FML

I slept okay from 10ish to midnight and then tossed and turned from midnight to 3:17 am at which point I decided FUCKIT, I’LL GET UP. This mostly means that I’m dressed, ready for work and thinking about changing the theme on my blog. Because that’s how I do.

Rapture party

Yesterday I sent out a text to a group of friends for an impromptu Rapture party at one of our favorite local haunts. Much beer was drunk and much fun was had. The attendees – Spouse and I, a museum director, a communications teacher, a mathematics PhD candidate and an IBM software engineer. One of the best things to come out of the party “Maybuary” – as in, “This is some fantastic Maybuary weather we’re rocking.” You might have to live in Colorado to understand how great it is.

Also, recapping the highlights of our Holy Land Experience experience was quite popular.

Podcasts, books and my DroidX

When I got my new DroidX, I began soliciting podcast suggestions from my friends. There were a couple of reasons for this: 1. Drive time. I’ve got a good chunk of it. 2. Faster processor. I loved my Eris but it didn’t manage podcasts well. I had previously had podcasts on my Zune, but who really needs a podcast when you’ve got 90 gigs of music, right?

I upgraded the memory card on the DroidX (from the 2 gig it came with to the 8 gig from my Eris, now to a 16 gig class 6) and combined with the 8 gig internal memory, it means way more room for media. Here’s what I’m listening to:

The Bugle. God DAMN is this podcast funny. Sadly, I’ve had a bitch of a time getting it to sync with WinAmp AND DoggCatcher, so I’ve resorted to putting it in my GReader rss feed subscriptions. If you like The Daily Show, you will like this podcast.

this WEEK in TECH. Kind of the standard nerdcast about tech stuff. Interesting, though not necessarily humorous.

Buzz Out Loud. First of two cnet podcasts, this is longer and has a chick on it. I kind of think of this as Attack of the Show, but audio. Frequently good for chuckles.

This American Life. As with the NPR radiocast, it’s hit or miss for me but worth having.

Doug Loves Movies. Dude, this thing makes me laugh out loud in the breakroom so that people give me the crazy eye. If you want to start somewhere, grab the Adam Carolla, Jerry O’Connell and “Bald” Bryan Bishop ep.

The Nerdist. This is an odd tech-but-not-tech, comedy-but-not-comedy podcast. Not a variety show but it tends to have interviews that lurch wildly from topic to topic. Consistently entertaining.

The 404. Oh my god. This is the second cnet podcast, about 30 minutes long and featuring 3 dudes pretty close to my age group because I get ALL their pop culture references. This show slays me, every day. See show 820 for an awesomely hilarious, dystopian version of The Game of Life. I snickered about that ALL DAY.

The Moth. I just added this and I dig it. It’s like short form fiction standup.

Stuff You Missed in History Class. I think the title is self-explanatory and I’m a history nerd.

You’d think there would be a lot of overlap in my tech podcasts but it’s broken up by the different viewpoints. Where Buzz Out Loud was all worked up about the Android unsecured wifi exploit, the 404 guys were like “Uh, isn’t it ALWAYS a bad idea to get on unsecured wifi?” If I could only recommend two, I’d tell you to get The 404 and The Bugle. Number three is Doug Loves Movies.

On to books. According to GoodReads I’m three books ahead of my ’55 books this year’ schedule. Let me clarify, that means 55 books worth telling people about. I read various amounts of crap and sundry that I don’t count against my ‘real’ books goal because I’m not going to talk about them even if you ask me, because they’re crap and sundry. Not even braincandy. So yeah, I’m looking for 55 books I’ll admit to having spent time with and/or provoke enough thought that I want/need/am interested to discuss.

