paraguay.

Dear Kiva Lender,

My name is Nick Cain and I am writing to you from Asunción, Paraguay, where I have been volunteering as a Kiva Fellow for the past four months. At some point since becoming a Kiva lender, you made a loan to a Paraguayan entrepreneur. By doing so, you joined a group of people who have collectively invested over $2.3 million in this country (a figure that astounds me each and every time I write it), and for that, I would like to start by saying thank you. Because of you, bricks are made, dresses are sewn, cell phones are sold, and mounds and mounds of Paraguay’s most popular snack, chipa, are cooked and eaten. Your money moves this economy.

The Field Partner: Fundación Paraguaya

As you may know, all Kiva loans are disbursed and administered by Field Partners—local institutions who vet clients and collect payments. In Paraguay, your capital flows through Fundación Paraguaya, a 24-year-old organization with a remarkable history and a bold social mission. Led by its founder, Martín Burt, Fundación Paraguaya brought microfinance to Paraguay in 1985, at a time when the country was still controlled by Alfredo Stroessner, an iron-fisted, secret police-wielding dictator whose maniacal 35-year rule left his country poor, uneducated, and disastrously bereft of infrastructure. But, with a touch of irony that is familiar to many microfinance practitioners, the same set of circumstances that left so many Paraguayans entrenched in poverty also created an informal economy that was teeming with micro-entrepreneurs and, Martín believed, hungry for credit. A chance meeting with a representative from microfinance pioneer ACCION International inspired Martín to act on his hunch that, for Paraguayans trying to lift themselves out of poverty, access to capital would be the key.

The Leader

After 24 years, three major international awards, and one term as mayor of Asunción, Martín Burt is still at the helm of Fundación Paraguaya, preaching the doctrine of sustainability and innovation to his team (now over 150 people strong) of managers, teachers, and loan officers. Since 1985, Fundación Paraguaya has disbursed over $37.5 million in loans to entrepreneurs across the country. Because it is a non-profit organization, when Fundación Paraguaya earns money on its loan portfolio, the money is re-invested into the operating budgets of its other innovative social ventures: a business education program for young people, two self-sufficient agricultural high schools, and a recently-announced Poverty Eradication Project that is every bit as ambitious as it sounds.

Recently, I sat down with Martín to hear a little more about how
Fundación Paraguaya got started, where he sees it going, and how the
interest-free capital provided by lenders like you helps more than just
a single borrower. Check out the interview in the video below.

Here

Tim Minchin

2009-04-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos from Tim Minchin. Mostly not safe for work unless you are wearing head phones. He is a comic song writer and skeptic. These are both great, although the second one may piss off some of our friends. Sorry. Love ya but the poem is still great.

Taboo:

Storm:

2009-04-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

So I finished reading “Turn Coat” the new Harry Dresden book by Jim Butcher. It follows the same pattern as the others. Harry takes on a task that he really does not want but must do it because it is the right thing to do. He takes his mid book beating and his end of the book beating. But it is still a good ride with good character development. The world becomes darker and his relationship with his brother is changed. Mouse becomes more human like. Harry gains a new weapon in the fight against evil. Murphy feels useless and you can see the thought process that will someday lead her to take up one of the swords. We meet a new character that may be the right person for the other sword. Molly struggles to find the line between good and evil and how hard it is to not do something you know is wrong, but might lead to a good outcome. A character sacrifices himself for the greater good and peace. Injin Joe takes on a Skinwalker. Good stuff. One mystery solved, but others remain.

2009-04-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Citizen Science

In this high tech world that we live in, it is easy to look at science as something that is not really accessible to the average person. Sure, there are tons of science shows on cable TV. But it’s hard to imagine that there is anything that the average person can do to make a meaningful contribution to science.

Well, it turns out, you CAN do real science. Anyone can.

Galaxy Zoo asks you to look at pictures of galaxies and classify them. Automated telescopes are taking millions of pictures of deep space objects. But computers are poor at analyzing the photos and classifying the objects. A computer can’t tell a spiral galaxy from a globular one. But people are great at it. And even better, it turns out that your average, untrained person is BETTER at it than trained astronomers. Astronomers tend to over think what they are looking at and to project pet theories onto the images. Untrained people just report what they see.

So if you’re looking for something kind of mindless to do while you unwind from work, you can sit there and play a few meaningless hands of solitaire on your computer. Or you could look at a few dozen photos of galaxies and do something that is very valuable to science. Classifying the photos helps answer questions like how many galaxies are spiral, and how many are globular. Of the spiral galaxies, what is the average number of arms they have? How many have a center bar? You can’t answer those basic questions until you look at each and every photo and describe the object you see.

But it can be more than doing the grunt work. Sometimes you get to make your own discovery.

Hanny Van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher and Galaxy Zoo volunteer saw something strange on one of the photos she was working on. She posted it up on the forum, asking what the funny blue thing was. Turns out it was something that no one had ever seen before. She discovered a new class of deep space objects, now called a Voorwerp (Dutch for object) and the one she discovered has been named Hanny’s Voorwerp.

