zondag 30 december 2012

zondag 30 december 2012 Up at 7:54. Watch RT News. A lot of talk about a jet crashing near Moscow. Safety of Russian-made airplanes. Pilot’s error is being named as the preliminary cause of the Vnukovo airport TU-204 jet crash. Report - Moscow plane crash: Deathtoll rises to five (VIDEO OF CARNAGE, PHOTOS). Beet salad for breakfast. #106 bus to Uwajimaya. Eggplant, golden pepper and sake. Train back to my place. Lots of Seahawk fans in the streets. Seahawks Vs. Rams at 1:25.  This is such a great idea - Gigabit Seattle.  We deserve it!  After all this time! Watch Galaxy Quest. By Grabthar's hammer!

Watch KIRO News. I appreciate how they went down into the transit tunnels. Progress for Seattle. Watch movie: Avatar. My day for Sigourney Weaver.

zaterdag 29 december 2012

zaterdag 29 december 2012 Up at 7:54. Nice to sleep in. Watch KOMO News. Why? Why? WHY! Congratulations, Camas, Washington! You elected a mentally-ill representative to our State House. Liz Pike, ladies and gentlemen. Report - Incoming Lawmaker Proposes Arming Teachers. Meanwhile, in our obviously gun-loving area, customers are lining up to buy whatever they can. Report - Run on guns in Seattle area: Buyers fear limits on military-style weapons.

Baba ghanoush on toast for breakfast. Who needs a gun anyway... especially if Chase is near. Especially when Chase turns into Spike in Commando App. I love Lab Rats.

Next Super 8. How scary! That train crashes next to the kids. And then... all hell breaks lose (in crazy ways). "This feels like a Russian invasion!" After the movie, I find an old VHS - MTV Best: 1999. Wow! Goo Goo Dolls - Black Balloon. And Tal Bachman - She's So High! Hey! We were high and not ashamed of it. 1999 - 13 years ago. We survived it somehow, Chris Cornell. Then we have Bester. Watch Babylon 5: The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father.

vrijdag 28 december 2012

vrijdag 28 december 2012 Up at 1:46. Turn on DW-TV and fall back to sleep. Nice dream about visiting a small German family in an Internet café in a sunny park. Trays of meats and pastries are floating around. Lots of people surfing the World Wide Web with their laptops. Wake up from my dream at 4:48. DW has People & Politics. Switch to KOMO News. Excitement about the reopening of MOHAI. KOMO Gives Us A Sneak Peak.

Stir fry veggies and tofu for breakfast. Watch How The Universe Works: Asteroids. I'm interested in Nasa's Dawn asteroid probe.

Turn on KUOW for my walk to work. I love the annual review of music. The Song That Sings The Year. I like Hey, Ho by The Lumineers. At work, I clean out the stairwell at the Bike Room. Over to Sea Otters. It's Patty's lunch. I deal with the two boys. They give me a run for the money. One wants to dump the toys. The other just wants to read books. They conk right out after lunch. Over to The Infant Room. Just some sleeping babies to watch. I get a bottle of red wine when I leave. "Happy New Year!" Walk up to Whole Foods to pick up a couple things. #8 bus up to B'way. Get some Finlandia at QFC. #49 bus to d'town. Drop off stuff. Time for a walk. Freeway Park is my first stop. The trees... Ooooh. Aaaah. Watch KIRO News. I know about the stink. From Nordstroms to Macy's... especially at the elevators. It smells of urine! Watch Hardball. Leaders aim to make fiscal cliff deal as the deadline nears. Congressional leaders said they were “optimistic” about reaching a resolution, but...

Rigatoni with creamy chicken sauce for dinner. The Golden Path is dangerous... the desert storm that cannot be stopped. You will become that storm; the whirlwind! And nothing will be able to stop you, not even yourself! Watch Children Of Dune.

donderdag 27 december 2012

donderdag 27 december 2012 Up with alarm. Gouda cheese omelet and fried red skin potatoes for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. Nice to hear interviews with Elvira, Orly Taitz and Steven Weber again. Thunder and lightning in Central Park? That's wild!

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65% of the country in covered in snow! Streetcar to work. A handful of breaks. Patty gets an early lunch. I take the two Sea Otters out to the playground. There's no one else to play with, but we have fun chasing bubbles. Back inside, the kids play with Mr. Potato Head while I set up lunches. Nice and mellow. They linger at lunchtime. Then right to sleep. Over to Dolphins. They're napping. Sid wakes up first. He keeps me busy. My last hour = This & That. Hang out with the Starfish. Then the Seahorses. Fold some laundry. Streetcar to Whole Foods. Pick up some tofu, salad bar and a bottle of Jaume Serra Cristalino. Save it for New Years Eve? No. I open it when I get home. Watch KOMO News. Something interesting in the weather blog - Seattle: 75 days of sun, followed by 75 days of rain. At least, it's balanced.