Yesterday I finished Mockingjay, the last book in The Hunger Games trilogy. I know you’ve heard a lot of hype about these books because JESUSwhohasn’t? That said, the hype is well-deserved. I can’t think of a better executed, more ambitious, sweeping, engrossing and engaging series in recent years (and I’m including other series books I LOVE like Chelsea Cain’s Heart series). It’s brutal and honest and awesome and inspiring and discouraging and real. Not only that, each individual book is fucking great. As a series, you’ll finish Mockingjay and then immediately want to start the series over so you can remember what it was like before you lost your innocence. What I’m saying is that if you haven’t read these books, you need to read these books – immediately, if not sooner. Here’s where I give a plug to booklending.com which is where I borrowed Mockingjay and raced through it in about 4 hours. Gripping, y0.

In related news, if you’ve got book and/or podcast suggestions SHARE THEM! I can use all the audio distraction I can GET at work…

You should see Bridesmaids

Yeah, yeah there’s been a lot of talk about the film and frankly, it’s good.

Is it as funny as The Hangover? If you’re a chick, hell yes. If you’re a dude, probably not (but it’s still damn funny).

Kristin Wiig is brilliant and the film combines slapstick with cringe-inducing hilarity, balanced by seriously nice female relationships. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also got all the bad parts of female relationships, albeit played for the laughs, but overall it’s the best female comedy I’ve seen in years and doesn’t rely on stereotypes for jokes.

Dear Rand Paul

Slavery. This does not mean what you think it means.

1. No one, including the government, is FORCING people to become doctors against their will.

2. Not only do you have to CHOOSE 8 additional years of schooling, you have to SUCCEED at it.

3. You get paid. In fact, you get paid better than 90% of the population.

4. Government healthcare would, in fact, GUARANTEE you get paid because it eliminates welshers who don’t have insurance and an inability to pay. Government healthcare ENSURES that you get money for your services.

Let’s review: Not only is this NOT slavery, it’s NOT indentured servitude.

I don’t put a lot of politics in the blog but this isn’t about politics – it’s disingenuous and flat out wrong. In terms of political discourse, this is especially disappointing as you sound increasingly like the Captain of the Wingnut Brigade. When it comes to “libertarianism” there are a lot of good arguments for smaller government – LOTS of them, arguments that even sound REASONABLE if you don’t resort to lazy hyperbole.

Also, I’m going to call bullshit on THIS particular argument because – as a physician – you know full fucking well that the private sector is epically and irreparably broken when it comes to providing healthcare for Americans. If you’re going to pretend that things are fine, you should do a better job of it. You’ve got a staff, fucking use them.

In closing, what the fuck?

Book sidenotes

I’ve been reading and not updating, being the bad blogger I am. In the last couple of days though, I read a couple books worth pausing to post about.

1. Tangled Threads by Jennifer Estep. This is a series I started because I got book 2 for free on the Kindle. It was so good that I went back and bought book 1. I read that, reread book 2, bought book 3 and and just last week picked up this book (number 4). Suffice it to say the series has been engaging, entertaining and consistently solid. The characters are well-developed, the writing is tight and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you involved. It’s one of the ONLY series I’ve purchased consistently on the kindle, despite the $7.99 price tag (I tend to be cheap about books that are in paperback, preferring the $5 or less variety). Each book has been more than worth the purchase price, withstands a reread and has me hooked enough to be looking forward to the next title. Highly recommended, even if you’re not a fan of urban fantasy as it’s not too deep in the genre (more like fiction with fantasy elements). If you pick up the first book, I guarantee you’re going to want to read the rest – and I don’t say that lightly. Spider’s Bite (book 1) Web of Lies (book 2) Venom (book 3) Book 5 is due out later this year.

2. The Center of Everything, Laura Moriarty. This was another kindle free/cheap read and as it stands, it’s only a littler more than $5. I nearly loved this. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s the first litfic I’ve read to reflect the pop culture references of my generation or because there was a LOT of parallel in Evelyn’s character and me, but it was an engaging and honest coming of age story that left me a little wistful when it was done. I cared enough to want to know what happens to Evelyn next and I immediately wanted to reread the whole thing. It’s been a while since I felt that way upon finishing a book, which made it worth mentioning.

3. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen. I reread this (the first reading was years ago with my book club in Saginaw) and I enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first. Let me start by saying this is not great lit. It’s not. On the other hand, if you’ve ever thought about joining the circus I can just about guarantee you’ll like it. It’s high melodrama (as one might expect in such a dramatic setting) and a couple of love stories and a great vacation from your life for as long as the reading takes. I’m not convinced I want to see the film but this is a thoroughly enjoyable and fun read.

NOLA

The first thing people ask about when I mention NOLA are beignets. Weird, right?

These were at Café Beignet. While we did visit Café du Monde a couple of times, I actually preferred the beignets here. They were a bit lighter and fluffier but don’t get me wrong – beignets in any incarnation are delicious. This was the spot on Bourbon Street which wasn’t actually on Bourbon – a little courtyard just off the sidewalk, with the tables and counters deep in the lot. The live music which was always playing distracts from the strip clubs and pounding dance beats that make up the majority of this part of Rue Bourbon, such that it’s kind of a shock to get back to the sidewalk and the noise after your interlude and treats.

Our first two days though, were all about French Quarter Fest. I wish I had a single picture that captured what it was like, but this is the best of the bunch.

We arrived to hotter than usual weather, which was LOVELY. I, who hate extreme heat and humidity, was thrilled by the change in latitude. I believe my exact words were, “It’s as hot and moist outside as it is on my insides!” This was said with an inordinate amount of joy. We walked from the CBD to Bourbon a couple of times the first day, checking out the Fest and Rue Bourbon. While it’s no Red Light District, I’ll say Bourbon Street lives up to its hype.

The French Quarter Fest comprised of some major stages right on the Mississippi which – if you haven’t seen it from NOLA – looks like a completely different body of water when compared to the crossing at St. Louis, as well as a bunch of smaller stages throughout the quarter. In addition, there were a boatload of buskers and bands playing virtually anywhere they found free sidewalk or streetspace. The end result was the loveliest, largest street party you’ve ever seen and the best food I’ve ever put in my mouth.

The band in this picture was a Dixieland Jazz band from Belgium.

The balconies and galleries everywhere were lush with greenery as well as chock full of decoration. They made walking an especially interesting adventure.

We were lucky and had Marlene to show us around on Sunday. I think we must have walked the entirety of the Quarter (she was a champ) and gave us the lowdown on local favorites and history, not to mention all the dirt on local film shoots. In keeping with my experiences thus far, meeting an old internet friend (8 years? A bit more?) for the first time in person was wonderful. She also went above and beyond the call of duty with an amazing gift baskets of snacks and goodies, of which we made SERIOUS use.

One of my favorite buskers during the Festival:

We spent a fair amount of evenings during the week on Frenchmen Street listening to local music. This was one of my favorite doorways:

Food and drink will likely have to be another post, but this picture really captures the mood during our vacation. The best part was that this sign was off Bourbon Street at a small, out of the way neighborhood bar.

Not exciting unless you’re me

I’ve spent a silly amount of time in the last several days breaking in my new phone – the Droid X. More importantly, I’ve been helping the spouse break in HIS Droid X. We switched him from a Blackberry to a massive touchscreen so he’s having a slightly longer adjustment period. I’m happy to report that Swype is a popular feature as well as being able to sync his work accounts without plugging in.

I did a rewatch of a couple of recent Disney films today, since my illness has laid me low enough that I don’t even want to cook. I’ve been subsisting on Raisin Bran and bean dip (not together, because that would be gross) with an afternoon highlight today when the Spouse grilled some salmon. Enough about my lack of nutritional well-being- on to the princesses!

The Princess and The Frog is maybe my favorite Disney musical since The Little Mermaid. There are a lot of songs and they’re all great. And I can say, post-NOLA vacation, that they did a fair job of capturing the spirit of the town. That said, the film itself gets a little draggy in parts. The animation is gorgeous, though and the music helps to make up for it.