Another site that will give you a chance to do real science is BOINC. This site lets you pick from dozens of science projects. Everything from doing research on cancer, to monitoring earthquakes. BOINC lets you down load a screen saver to your computer. You then pick the type, or types, of projects you want to help. When you are not using the computer, the screen saver kicks in and starts using your computer to process data. The idea is that computer time on the real high end research computers is still hard to come by. But, there are millions of desktop computers that are sitting idle at any given moment. So it uses your computer when you are not doing anything. It will do a small part of a complex operation, and return that result to the central database.

The BOINC project I have been doing lately is a bit different.

I have been doing earth quack monitoring for these people. They use the BIONC network to link up thousands of computers that have a motion sensor attached to them.

This gives them a world wide network of earthquake monitors for almost nothing. Many laptops actually have a motion detector built into them. This device helps protect the hard drive if the laptop is moved or dropped while the computer is writing to the disk. So the software is set up to use this device to monitor for earthquakes. Or you can buy motion sensor form them for about $50 to plug into to your home computer. They will send one to a school for free.

I always thought that Arizona didn’t have earthquakes. But it does. I pick up about 10 a week. Some are quakes that are really in California, but the shock waves are still detectable here. Some are local quakes that are really just too small for people to feel or notice.

So you can do meaningful science right there from your computer. Anyone can. Get out there and do some science.

2009-02-25T15:39:00.000-08:00

Steve and Bobby

Wow, it’s been a while since we blogged.

We went on a cruise with Barenaked Ladies the first week in February. We saw lots of live music. Shannon got her photo taken with Steve Page. We listened to Gaelic Storm while sitting in a hot tub just after sun set. When it got dark, we saw the space station go by over head. We visited an ancient Mayan city, learned all about Key West, and just had a wonderful time.

But during the cruise, and especially after it, there were lots of rumors that the band just didn’t seem the same. That something was wrong. We didn’t really see anything like that. We went to the first of 3 shows and thought it was great. Steve’s voice was great and the band was kidding around with each other and seemed to be having a good time.

It all kind of started last year when Steve left his wife and had his girlfriend along on the cruise. Lots of people thought she was rude and many people didn’t care for her. But that may have only been jealousy. They wished they were the ones on Steve’s arm.

This is the same girlfriend that Steve got arrested with in his cocaine bust.

She was back this year and again there were people complaining that she was rude to them and stuff. Some people thought they saw some disgusted looks from the band members when the girlfriend showed up at shows. I guess she tried to kick some people out of their front row seats during one of the shows so that she and her friends could sit together. But what ever.

So today I learned that Steve has quit Barenaked Ladies. Not really a shock. But very sad. The band will not be the same without his voice.

Maybe a few years from now they can have a reunion cruise. Or more likely Steve will just come along and sing a few songs with the band the way that Andy Creeggan (former keyboard player) does now.

Last night I was watching the President’s speech. It’s so nice to have a President that seems to really understand things and can talk. Who understands the value of science.

Then it was time for the Republican response. LA Governor Bobby Jindal, the exorcist, was the one they picked to talk. And what did he have to say. Why, he attacked science of course. He thinks there is wasteful spending in the many trillion dollar package. What does he pick on? $140 million for volcano monitoring. Once again the Republican message is that science spending is wasteful. I’ll bet if you live in Washington State or Hawaii or anyplace near Yellowstone you don’t think it is a waste of money to keep an eye on volcanoes. But the Exorcist just can’t see any value in that. I’ll bet he would scream if they cut money to hurricane monitoring. I’ll bet we spend more money monitoring hurricanes than the $140 million volcano project costs. One weather satellite alone costs more than that. But he does not see the larger picture. All he sees is that money is being spent on science. Science that might contradict his view of a 6000 year old God created earth.

Anyway, that is the stuff that is on my mind today.

Sierra's Birthday Bash

2009-01-11T14:30:00.001-08:00

Apparently we are the cool parents. You know, the house that everyone wants to come to and hang out. This would work better of course if Sierra's friends actually lived near here. Thankfully ( hee hee) we seem to live on the other side of the world from almost all of them. I'm guessing its the fact that Devin and I are willing to put up with 14 screaming and giggling teenagers has something to do with it. I think Devin is less willing, but he loves Sierra and wanted to help make her birthday special. Of course we did something similar on Halloween. I think we must be gluttons for punishment, but we are done with the huge parties for awhile.

The day started at Saguaro Ranch part around 1pm as the kids gathered to play soccer, run around and generally laugh and goof around. By 5pm, they were done playing and Devin and I took them back to the house in shifts ( we have small cars) to enjoy a gourmet dinner ala Taco Bell, birthday cake, scary movies and more running around outside. We forgot the candles, but a loud chorus of Happy Birthday happened anyway. She looks so mature in this picture! A huge thank you to our friend and fabulous housekeeper Carmen for the gorgeous birthday cake!

There were a few moments of teenager drama, but mostly everyone had a good time I think. The boys were banished by 9:30 and the girls commenced girl talk ( who likes who etc etc). More scary movies after the boys left and managed to polish off the last of the gallon of ice cream.

This morning, I was up making waffles for 10 girls in time for the 10am pick-up. Make that noon.. no..make that 2pm. Well its 3:46 and we still have one straggler. Luckily she and Sierra seem to be bonding over Yahoo Chat. Go Miss Makaiya!

Happy Birthday Sierra Ashley Perez- UPDATE

2009-01-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

Today is my beautiful daughter's birthday. We celebrated by enjoying some sushi and going shopping for "cool" clothes. Mom is the wizard, I am the clown and Sierra has the birthday top hat!