I'm fascinated with the concept of Space Weather. The next solar cycle is supposed to be very strong. The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one. Check the Space Weather Prediction Center. Everything looks nominal. Watch The Universe - The Secrets Of The Sun.

Rice and chicken fried tofu for dinner.

"We once thought that our solar system was unique: The only place you could find planets in the entire Universe. Now we know better. For the last twenty years we have been discovering planets at an amazing rate, but they are nothing like we expected. These are truly wild worlds, a collection of monsters. From deep-frozen, toxic snowballs, to scorched and boiling nightmares: Every one is worlds apart from the habitable paradise we know and love here on Earth. Having so far only discovered this zoo of planetary oddballs we must face the question: Is every planet out there a planet from hell?"

Watch How The Universe Works: Planets From Hell.

woensdag 26 december 2012

woensdag 26 december 2012 Up with alarm. Restless night's sleep. It's chilly in the apartment. Turn on 1010 WINS... Weather: Every 4 minutes, every hour, around the clock. The country is bracing for a winter storm. Check WEWS for Ohio's weather.  Meteorologist Trent Magill reports - ALERT: Blizzard Warning and Winter Storm Warnings in effect today. I'm all over the news today. Report - China begins service on the world’s longest high-speed rail. It's the world's longest high-speed rail route, the latest milestone in the country's rapid rail network. The new line between Beijing and Guangzhou is 1,425 miles long. Speeds around 186.4114 miles/hour. Hash browns and scrambled egg for breakfast. Up to Kaladi for coffee. The shop was broken into last night. There's a police officer here... And I get my coffee. Walk to work. Low #s. 50% of the population is here today. Five different groups pile on to the toddler playground. Where are the big kids? Inside, the 3 Sea Otters play with gravel. Kids love to play with gravel... but we play in the classroom.

The kids switch to books while I set up lunches. They seem excited to see my lunch. "Pasta! Pasta! EEK! Pasta!" (It's just rigatoni with sun-dried tomatoes.) Naps are easy. Help the Dolphins, too. After naps, we have sweet potato tots for snack. Wow! They love it. Walk up Mercer to hit the groceries - QFC and Metropolitan Market. Oh! They have my beet salad! Thank you, Met Market. The RapidRide to d'town is always crowded, but I get a seat. Relief! I'm home. Watch The Cycle. These guys are up-to-date! Au courant!

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They also interview Paul Barrett - the author of Glock: The Rise of America's Gun. How one semiautomatic became our weapon of choice... the story of the iconic handgun of modern times. It is a tale of cops and crime, of Hollywood violence & hip-hop bravado. It chills me to think that so many Americans own this gun... and are absolute FANS of it. Get me out of here! Escape to my favorite planet - Saturn. Watch The Universe - Lord Of The Rings. Chicken salad with slices of garlic Gouda on toast and tomato soup for dinner. Check out these ultimate surfers. Man! At Edgewater Park... Really. This is no little blizzard! Surfers... Be careful. But they dare ride the winter blasts on Lake Erie. Shoot the curl! Watch movie - MST3K: Gamera. "Tibby. Oh, Tibby." That was really good, Tom.

dinsdag 25 december 2012

dinsdag 25 december 2012 Up at 7:30. Watch BBC America. It's a Doctor Who marathon! Beware The Snowmen!

After Voyage Of The Damned, I go home. A spacecraft - The Titanic - is set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth, a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed-headed mastermind - it's just another Christmas for the Doctor...

What a rainy day. Michael gives me a ride home. It's a day for Sam Huntington. Watch movie - Jungle 2 Jungle. IMDb rating for "Jungle 2 Jungle" is rather low, but I like it... more than I expected. Laugh out loud! Especially about the giant spider. I cry a little when Mimi-Siku goes back to Venezuela.

Next... Being Human - Dog Eats Dog. Josh is held and forced against his will by the vampires to fight a fellow werewolf.

Now, for something a little more Christmassy... Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol. The Doctor has one hour to save a crashing spaceship and a miser's soul - but what lurks in the fog? John Cooper Clarke does "Who Stole Bongo's Trousers?" What a treat! Take a nice hot bath. Toast and tomato soup for dinner. Fall asleep watching Star Trek - The Search For Spock. I'm paying attention to Commander Kruge played by Christopher Lloyd. He puts it over the top... but I'm falling asleep.

maandag 24 december 2012

maandag 24 december 2012 Up a 7:30. Watch Lab Rats - Can I Borrow The Helicopter? Horse in the lab? I enjoy Encino Man... when Brendan Fraser was only 22-years-old. Weasil: "Owww, my pancreas."