Tangled is a bit of the opposite. Markedly less music but a nonstop action-forward film. I also love Mandy Moore and she did a fantastic job in the movie. This animation steps away from the ‘traditional’ look of TP&tF and does a brilliant job of using the latest technology to create some great looking characters.

In addition: these two films are probably officially my top two Disney princess outings overall. Both feature strong princesses who aren’t relying on anyone else to save them (I love the music in The Little Mermaid but the rest of the film is pretty much despicable). The men AND women get to be strong and support one another and all in all they’re good fun without being too cringeworthy.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I started watching Battlestar Galactica streaming on Netflix a week or so ago. It’s eaten at least two full Saturdays. It’s been years now since the miniseries launched the reboot but the show is still incredibly timely and deftly told. The character portrayals are complex and the plotlines still politically subversive (though they were definitely moreso during the contrast of the Bush years). I miss TV that good – miss having a show that I couldn’t WAIT to see and didn’t want to DVR, sitting impatiently through the commercials because I wanted to know what happens next RIGHT NOW.

I’m just into Season 3 and now I’m thinking we should buy the series on BluRay because hot DAMN the special effects are still fantastic.

This week is going well at work – the last two weeks have been a fairly light workload and I’m not complaining. I’m hoping to coast gently into my vacation on Friday afternoon and enjoy warmer climes next week.

In reading, The Weird Sisters as well as a mishmash of things I’ve started and stopped. I did see a bunch of things that grabbed my interest today but I’d rather not buy anything until I get caught up on the current Kindleload.

Femme Fatale

Let’s be clear: if you’re buying a Britney album, you’re not looking for deep lyrics and tight vocals. You’re looking for music that’s going to make you feel good and make you want to MOVE. Femme Fatale doesn’t disappoint.

I became a fan with Blackout (still my all-time favorite workout/dance around the house album, ever) and while I liked Circus, I didn’t love it. Brit is back and pushing the envelope again with Femme Fatale. Yes, her voice gets stretched electronically but it’s all in service to the beat and it WORKS.

I know Gaga is all the rage but this dubstep/electronica mix sucks you in and makes you want to jump – even if you’re in your car. Another awesome dance album stuffed with excellent jams, totally deserving of the 4 stars Rolling Stone gave it.

Yoga for Warriors

Last night there was a substitute in our class and it got me thinking about 1. why I take classes 2. what kind of teachers I enjoy and 3. what kind of classes I’m looking for.

Living in a rural area, you can imagine there’s not a plethora of yoga options. Despite surrounding resorts, there’s little I find attractive (either because of the class time or substance) and it’s been frustrating. The class I’ve been taking through the college has had me thinking a lot about what I’m missing – what I came up with was my awesome Baptiste-inspired class in the ‘Naw.

I hadn’t gotten into Baptiste per se, but my instructor was great: challenging, understanding and encouraging. As a sweater, I generally avoid hot yoga classes but I braved the additional heat for these classes because they were just that good.

Fast forward to a trip to Target where I find a bunch of yoga DVDs and weigh the pros/cons. 1. Yoga classes are surprisingly expensive. Given that I’m a teacher, I tend to balk at classes over $10/class (hour or hour and half). If we’re going to profess that yoga is something everyone should do and everyone benefits from, it’s ridiculous to price yourself out of the ‘everyone’ market. It’s something that annoys me pretty intensely as a community doublespeak issue.

I found a bunch of discs that were $9. I gambled on two. The first is Bob Harper: Yoga for the Warrior.

I get up at 4 am. I go to work, which often involves a fair amount of manual labor (I’d say it’s equally divided between that and paperwork) and by the time i get home at 3:30/4pm I’m pretty whipped. Working out provides an energy boost that helps me maintain a more ‘normal’ schedule of activities. Today I got home and popped this DVD into my laptop to see how it went.

My cardinal rule of yoga instructional videos is that you should watch them before you do them. This isn’t advertised as a straightahead yoga vid, so I wasn’t overly concerned. It is not for beginners – if you have never been to a yoga class, you’ll want to watch the workout before you try it. If you’ve been to yoga classes and done Half-Moon and are comfortable with Up Dog (or a comparable modification) than you’ll be fine.