Her actual birthday was this morning at 11:00am. Ahh memories of the delivery room and Elvis Presley marathons, the wonders of spinal taps and other drugs. Both my mother and Sierra's " Godmom" were on hand to welcome this fiery sprite into the world. If it wasn't midnight I'd write paragraphs and paragraphs about how terrific I think you are. Happy 13th honey!

A Holiday Tradition

2008-12-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

This year I've been privileged to be part of two white elephant gift exchanges. I looked it up on Wikipedia, but beyond how to play the game, I didn't see any origins although truthfully I didn't look very hard. I'm sure it has something to do with the old flea markets which were probably the precursor to garage sales before people had garages. Luckily, the great white elephant elf was very kind to me. A fart book, a cheesy Las Vegas wedding veil and a strange stuffed thing called a "Kookie" named Sir Kooks-a lot, are all in my possession. In case you didn't know, the fun of a white elephant exchange is in stealing other's gifts. Yes indeed, I stole these gems.

I stole the fart book from another non-believer at the annual Atheist Meet up Solstice party. I know what you are thinking. What could I possibly want with a book about farts? Well... lets be honest people. Farts are funny and mine are particularly funny......at least to me.

Devin was the one who actually got the wedding veil from the same Solstice party, but I wore it out of the restaurant. Imagine if you will, a photo of me wearing a cheap white veil with " I love you" in red letters along the hem. I couldn't find it today, otherwise I'd model it for you.

Sir Kooks a lot was the very first gift opened by one of my co-workers at our annual Christmas potluck/gift exchange. It was a long sausage like package and as she began to open one end, we all wondered what it could be. What appeared to be a skunk's tail peeped out of the package! As she pulled it out of its protective gift wrap and Sir-Kooks-a-lot emerged we were still not sure what it was! The recipient seemed less than pleased and no one seemed terribly interested in relieving her of him. Since we did this gift exchange alphabetical by first name I had quite a few gifts to choose from when my turn came. Sir Kooks a lot just spoke to me and I had to steal him! He and I continue to make beautiful music together.

He is very cuddly AND he has a crew! I found them hanging out at "Limited Too" later that day.

Happy Birthday Jaclyn! OMG 13???????

2008-12-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

Today is my 2nd daughter's birthday. Well..she's not actually my birth daughter, but I've known her since she was in her mommy's tummy. In fact her mom and I found out at nearly the same time that we were both pregnant. Our families have all been close friends ever since then. Sierra and Jaclyn have been like sisters and she has been on many adventures with us. I can't believe it has been 13 years! This is the first picture of them hanging out together. I think they were 3 months old or so. Her mom Cheryl and I spent a lot of time together in those days. I was a new mom and Jaclyn was her second child so she had experience! I'm so grateful that I had such a wonderful friend in my life to be there through a very trying time for me.

What can I say about Jaclyn? Loving, fun, creative, crazy, wild. Always singing, laughing and LOUD especially when Sierra and her are confined together in a moving car. Arrrrhhhggggggg! There is something about the two of them together that is like alchemy. Explosions, activity, incessant and loud giggling and screaming.

Adventures

Here is Jaclyn experiencing the Grand Canyon with us. Although Jaclyn loves nature, I think she would rather view it from a hotel window. She is not keen on bugs, bees or hiking around. We love you Princess Jaclyn! This was a day trip and on the way home, it was very dark outside and Jaclyn and Sierra were very scared that ET was going to come down and take them away. They were very serious about it too. We tried to explain that ET although not real was a NICE alien in the movie.
We took Jaclyn with us to a cabin up in Greer. I think the best part of this cabin for both of them was sliding down the stairs in the cabin. We fished and did some hiking too. Remember what I said about bugs and bees? Well.... as you can imagine they have lots of those in Greer.

Just Hanging Out

I believe this was in 3rd grade. Sierra had an assignment as school where she was supposed to take pictures of "Flat Sierra" in various places. We were going out to take pictures of Flat Sierra in nature, but first Jaclyn posed with her.
This is one of my favorites. They are painting each other's faces and I think they managed to paint a doll's face and I'm sure the table, their clothes and probably other parts of themselves.

Happy Birthday Jaclyn. You are growing up to be a beautiful young lady. I almost didn't recognize you in this picture!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Channuka, Christmas or simply secular... We at the PezRan clan wish you and yours a wonderful time with family and friends as you celebrate whatever you wish!

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-13T08:36:00.001-08:00

It's less than two weeks until Christmas and I'm just getting around to posting about Thanksgiving. After all, I have been very busy playing D&D online ( well not lately), but I could have posted it earlier if my alter ego " Valinora" hadn't spent several hours slaying monsters over the Thanksgiving holiday. Its all her fault..really.

On Thanksgiving day we had my mom and Devin's mom, Dee over and I cooked some kind of roast non-turkey beast. My sister Valerie was with us virtually as you see here over Yahoo with video and voice chat. It was so cool to spend a few moments with her virtually. She had her own place at the table!