Train down to Columbia City. Little walk around this quaint neighborhood.

South Angeline Street listening to The Conversation which is all about the holidays.

On KUOW - interview with the author of The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra.

Train back to the apartment. Taco Bell - Cantina Burrito. Yum! All that guacamole! Watch The Partridge Family Episode: Don't Bring Your Guns to Town, Santa. Keith! I love that blue guitar!

Practice a little Russian. Яблоко, yablaka, apple. Next - Ghostbusters. Next - At First Sight. Then - Hercules and the Lost Kingdom

zondag 23 december 2012

zondag 23 december 2012 Up a 6:33. Cheese ravioli for breakfast. I have just realized. I'm still alive. Apocalypse averted. Watch Power Rangers Samurai: Christmas Together, Friends Forever. Aaaaaaaaaah. Mike gives his bike away to the lonely people in the park. "Mike! You're something else!" Comedy Central plays Shaun Of The Dead. Odd for this time of year. The odds of surviving this apocalypse are impossible. Walk around the neighborhood. I discover the Igneous Ensemble, Rainier Court Park.

It's rather nice out. 47 mild degrees. Shop a little bit at Safeway. Watch movie - Youth in Revolt. He Wasn't A Rebel Until He Found His Cause. Youth in revolt theme continues with Star Trek Voyager - Q2 with the lovely and talented Keegan de Lancie. Then Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It's bong, not a bomb!

Syfy is having a Star Trek marathon. That Is All.

zaterdag 22 december 2012

zaterdag 22 december 2012 Midnight movie - The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger as the Joker. Wow! As intense as this film is, I fall asleep in the middle of it. Up at 7:55. Catch up with some sleep. Movie search - Not Another Teen Movie. From the noir to the ridiculous... but I love this ridiculously foul movie! Chris Evans sings Janie's Got A Gun. Ha! Cup of shrimp noodles for breakfast. Caui seems to want my Chai.

Train to d'town. Pick up some laundry at my apartment. Check the mail. I got a card from the Parkers. Ashton is getting big. Walk down Pike Street to Westlake Station. Downtown is pretty busy with shoppers. Train back. A little sun is poking through the clouds. Back at Cat City. Watch movie - The Philadelphia Experiment. Michael Paré travels 40 years into the future. By watching this, I get to travel back to 1984 when this was filmed. Pete and Maxine watch the film together on the sofa. Cute.

I feel sorry for Jimmy as the electricity takes him over. Here we go... the WORLD'S SEXIEST BEACHES! Visit Saturday Night Live. Pee Wee Herman and Adam Samberg vs the police. Shots! And when you do the secret shot... Shout real LOUD! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh! Next... The Day After Tomorrow. Just for a little snow. Then... How 'bout a little radioactive water to quench your thurst. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Who run Barter Town???

vrijdag 21 december 2012

vrijdag 21 december 2012 Midnight movie - The Princess Bride. Cute little movie. Vizzini sorts it out... WRONG! I can't sleep. Too much caffeine in my system. Nod off during Green Acres for a few minutes. Watch KOMO News just for the weather. Spaghetti and steak for breakfast. Pete takes over my laptop. He's not exactly a lap cat, but he's a laptop cat.

I hear something go crash up stairs. It scares the girl cats and me. Pete must have tipped over the Shampoo rack in the bathroom. Now I'm looking for Pete. He's resting in a chair in the man cave. He's seems a little troubled. He licks my hand. Turn on Stephanie Miller for my walk to the Mount Baker Station. Wayne LaPierre is delivering his organization’s response to the Newtown massacre. Steph, the Mooks and John Fugelsang really light into this guy. He's pushing for guns in schools. Jim asks, "Is it alright for me to curse on the radio now?" Train to d'town. Stop by my place for a minute. Streetcar to work. Spend an hour with the Dolphins while Cristin and Sarah have a meeting. We almost try to go outside, but a shower stops us. We stay inside - dry & warm. Over to Sea Otters to set up their lunches. They're good eaters. Nap time is a little complicated, but they all sleep. I'm starting to worry about Pete. I arrive at Cat City at 4:04. Thank, God! He's alive and well... He wants me to pet him. Shop at Safeway. Of course, when I get back to the apartment, I watch 2012.

