Jayne Doodles

Grand Rounds #49

Not that I haven't already given you enough to look at, but there's more!  I knew you'd be excited.  Grand Rounds is up over at Healthy Concerns.  Enjoy!

Because Linking is Fun

I'm feeling generous this morning.  Links for everyone!!!  Actually, I have a few new people to introduce to you, and a bunch of other fun stuff that I've found and enjoyed over the last couple of weeks.

New additions to my blogroll:  American Future, The Doc Is In, and Jason in Uganda.  I've also added Consul-At-Arms to my list as one of the diplo-blogs, which is timely since most of the others have been pulled out of their overseas assignments.

Of special note is Neal Mauldin over at Life in the Atomic Age.   He takes great photographs, and he likes my reading list.  Besides: All Your Base Are Belong To Us. 

Also of note is The Colossus, where I strayed one day and stayed to enjoy the bounty.  He is writing a spy novel, which he posts in serial format every Friday; here is the latest installment.  As well, he does great James Bond reviews; see here and here to start.  As well, he links to this post from American Digest, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. 

Lastly, I've added Michael Yon.  For the uninitiated, Yon is embedded with the troops in Iraq, and provides what is probably the only real coverage of the war effort - at least, he's the only reporter I know about who's not writing from a hotel room.  Go to his site and read everything he's written; you'll be amazed and humbled by what is happening.

A few of my readers (coughfamilymemberscough) like to complain if I don't post at least once a day for their reading pleasure.  This ought to keep you occupied - you know who you are!  :-)

Wedding Number Two

Wedding the Second fast approaches.  If I have neglected you or your blog, this is most likely why.  In addition, see post below re: Cars and Their Issues. 

Wedding II takes place in Washington, D.C. next weekend, and I leave on Wednesday morning, which is about 8 hours sooner than I remembered, so I've discovered I'm losing free hours at a colossal rate.  I shall gain them all again on the other side of the continental divide, so I'll be able to do my 'net thing, but will be without the convenience of things like "closets," "laundry," or "picking up things I forgot" which all really fall into the same category when you're traveling - "things that you can only do at home."

I'm not really too worried about all the fuss leading up to the big day; I just can't wait to have a vacation.  I'll be in D.C. for about a week, and I intend to see Stuff.  (You'll see that I'm using the correct terminology to differentiate between my state and the name of the city I'll be visiting; some people have trouble figuring this out.)  Last time I was there, my favorite was the Roosevelt memorial.  I also collected some excellent and ridiculous quotes from billboards and subway advertisements, the best of which, in my opinion, was a white space with the words: Pondering broccoli?  and nothing else...no sponsor, no company, no grocery store.  Brilliant.

After D.C., I'll be in Chicago, visiting some friends and strolling around my alma mater with the siblings who are currently attending.  Much fun to be had.  And of course, I'll be blogging as is possible, so don't expect me to disappear. 

List o' links will appear above in not-too-long timeframe; stay tuned for further updates.  :-)

Car stuff, for the nonce

On occasion, I use the expression "blew a gasket" as a way to denote my feelings on a subject.  I was thinking, today, about how I've never ever thought I'd use that phrase literally.

How optimistic I am, to be sure.

My poor car, my fierce-hearted little Mazda, my Ghost in the rain, is going to be gutted and doped up with powerful medicine.  Valves, cylinders, gaskets, oh my!  One guy had the joy of saying, "let just go ahead and rebuild the whole engine!" so he could watch me turn into a pile of melting goo.  So sad.  And my bank account?  Even sadder, I'm afraid.  :-)  Car repairs are an excellent reason to take the bus; now if only there were buses available to take...

On Repairs

I enjoy driving, as regular readers have probably figured out by now.  I do not, though, enjoy my almost-complete lack of mastery over my car when it decides that driving is just not really it's thing. 

You know it's going to be an adventurous evening when you coast to the stop sign as you leave work, and as you try to move forward, your engine goes "chug...chugchugchugchug...wheeeezzzzeeeee..." and stops. 

And it was.  Thank you Lord for friends in high, low, and uneven places. 

Wedding Nanny-goats, Part II

If we go back into the sands of time, before Catatonic Groom was Mr. Oak, before he was Catatonic, and even before he was Frazzled, the ever-so-extremely Anticipatory Groom took care of some very important details regarding The Wedding Night.  (Sorry for all the caps; it adds, it really does.)

Namely, where to go? what to do?  (Well, not really what to do.)  But the to-be-weds had recently purchased a house for their new life together, and Anticipatory Groom decided to fix this up and shower his bride with lovin’ in the comfort and specialness of their home, before whisking her off to an island paradise.  Accordingly, everyone was banned from the premises while he worked at a feverish pace to create the night of her dreams.