Thanksgiving Part I

Thanksgiving at Pez Ran clan actually begins the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A Rankin family tradition is to have the holiday dinner then so all the different families can do their own thing on the actual day thus avoiding inevitable family squabbles about which family one is going to spend Thanksgiving day with. This is also the day when we decide who is going to host the family Christmas eve celebration and we draw names for the gift exchange. Devin's mom cooks all the family favorites. One of Sierra's happens to be Dee's famous Turkey noodles and you can forget the berry sherbet PUNCH! This year Christmas eve will be happening at Pez Ran central. Hurrah!

Devin and Shannon smile for the camera

Grandpa Tim and the youngest member of the clan Jordan

Dan and Mikey

Nick ( Beat-Nick?)

Great-Grama Dee, Jordan and Addie

My Talented Friend Alex

2008-11-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T17:02:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Election Night at Geek Central

2008-11-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

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....

Why I Failed Geometry

2008-10-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm I got this one wrong. I just don't get it. Do you know the right answer?

Desperately Seeking Fall

2008-10-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

As Devin mentioned we ventured north to Sedona this past weeKEND ( as my sister, the amazing Valnik would say) to catch some fall colors ( or colours for you Brits and Canadians) . We saw some color..more like a limish green mixed with brown dead leaves. This time last year I was in Boston experiencing some gorgeous fall colors and good times with my frister ( friend + sister) so it was a bit disappointing.

However, we did have a nice time with Devin's mom Dee. This is us having lunch at our favorite haunt the "Hide-a-Way" which has lovely views of trees and red rocks. Beer was involved as you can see. The mug was frosty and the beer was cold. YUM! So much for my healthy salad.

After lunch we wandered through Oak Creek Canyon and stopped at Slide Rock. I've haven't been there in ages and I thought the water was way too cold to swim, but apparently these folks didn't think so. English perhaps?

We hiked a little bit, but sadly Dee wasn't really wearing great hiking footwear. At one point, the shoe slipped off and I had to climb down to rescue it before it drifted away. I was nervous a few times that she would fall and hurt herself, but she stubbornly refused a helping hand. We shouldn't be surprised. Afterall, this is a woman who went sky diving for her 70th birthday.

Here's my Hercules impression.

We're hiking , we're hiking....errrr ....is this a trail?

Devin gets an artsy red rock shot.

A great story

2008-10-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took a short road trip up to Sedona. I think Shannon will be posting some photos and the highlights a bit later.

But for now, I just wanted to share this post on another blog I read. It has nothing to do with a trip to Sedona. :) But it is quite a story.

Here

Devin

Stay Away From The Red Phone...

2008-10-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Check it out....

http://www.palinaspresident.com/

Rankin's 3-D House of Fire

2008-10-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Glendale Arizona Weather Report: Sunny, 53 degrees

Only in Arizona would we be excited about these temperatures. I'm sure my sister in England would consider this shorts and t-shirt weather. As you can imagine, we needed a fire to keep us warm.

Fire Season?

2008-10-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

My personal weatherman informs me that the temperature was......wait for it..... 65 degrees here in Glendale Arizona this morning. I'm sure you all know what that means. Well maybe you don't, but I do. Devin will soon light his first fire tonight after leaving all the windows and doors open after sunset for a few hours.

It might be cool enough! Just maybe. We did,after all, have a whole cord of wood delivered today and you know..you have to test it to make sure it burns.

Devin likes to burn things....

Random Atheist Quote of the day

You don't believe in Apollo, Zeus, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Odin or any of thousands of other Egyptian, Mayan, Scandinavian or other gods, do you? Well of course you don't. That would be silly. I don't believe in your god either. For the same reason."
Anon.

The quest for a cool house

2008-10-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

So it is October in Arizona. Which means that it is in the low 100's and upper 90's still. Still time to run the A/C for another few weeks at least.

When we bought this place, the A/C had a 10 year parts warrantee, but not labor. We have known that this unit was a bit of a lemon. We have had it fixed at least once or twice a year since we moved in. And each time they come out they tell us what a piece of crap it is and the heroic means they went to in order to fix it this time.

Well, it held out almost the whole season without a problem. Then Tuesday afternoon, it just stopped. So Wednesday they came out and looked at it. It had overheated and burned wires and sprung a leak. Our choices were $1500 in labor to fix the old crappy lemon, or $7000 to replace it with a new unit under warrantee for parts and labor.

So we went with the $7000 fix. Maybe the new unit will not sound like a jet taking off and vibrate the whole house when it clicks on. Maybe it will run for a full season with out us having to spend a few nights baking while waiting for our name to come to the top of the repair list.

So the new unit goes in on Friday. Until then, they hot wired a few things on the old unit which they say will run it for a few days and it probably will not explode or catch fire as long as we only run it at night when it is cooler. So at least we can sleep at night.

All we want is a cool house in the summer, and most the spring and part of the fall.

Yeah for the workout family

2008-09-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

We made a commitment to work out twice a week together. So far, so good. Workout Wednesdays and Sweaty Sundays. Twice a week is better than no times a week. If only I had a picture of Devin on the elliptical and me doing my lunges and squats. Wednesday Sierra kicked my booty. Woooot! (I hear the cool kids say that a lot).

(disclaimer: photos not real-actual results not typical)

In Memory of Velma Ponder Scott

2008-09-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my grandmother’s birthday. She was our Nan. She is gone now, but her spirit lives on in my memories, in my genetics and of course in my heart. That indomitable, feisty, never give in spirit. I recently came across some random thoughts I had written down the day I learned that she had passed. They may not be as meaningful to you, but my sister and mother will probably get it! This is a ramble, so bear with me!