This marks the last day of the United States of America. And, by tomorrow, all of mankind. And we will be visible from the Milky Way as a tiny little puff of smoke. I'm watching the earth crumble before my eyes. The giant ash cloud created by this super-volcano will first envelop Vegas and then St. Louis and then Chicago and then, at long last, Washington, D.C. will have its lights go out!

Always remember, folks. You heard it first from Charlie. (A little over the top, Charlie Frost.) Black bean soup. Yum.

donderdag 20 december 2012

donderdag 20 december 2012 Up with alarm. Hash browns and scrambled egg for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. Arming teachers with guns is an insane idea! From the HuffPo: Guns For Teachers Legislation On The Rise In States. An active duty U.S. Marine Corps captain made history over the ... the first gay man to pop the question to his partner at the White House. Steph chats with Captain Phelps about it. How cool is that? Streetcar to work. It's a "stay inside" rainy day. Luckily, the Seahorses get the Bike Room today. It's a challenge to bring them back to the classroom. They're having too much fun. Toni brings out the Mr. Potato Heads. Really goofy-looking things.

The next hour with the Sea Otters is a little crazy. No one wants to eat lunch. Alright. One kid is dumping toys. Another is sad and crying. "Mama, mama, mama." But naps are magical. The kids wake up a little early. We play with the cars. Streetcar to d'town. Pack up the laptop and iPad. Train down to cat city. Pete greets me first. Watch Haven - Season 3. Watch Rachel Maddow. Seven o'clock movie - Total Recall: 2012 starring the lovely and talented Colin Farrell.

Left-over pizza and steak for dinner. Watch Rachel Maddow. House Republicans have a meltdown. How embarrassing!

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Watch Miracle On 34th Street. Susan: I believe... I believe... It's silly, but I believe.

woensdag 19 december 2012

woensdag 19 december 2012 Up with alarm. Watch KOMO News. Oh! It IS snowing. Big chunky flakes of snow.

I like the KOMO science corner. This glorious view of Saturn was taken Oct. 17, 2012, while the Cassini spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow.

Mushroom and onion omelet with rice for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. They talk about gun laws in other countries and Gun Politics In Australia. Australia seems pretty civilized in comparison to the USA. Permit To Acquire, a mandatory 28-day delay, and a "Genuine Reason" must be given. I like how Hal Spares is so revved up about the Fiscal Cliff. I hoped that he would share stories about his gig at the Viper Room with Billy Unger.

Streetcar to work. Planning time for Patty. Inna covers for Charmaine. The Sea Otters draw with crayons on white paper.

We play on the playground for a while. It's like a water park. Everything is wet. I catch a couple kids drinking rain water from toy shovels. Inside again, we warm up and read books. Read Miss Mary Mac and Silly Sally. We start lunch early. Lots of pasta here. Naps are easy. Over to Seahorses for their nap time. It's quiet here, too. I hear Montanhas No Ceu. I love that one.

Light rain is falling when I leave. Streetcar to d'town. Whew! Watch KOMO News. Report - Former Councilman Peter Steinbrueck Enters Seattle Mayor's Race - announced in front of a crowd of about 30 supporters at Pike Place Market.

I would love to see a former architect become mayor. Peter is very familiar with Seattle, too. Over to MSNBC. Oh, the drama about the Fiscal Cliff, and Boehner Drops The Mic After A 30-second Speech. John Boehner... You are a Mr. Potter. Behold!

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Watch movie - Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones. Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé.

dinsdag 18 december 2012

dinsdag 18 december 2012 Up at 3:22. Watch DW-TV. Visit the quaint town of Quedlinburg, Germany. It is especially attractive because of its Christmas motifs, including life-size advent calendars for the children. Festive-looking.

Hash browns and egg salad for breakfast. The news shows snow everywhere... except downtown. We're in the "Snow Donut." I go outside to check for myself (with my cup of piping-hot soy chai latte). Back inside. Turn on Stephanie Miller. I enjoy listening to one caller about how we have a better way to change our world -- peaceful resistance. Gandhi and King changed everything.

Streetcar to work. After, a handful of short breaks, I start to set up lunches for the Starfish. Then they pull me to go to the Dolphins. Very mellow here with 2 teachers and 3 kids. I read books with the kids while Sarah sets up their lunches. They watch me eat my sesame noodles. The Sea Otters eat lunch late today. Late naps, too. But everyone goes to sleep. We experience a very magical nap time. Walk down Westlake to my place. Michael picks me up and drives me to Mount Baker. I pet the cats for a few minutes. Take the train back to d'town. Watch Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - Web War. The Arachnor monster traps the Rangers in its web. Oh my!