At this point, you need to know one very pertinent detail to have the rest of the story be as fantastic as I can make it.  And YES, I have permission to tell this story on my blog!

Bride and Groom are both of that segment of the population that looks at the recently released movie "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and says, “So?”  They were both virgins themselves until their wedding night.  I respect them immensely for holding on to that choice, and even more so since I get to tell stories like this one…  :-)

The new Mr. and Mrs. Oak, having been wined and dined and seen off in a clattering and highly decorated car, made their way home.  Mr. Oak brought Mrs. Oak inside, poured her a glass of chilled wine, and sat her on the sofa while he prepared the final touches in the back room.

When Mrs. Oak finally was allowed in, she was delighted.  There were candles everywhere; their flickering golden glow lit the room and provided the perfect atmosphere.  So they…utilized the atmosphere.

At this point, my narrator, Mr. Oak, looks up and smiles.  “We were just at a point where…well, let’s just say that if we hadn’t been married, it wouldn’t have been okay.  And the FIRE ALARM explodes into action right above our heads!!!  It was like a voice from God saying, `Get Your Hands Off Of Her!’”

I can only imagine the chaos…especially since they couldn’t get the darn thing to shut off!  They finally had to rip the batteries out. 

Wedding Nanny-goats

All right, everyone!  I promised some wedding stories, and though it's been weeks and you'd thought I'd forgotten...well, I hadn't forgotten.  (Gee, that was anti-climactic.  Oh, well.) 

When last I left you, Frazzled Bride and Catatonic Groom were staring down the last few days before wedded bliss, and, much to my dismay, I was fast becoming the most annoying person in the world. 

Well, if I could say that the wedding came off with nary a hitch, you’d know I was lying.  But luckily, things that happened were in the realm of forgetting the bride’s garter; I believe the groom ended up throwing a piece of Swedish ring-cake with a ribbon tied around it.  It came apart in the air and showered the single men with tasty morsels.  There’s a joke in there somewhere, but I’ll leave it be for now. 

I also found out that, as the maid of honor, you have Duties to perform, which include, but are not limited to, finding anything anybody wants, schmoozing with all the guests while they wait to talk to the bride and groom, calming down the sugar-enhanced flowergirls (there were four of the little dervishes), and going without food.  Yep; the bride and groom get served first – if they don’t eat, it’s their own fault.  :-)  The maid of honor, on the other hand, is the last one into the reception, and since she is performing the aforementioned Duties, she may receive a plate, but that is no guarantee she will get to eat anything on said plate.  As, in fact, I did not.  I heard that the salmon pate on celery was exceptionally delicious, though, from several people who should know.  :-)

Frazzled Bride and Catatonic Groom, though.  I report, with all satisfaction, that Frazzled Bride was transformed into Radiant Bride, with sweetness and joy in every feature.  Catatonic Groom?  Well, he became…Catatonic Groom, but for completely different reasons.  :-)  Reports are that even though we had the sanctuary lights dimmed just for that very purpose, the glow from the bride and groom were such that the room lit up like a bug zapper on an August evening.  I didn’t even realize the lights were dimmed.

And in the incandescence of that brilliant love, Catatonic Groom and Radiant Bride became Mr. and Mrs. Oak.  Man and wife till death or glory.

Stay tuned: Wedding night stories, coming right up!

Formatting Changes

As you can see, I'm changing the format of a few things around this site, just to liven it up a bit.  I like the "minimalist" look I've had, but I think it's time for something a little more exciting, at least for a few months.  (This is the redecorating urge that strikes every once in a while and makes you move the furniture all around, trying out a new style, before going back to what you had in the first place.  Or perhaps leaving it be.)  I'm going to be trying out a few new colors and backgrounds, and I'll leave them up for a day or so; let me know what you think!

Lindy Scott runs for Congress

Lindy Scott, a former professor of mine, is running for Congress in the Illinois 6th district.  I'm not formally endorsing him; if you look at his website, here, you'll notice that he and I do not tend towards a common ideology in many areas.  However, I believe one of the most important aspects of a public figure is their integrity and their commitment to the public good.  In these areas, Lindy shines, and I have no problem acknowledging that even though he and I don't share goals, I have always been sure of a fair hearing of any issue I have chosen to discuss with him, and this makes him a worthwhile candidate, no matter what side of the political fence you are on.

This article in the Chicago Sun-Times discusses Scott's candidacy, as does this post from MyDD and this post from TPMCafe.  Lindy also has his own blog, located here.

I also want to note, for the record, that I much prefer Lindy's Spanish-language page, as his biography there is much more...shall we say, personal, than that on the English version.  If anyone's curious, I'll post a translation of that site here.

Grand Rounds 48: cut the fat and give me the bottom line

A new Grand Rounds is up!  Enjoy the collection... 

Link: Straightfromthedoc - grand rounds 48: cut the fat and give me the bottom line.