Nan word association: beauty, strength, stubborn, determined, full of life, always searching for meaning, unconventional, ahead of her time, adventure, queen of the road.

She was no rocking chair grandma. When I see her in my minds eye, she is wearing a polyester white pants suit; always made up, always in motion. Action Nan. No rocking Chair grandma. No smells of cooking in the air. No Martha Stuart garden and home.

She was a wanderer and car trips with her are my most treasured memories. I loved pulling over and sleeping on the side of the road and waking up as the sun rose. For some reason I remember the smell of that car. It’s hard to describe, but it was a little like the faint odor of carsickness. She had a CB and her handle was " The Big yellow banana" Imagine this tiny woman saying “10-4 good buddy” She let me drive it when I was 12. Yeee haaaa !

Beans and weenies for lunch on the side of the highway and gorgeous scenery must be looked at even if you are so sick you can't lift your head. It seemed that she had a friend or former patient (she was a chiropractor) in each city we drove through. Smelly Ann Martin, Bert and the cigarette burns on his shirt. No matter where we were between Canada and Texas, there was always someone to visit; someone to heal. She inspired my travel dreams with her trips to Africa, Russia, Israel and Panama.

Even in the most perilous situations, she always saw beauty even in 6 feet of snow, and icy roads. “Ohhhhh LOOK at the beautiful mountains”

Searching for meaning brought her too many different ideas; Scientology and the E-meter when I was young, that crazy Thane Walker and finally Oral Roberts. If that’s not a diversity of ideas I don't know what is. Her courage was amazing. She would stand toe to toe with a foe twice her size. I think to the end she believed that her sight and hearing would be healed if she just prayed harder.

“You just let me know if you are saying something I need to hear"

She loved to have us scratch her back with nails or hairbrush. Back rubs! I learned just the right spots from her.

I learned to hate chiropractic adjustments since she always thought I needed one. Run away, run away!

She loved all of us, but you could really say that she just loved period.

Sierra's Video

2008-09-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

7th grade is one of those in between times when the kids sometimes act so adult, and then at other times the go back to being little kids.

Sierra's class has been playing with small stuffed animals again. They shot this video in class on Friday. Sierra and her friend Jenna spent Saturday editing it.

So Misunderstood

2008-09-08T02:18:00.000-07:00

My name is Spitfire, or " Spitty" for short. I'm not sure if they call me that because I drool when I'm getting a pet or because I spit when I'm scared. You have to look scary to keep the dogs away!! I am a loving affectionate male, neutered and de-clawed senior kitty. I'm very talkative especially at night when all the humans are asleep. I love to wander through the house yowling especially if I've caught a lizard. Actually, I'm not really sure why I yowl. I'm old. Maybe I'm senile. I think my human family has about had it with me. I woke up mom again tonight at 12:30am. Uh oh....

Guitar Heros

2008-09-07T12:49:00.001-07:00

Sierra plays her super cool newly re-finished custom guitar

Devin's special song. He is really into it!

I think I have decided that I'm not as interested in learning guitar as I thought I was. Its kind of fun, but not fun enough to spend 25 bucks for 1/2 hour lesson weekly.

Imagine No Religion

2008-09-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

A few months ago the Pez Ran clan attended a fund raiser BBQ to help pay for 4 billboards around the city. Sierra was impressed by the pool, if you remember from my earlier post. The billboards are finally up and today the group got together and we had our picture taken in front of the billboard. No one attacked us which is nice. A few people honked although I'm not sure if it was in solidarity or derision. This billboard is on the corner McDowell and 3rd street in case you want to visit. This is just me solo... sporting my autographed " Skeptics Guide to the Universe" t-shirt.

We had yummy Tai food after the picture with our Atheistic Skeptic comrades. I reccomend the coconut curry, but stay away from the Tai ice tea!

I'm not really sure how Scientology kills, but I'll bet he'd tell me...

This is Matt. He spent over 6 hours last night trying to de-convert a nice Mormon girl. Go Matt. I'm sure they had some interesting "discourse" He is wearing a big Scarlet Letter of Atheism t-shirt. In fact a couple of people were. I want one. I don't suppose Richard Dawkins would send me one would he?

I am officially a College Student Again!

2008-09-05T05:23:00.001-07:00

It was 15 years ago this month that I finally graduated from college with a B.A. in Marketing. I started my collegiate journey back in 1983 at Pierce Community College in Woodland Hills as a music major. After experiencing the highs of the stage as Kailua Madrigal Singer in high school, I was convinced that I wanted to sing for a living. An opera singer is what I wanted to be because after all I was fat and if you wanted to sing and were fat then obviously Opera was for me. Well unfortunately, I had very little self confidence and apparently not enough talent to make it out of the required sight singing class. So then, I decided to go for French as a major because I was also kind of good at languages. I spent another year doing that and decided I had messed around enough and needed to get serious!

I applied to both Cal state Northridge in the L.A area and ASU in Tempe Arizona ( where my mom was living at the time) as a business major because I just wanted to get a good job and make a living by then! ASU happened to accept my application while Northridge was strangely silent. Here's a picture of me at the beginning of my college career. Yes indeed....I did look 12. I although by then I was 24 I think. This was pre-braces so you can see the gap in my teeth. Yes for those of you who didn't know. My maiden name is DICKEY (cue painful childhood memories).