I don’t watch The Biggest Loser. I am not motivated by people who yell at me or by watching other people yelled at and guilt-tripped. It’s just not my thing. That said, when I read the video description I was intrigued and for less than the cost of 1 class, I get innumerable classes from the DVD -right?

Harper is good. Not shouty and not too hand-holding. While he could do more with modifications, his verbal cues are good – provided you know Half Moon pose. The only part that was confusing for me was his ‘shoulder press’ in Down Dog which I discovered was Down Dog but lowering your head to the ground like a pushup.That was the only time I had to stop and actually watch to see what he was talking about.

It is a SOLID workout. You will sweat. You will feel great when you’re done. I got through the entire workout and, per great yoga class usual, after savasana had all the benefits of having worked my ass off but without feeling tired. Instead I felt pumped and ready to go out. I liked that the ‘models’ in the class came out of asanas/did modifications/joked about needing them and generally made the video feel like a class I was attending. While Harper could do more with offering mods, there are several throughout the routine and, at the end of the class, I feel like he completely delivers what the video purports.

Caveat: did not do (and am not likely to do) the 15 minute ab routine. I get enough ab work from regular practice, so this review is based on the one-hour workout ONLY.

God’s War

This novel is big and intense, albeit slow going at the beginning. When I read Kameron Hurley’s Big Idea post at Whatever, this was the part that grabbed me:

Thing was, Nyx isn’t the sort who likes to be used. So when the inevitable bounty hunter story starts, we are not dealing with bounty hunters as we know them anymore. We’re not in a world we can immediately recognize. The day is nearly thirty hours long. The suns give everybody cancer. Nobody can remember a time without war. Bugs power the world’s technology and make up the primary food source. Magicians build weapons of war. The world is a contaminated ruin, and most folks die young.

But it’s a world of intensely passionate and powerful people, the kind of people we imagine could be great heroes, avengers. Or monsters.

That’s what God’s War is about. A world at war. The people who police it. The joy and terror and fear and awe of living on after the end of the apocalypse, when everybody says the world has ended… when the war has just begun.

I dug the idea of it being based on Assyrian law and generations-long wars and their impact on a society that’s so far removed (and yet at the same time, not so far) from our own. Hurley does a great job of establishing atmosphere and dropping you into wholesale (bumps, bruises and disorientation) into her planet. As I said before, it starts slow and part of that is getting your bearings but once you’re oriented it takes off. You get pulled in to the cultural conflict and character backstory and complicated political agendas – not to mention casual, not-so-casual violence.

Part of the reason I found it so engrossing is that it’s not so entirely foreign that you can’t imagine how a society gets there. The violence and consequence are nothing less than biblical and if, like me, you grew up trying to sort out the contradiction of the Old vs. New Testament this makes a compelling read. Other than the bug tech and casual interaction with aliens, there are parts of the world where this kind of bloody, destructive action and generational war/hatred goes on today. It’s a view on violence and its impact on how people function that you don’t always see in fiction and makes you re-evaluate the news you’re watching. Smart, engaging fiction. Hard to beat.

Success, tentatively

I’ve been feeling a weird generalized anxiety lately. I’m not sure what it’s about, but I can tell you that watching the Sunday morning newshows doesn’t help. Lindsay Graham has the singular ability to jack my blood pressure into the roof.

Checking the LJ and rss feeds shows that my journal import has NOT in fact crippled the flist/feed. I’m really glad because it means all my yoga posts have returned. Now if only I could figure out what I was using to crosspost to wordpress.com, it would be amazing to have the same backup but I guess I can widgetize an alternative.

My only weird consequence is categories. I suddenly have a bajillion more categories than I’ve been using since the blog reboot and I haven’t sufficiently researched a way to condense them. Instead I’ve treed them under the reboot categories and just disabled the drop-downs so as not to clutter the page. Yay for tag clouds!