After starting at ASU, I still couldn't decide what I wanted to do and after another year of business classes with grades ranging from A's to C's, I decided I would again go for languages. I had studied Japanese in High School and thought that would be my ticket to adventure. I could go to Japan and teach English to the Japanese! I pursued that for two years and then just got tired of going to school. I had been on the 10 year plan and I just decided I wanted to be done!!! I went back to marketing and finally got my degree after a grueling round of summer school. It had taken me a long time, but I finished!!!! Yeah for me.

Now after 15 years in the workforce, I am going for my masters degree. I've been thinking about doing it for a few years, but dreaded the work it was going to entail. Now, I'm ready. Sierra does not need me around as much ( a fact that she makes quite clear) I can take time for this. Avnet will pay for it so why not! I'm going for a degree in something called " Instructional Technology" which is a fancy name for learning how to design and create training. This is a calculated move on my part to advance myself at Avnet while learning something that is not Electronics Industry specific. I can also do this job remotely from anywhere. As I look toward 50, I want to make sure I have all the skills I need to be independent of any particular company.
Stay tuned.......

Science Rap

2008-09-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

A rap about the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. It is a very large particle collider being built in Europe. The rap kind of explains what the various experiment stations do.

Whats the harm?

2008-08-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

People who are skeptical about stuff like ghosts and talking to the dead always hear "oh who cares. What is the harm if someone wants to believe that stuff."

So here is a website (www.whatstheharm.net) you can go to and see for your self. This guy has hunted down stories about people who have been harmed due to their belief in something. From people who died from their passionate belief in feng shui to people who have been injured due to their blind belief in their GPS. You can spend hours here. There are hundreds of stories about all kinds of stuff. These are not stories about people who were stupid. Just people who really believed in ghosts or some fad cure for something and how it caused some real harm.

Devin

A 1968 Electric Guitar Transformed

2008-08-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

You may have gathered from recent postings that the latest Perez-Rankin serial obsession is the guitar. Devin is something of a pack rat and there are various treasures around the house from his life including some clothes he wore as a teenager, his original Fedmart badge and various mementos from his career as a public servant. So luckily Devin still has the electric guitar he got for Christmas when he was 12. He let Sierra call it hers now, but it was not very cool according to her since it was a light baby blue and sort of scuffed up.

Since Devin is such a patient and encouraging man, he set out to help Sierra make the guitar cool. Over the last 2 or three weeks they have been working on it requiring several trips to the hardware store and lots of work out on the hot back patio and my tolerance of a mess out there while they worked on it.

Step 1: Remove the stuff that makes it a guitar, like the strings, neck, other stuff

Step 2: Strip the old electric blue paint requiring gloves as you see

Step 3: Sand it down

Step 4: Apply a primer and Spray Paint it black ( One of Sierra's fav colors or colours for y'all in the UK). Luckily, Sierra's old play house was the perfect spot to hang it up to apply paint and not get spray paint all over everything we care about. (although I did notice some black spray paint on the pool deck the other day.... sigh)

Step 6: Make the sliver face plate all shiny while the black paint dries

Step 7: Stencil a music note on the front and her nickname on the back in RED ( her other fav color) SAPY ( Sierra Ashley Perez +Y)

Step 8: Mom complains about the mess on the porch and asks when this project is going to be done. Devin gets busy finishing up which involves a clear coat and then putting it all back together. Soldering was involved I think, some failure, some successes and Viola'! Sierra is all ready to rock the house!

De-Baptism

2008-08-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

I was never baptised. At least, not that I remember. If I had been, this ceremony might have been fun. Recently at an Atheist " coming out party", they held a de-baptism for all those irreligious converts out there.

The ceremony begins with the following words:

"Do you agree that the magical potency of today’s ceremony is exactly equal to the magical efficacy of ceremonial baptism with dihydrogen monoxide, and do you agree that the power of all magical ceremonies is nonexistent?”

Then, instead of the Baptismal pool, sprinkle or jacuzzi. We have " The Hair Dryer of Reason"

Followed by shouts of AMEN and appropriate levels of pernicious emotionalism.

I am inspired and amused.

New Guitar

2008-08-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

I can just barely play a guitar. I mean, I know a hand full of cords and stuff. I don’t really even know any songs. But I have these 2 guitars. One is an old electric guitar that I got for Christmas when I was 12. The other is an acoustic guitar that I bought in the 80’s.

Well, Shannon started taking guitar lessons and has taken over my acoustic. And Sierra wanted my electric. Sierra and I have been re-finishing the electric for the past few weeks so that it looks cool enough for her. Shannon has been taking photos, so that will all be documented here someday when that project is done.

But anyway, listening to Shannon and Sierra practicing has inspired me to work on my playing, But I didn’t have a guitar. They had all been taken over.

I have a safe full of guns that I have not shot in a long time and I started checking out some pawn shops, in the hopes of finding something that I liked that the owner would be willing to trade a gun for. So for the last few weeks I have been checking out pawn shops on my lunch break. But nothing there really caught my eye.

Wednesday I went to Guitar Center, a place that sells new guitars and just kind of looked around. Then I spotted a black Ovation sitting near the clearance area. I've always liked the way Ovation guitars look, but I never thought I would get one because they tend to be rather expensive. The tag claimed a retail price of $1100 and it was marked down to $449. Sitting just a few feet away was an identical guitar marked $789. Hummm.

So I called a sales guy over and he checks it out. He claims that they both are really $449, but one was just not marked down yet. I played it a while and ended up getting it. The sales guy made it out to be the deal of a life time. But that is his job.

I went on the Ovation Fan Club site and posted my story and it seems like I did get a good deal on it. It is USA made and only the upper few tiers of them are made here. The lower range ones are all made over seas now.

So here it is, my new guitar. I really like the way it looks and sounds. Maybe someday I will be able to play well enough to do it justice.

Watch Out For The Invasion! (Warning: Dr Who reference quickly ensues)

2008-08-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

The company I work for who shall remain nameless (less some inadvertent googling gets me into trouble) has a very senior executive with quite the sense of humor. Every week, a new cartoon appears on his office door. They are usually political, but you can’t really tell what his politics are because he seems to be an equal opportunity “pundit”. It’s amazing because a lot of the cartoons really push the envelope of corporate correctness. The H.R department is only steps away which make one wonder.

This week, I was surprised to see this little gem. I can just hear John Stuart say “ Muaaaahhhhh, where IS my man sized safe?” But then I thought to myself.. perhaps there is some truth here?

Is Dick Cheney really human… or… a Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorian.

OK, everyone say that with me:

Raxa-corico-fallapapa-torian

Nice try......

A Scary Cabin in the Woods?

2008-08-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I took Sierra and two of her friends, Jena and Zayda, to the cool pines of Flagstaff. As you may have read in a previous post, Sierra was anxious to experience that scary cabin/slasher movie feeling. The cabin had a loft which served as the horror movie den (with the help of my lap top) and after the first night of scary movies, they were all ready to move downstairs to sleep next to mom. They seemed to have a great time scaring themselves silly... to a point.

Although for some people, it may not sound fun to hang out with three pre-teen girls, it was mostly enjoyable. To be sure, there was lots of screaming, laughing incessant giggling and dancing around punctuated by " We're hungry!!!!". However, I let go of my adult self occasionally to be goofy with them and when I didn't want to do that, I discovered the magic of ear plugs. So, I spent quite a bit of quiet time reading and doing easy cross word puzzles (because I'm not that smart). The earplugs worked so well that Sierra scared me a few times because I didn't hear her come into the bedroom. Perhaps it was the fascinating book I was reading about Jack the Ripper called " Portrait of a Killer; Jack the Ripper,Case Closed" . I also found time to listen to some of my favorite podcasts such as Skeptics Guide to the Universe and This Week in Science.

I took our new telescope up there, but only managed to use it once because it was so cloudy. I found Jupiter on my own without Devin's help! Yeah me! The girls were more interested in taking pictures of each other than looking at the stars.

The girls enjoyed wandering around the site, taking pictures of interesting things ( especially pictures of themselves)

Zayda, the most adventurous of the three, was the only one up for an extended hike of the area with me. Although I managed to let us get "lost" We were in the city of Flagstaff so we really weren't all that lost. I just headed for a road and found someone to ask where we were. It was a longer walk than we anticipated but it can be fun to be lost as long as you are sure you can be found again. For the record, it's always better to stick to trails rather than go wandering off in the forest. This picture shows my relief when we finally found our way back home.

We had a heavy thunderstorm almost every afternoon. Its fun to get wet in a climate where that isn't possible very often.

One day, we packed a lunch and went to Lake Mary. The girls swam for a little while, but it wasn't long before a HUGE thunder and lighting storm chased us away. The road visibility was so bad, we had to pull over and wait for things to calm down. Luckily this little lake is only about 10 minutes from the resort.

Word of the Day

2008-08-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Pareidolia

When I was a little girl in Trail British Columbia, my wood paneled bedroom wall had several shapes that looked like faces to me. I wonder if I had been raised Catholic would I have seen Jesus? Who hasn't looked up at the sky and noticed familiar shapes in the clouds? I love this Venn diagram by artist Jessica Hagy. I've been hearing about Pareidolia for the last year and I've finally been able to remember the word. I've even spelled it correctly ( after several attempts and double checking) Yeah for me.

Sad news, Happy news

2008-07-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Tour de France is over :(

Only one week until the first football game of the season :)

Shannon Says: Luckily, Devin does not make me a football widow. He may be " excited", but if I'd rather do somethng else he doesn't seem to mind. Of course, we all know what Devin in a highly excited state sounds like. " Yeah...that wasn't bad".

Stuff

2008-07-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

So, Shannon has taken Sierra and 2 of her friends up to Flagstaff for a few days. Sierra really wanted to stay in a cabin in the woods and watch slasher movies in which people staying in cabins in the woods were killed. ???? They went up there Monday and will be back home on Thursday.

I have been watching the Tour de France, as I do every July. This year I kept hearing about a new team that was wearing cool Mountain Dew colored uniforms. But every time I heard them mention the team, I heard the name as Leaky Gas. I could not understand why someone would name a team that. It turns out I was mis-hearing it. It is sponsored by an Italian company called Liquigas.

NOTE: The previous post is actually the newest post. Shannon started it before leaving on the trip so it appeared underneath this one. Be sure to check it out!!!