I’m reading God’s War by Kameron Hurley, which I first heard about in a Scalzi Big Idea post. As soon as I read that entry, I thought ‘That sounds awesome.’ Alas, when I went to add it to my Kindle wishlist, it wasn’t available in format. Insert frownyface. So imagine my delight when Books on the Knob announced that Nightshade was giving free ebook copies for a book club! I haven’t used calibre in a while, so I re-downloaded/installed and when the e copy arrived I converted it. So far I’m enjoying it as much as I hoped I would.

Speaking of enjoyment and Scalzi (I kind of was, right?) he gave up Coke Zero for Lent and I’m pretty sure it was the picture in that post which convinced me to try Coke Zero. No lie, it’s delicious. So I guess I’m going to take up Scalzi’s Coke Zero consumption for Lent and make sure Coca-Cola doesn’t lose any market share.

In Netflix movie news, I watched Chloe last week and I really enjoyed it. Not your typical psychological thriller but pretty fantastic nonetheless, with stunning performances all around. 4.5 of 5 stars

Last night we watched The Social Network (which means we might be the last people, ever) and I enjoyed it more than I expected. In fact, I found the Zuckerberg character to be kind of hilarious and Eduardo – I’m pretty sure he was intended to be sympathetic – to be a bit smarmy. After all, it cannot POSSIBLY be in dispute that had Zuckerberg NOT gone to Cali and hooked up with Sean Parker there is no chance Facebook would be what it is today. Also, Winklevi  = fail. Especially given that you settled for $65 mil and then sued AGAIN because $30+ mil A PIECE wasn’t ENOUGH? REALLY. All the win goes to Zuckerberg and I hope to Christmas his depositions were in fact that awesome because those scenes SLAYED me.

Unrelated, we watched Zach Galifinakis host SNL and it was funnier than I’ve seen it in a while. The musical act was a bit odd, so I googled/youtubed and was pleasantly surprised to find Jessie J has a great voice. I’m a bit sad that I’ve missed out this long probably because I don’t listen to popular radio but her album drops next month and I’ll definitely be picking it up.

NOLA is quickly approaching and I am EXCITED. Not just because I’ll get to wear shorts and blind the local population with my reflective fishbelly white skin but because FOOD. Food, y’all. It might as well be the sole reason I travel.

Holy shitballs, y’all

I have perhaps resurrected a large chunk of the old blog previously thought dead and gone. For some reason I didn’t remember I’d been using a widget that crossposted to wordpress.com? Anyhoo, logged in over there, exported the file, et voilà we have yogagrrl (albeit no longer yogagrrl). With any luck, my disabling the crosspost feature will keep me from killing anyone’s livejournal feed and/or rss. Fingers crossed.

Random things and yoga whining

1. My hair is long enough in the front for barrettes.

2. Banana chips are my latest favorite thing.

3. Banana chips are especially delicious with a chocolate Slim Fast. Just sayin’.

My yoga class tonight was a bit louder than usual, which can make the class more challenging. The teacher has to speak over the background noise (in this case a couple of instances of loud conversation) and the students have to work a little harder to concentrate. To put this in perspective, our class is held in a gym at the local college. It’s never going to be silent. Ever. In point of fact, our teacher also has classes elsewhere in town (as well as some other teachers) so it’s not like THIS class is the ONLY option. At the end of this class, after a particularly loud savasana, a few of the students complained about the noise.

Someone suggested that the college have the class elsewhere, the teacher began to agree and as I was leaving I tossed in my two cents. “If meditation was easy, everyone would do it.” The teacher’s eyes widened and she said, “That’s a good point! This is good practice for blocking out distraction.”

There is no perfect place for a yoga class. That’s right, there isn’t. Because YOUR perfect place is not EVERYONE’s perfect place. There are no completely silent classes – even if a teacher isn’t speaking (Mysore style) there is the sound of other people breathing and working out. Real life has challenges. If a mild amount of ambient noise in your yoga class is a big one, you’re BLESSED. Suck it up.