Time: A big ball of wibley wobley timey timey... stuff

2008-07-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

So here we are back to the week of July 14 (high fives to those of you who get the title reference). It's been a busy week here at Pez Ran central. Our older dog Lila has a foot injury from her fence climbing adventures and our poor puppy Lucy has been sick for 3 days, throwing up. Two trips to the vet and $500 later, both dogs are doing better. Lucy had Parvo or so they tell me and needed intravenous fluids and anti-barf medicine. Lila has an ulcer on her toe from repeated licking and she had her nether regions "expressed". I'm glad "expressing" is not a required health maintenance for humans because it doesn't really sound pleasant. Both dogs are on meds and they seem to enjoy getting their medicine inside yummy pill pockets. Actually, Lucy is enjoys this a lot more than Lila does and tries to steal Lila's share.

And now... "Your Phoenix Mercuryyyyyyyyyyy"

Thursday night we went to watch the Phoenix Mercury SQUASH the LA Sparks. It was a very exciting game and there was lots of in between entertainment. Hip hop dancing and dogie racing and lots of interesting looking people of all persuasions and "orientations" ( wink ,wink nudge, nudge).

Sierra brought her friend Zayda and they had a great time watching the game and all the action.

" We went to an Atheist Party"

On Sunday we attended our very first Atheist "Meet up". A "Meet Up" is a way for people of like minds to get together with other people of similar interests. They have groups all over the world sharing hundreds of interests. We got together with like minded people to attend a fund-raiser pool party in Chandler. We're raising funds to erect "Imagine No Religion" billboards near the Arizona Captial. The billboards are partially sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an organization that fights to keep church and state separate and keep religion out of public school. Rock on!

It turned out the pool party was lots of fun and Sierra and her friend Jenna had to call all their friends to let them know we went to an "Atheist Party" The conversations with their friends usually started with " Do you believe in god?" and then " Guess what! We went to an Atheist party and Atheists have the best pools!" We'll see how popular the Rankins are with the other parents when school starts I'm sure. See if you can spot Devin and I seated at the pool side bar.

When Rain is a Newsworthy Event

2008-07-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

When it rains in Phoenix, we alert the media. It is, in fact, breaking news. Every channel has a reporter out in a slicker, standing in front of a closed road. Little children run out to play in the street as if enjoying the first snow. Yes, even adults stare in wonder at the cascading water. Thursday night Devin and I and managed to make it home from a very highbrow lecture about the Galapagos even though I thought we might need the Arc.

Small Part in a world record

2008-07-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

So last month, Shannon and I went to TAM 6. Besides having a chance to chat with all the hosts on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe and Swoopy and Derek from Skepticality , we also got a chance to be part of a world record. Richard Wiseman made a video, here. Over 800 people bent spoons at the same time. Just like Uri Geller. You can even catch little glances of me. I'm sitting on the left side of the main isle, about 6 rows back, wearing a light blue t-shirt. Shannon is sitting right next to me, but she is not as easy to see as my big wide blue shirt.

Planet Gazing

2008-07-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight Devin dusted off his old telescope and we all did some night sky gazing. Our first view was of the moon in its waxing crescent. Sierra and I both said " Oh MY GOD!! That is soooo cool!! " It is really something to see for yourself and not just in a picture. We could see the craters and everything. After quite a bit of work, Devin managed to find Jupiter and its four Galilean moons: Ganymede, IO, Callisto and Europa. Ok this picture is way better than what we saw, but I was able to see the rings of Jupiter and four balls that just appear to hang there as if on a string. We got our stimulus check today, so we are thinking of buying ourselves a better telescope from Craig's list. Hurrah!

The Holday Weekend Ends...... wah...

2008-07-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Pez Ran Clan spent most of the weekend indoors, although plenty of people in this hot city were out at various 4th of July celebrations. Not just in the evening,but all day. In the heat, listening to concerts and having picnics etc etc. I'm sure lots of pictures were snapped and children had fun running around until they became unconscious with heat exhaustion. We did see fireworks though, but was more exciting than that was to look up at the sky and see TWO IFOs ( identified flying objects). Devin is pretty sure we saw the Hubble Telescope and a satellite.

Our only picture to commemorate the weekend of movie watching, star gazing, indoor shopping and Internet surfing is this strange picture.

In summer, we like to burn candles in the fireplace. I thought the skull set off the other four candles nicely. After seeing Indiana Jones, I thought we could use some mystical, alien wisdom at our house. Although the skull is wax rather than crystal, it is shiny. I sense that it will work just as well.

Update!! Please enjoy this J-Jill fashion show as a result of a really fun shopping trip with mom. Yeah MOM! You rock!

Hmmm not sure about this one. This looked better in the store than at home. What you think?

Fun and flirty....with fabulous au-naturale morning look going on.

Another one that looked better in the dressing room I think? Maybe I just need a little ..ummm "support".

I like this one..check out my puppy assessory.

It's a hot Phoenix 4th of July

2008-07-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

The weather in Phoenix is very monotonous. Yep...its hot. In fact, you do get used to it if getting used to it means staying inside. So, I sit inside in my uber-air conditioned office with my sweater on ( thanks to Devin who like it cold) remembering our vacation with fondness. Jamaica in February is fabulous.