Tunafish salad sandwich for dinner. Hmmmm. It was on the GEO QUIZ... We’re looking for the name of a town in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. This town in the foothills of the Himalayas gives its name to one of the world’s most popular tea varieties. Answer: Darjeeling, India. So, I chose The Darjeeling Limited for my evening movie. Brotherly love! Three brothers travel across India by train in an attempt to bond with one another. Even if it's shocking and painful.

maandag 17 december 2012

maandag 17 december 2012 Up at 4:28. Turn on KOMO News. Last night's wind storm knocks out power to a few people. This is pretty daring... Thieves Make Off With 7,000 Wii Consoles. The thieves used forklifts to load up two 53-foot trailers and a box van with at least 64 pallets of the game consoles from Seattle Air Cargo.

The heist is worth over $2 million, including the stolen vehicles. Boil some eggs to make egg salad. Egg salad sandwich for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. She's really upset up the Newtown massacre. She presents the incredible facts and figures about America's obsession with guns. She refers to an column in the LA Times - There's No Safety In Our Vast Numbers Of Guns. The LA Times has an interactive timeline of the Deadliest Years - 1989 to 2012.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters: Fox Is The Largest Obstacle To A "Sane Conversation About Guns In America". Streetcar to work. Two hours of planning time for Sarah. No Cristin today. Hang out with the 5 Dolphins. Sit and read books and listen to Raffi. They last barely 25 minutes outside. Early lunchtime. Head over to Sea Otters. We sit and eat lunch. Easy transition to diapers and naps. Over to Seahorses for Toni's lunch break. The kids are just starting to head to their nap mats. Most of them go quick to sleep... except one. He just sits on his mat playing with his dinosaur. Walk up Mercer to Met Market. Get some stuff. RapidRide to d'town. This bus is always packed. I thought that They Were Going To Work Out The Kinks... because the D Line has been less than rapid since its September debut. Back at my place. Watch KOMO News. Hoorah! Channing Tatum - the Sexiest Man Alive - is going to be the sexiest dad alive. Congrats to you, Channing and Jenna.

Chicken dumpling soup for dinner. This is one of the trippiest... Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - Neptune's Daughter. Chad is terribly lovesick, but not just for any girl. He's fallen for Marina, daughter of King Neptune. Poor, Chad.

Fall asleep watching 2001 - A Space Odyssey. What was that awful screeching sound? Oh, it's the dawn of humanity.

zondag 16 december 2012

zondag 16 december 2012 Lots of good sleep. Up at 8:30. Watch RT - The Mystery Of Stalin's Death. He led the Soviet Union to victory during the Second World War, though many suffered greatly under his rule. His personal life was complicated, and the circumstances surrounding his death still remain a secret.

Watch last night's Saturday Night Live with Martin Short and Paul McCartney. I love the tribute by the children's choir Silent Night.

Martin Short is crazy funny. Nice chat with the Royal Family Doctor.

Watch Lab Rats - Night Of The Living Virus. I guess that it's a fantasy escapist day for me. Watch 2 Albert Pyun movies - The Sword And The Sorcerer and Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire.

I'm avoiding the news, but around 3 o'clock, I turn on France 24. President Obama travels to the bereaved town of Newtown, Connecticut Sunday evening. 'These tragedies must end'

zaterdag december 15 2012

zaterdag december 15 2012 What's less than a week from now? Armageddon! And happy birthday to the special people born on December 21st! Listen to Wait, Wait! Francis Collins plays Not My Job! But he likes guitar. Let him play! Watch a little RT - TV/ How about a report about the largest city north of the Arctic Circle - Murmansk. Population - 468,039 (1989 Census). Despite its rapidly declining population, Murmansk remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle. I'm not well. I'm fighting a cold. I think that I'll stay hone. Watch Up With Chris Hayes. Continuing the coverage of the massacre in Connecticut. It's still very emotional for me. All those poor children.

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And Melissa Harris-Perry.

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vrijdag 14 december 2012

vrijdag 14 december 2012 Up at 4:50. Watch France 24. What? Moscow says that it was not about to withdraw support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Okay! Be that way! Hashbrowns, peppers and fried egg for breakfast. Turn on Stephanie Miller. (We don't know yet.) Joy Behar calls in to talk about her Hurricane Sandy benefit called Joy Behar’s Comics with Benefits airing tonight at 9pm ET on Current TV. Uncle Chuckles - Pat Robertson - said something idiotic on his 700 Club show... Obama is a socialist out to destroy the United States. John Fugelsang says Pat Robertson is famous for getting frightened old people to give him money. It's fun to make fun of this cuckoo. But...(We don't know yet.) Listen to ABC News on my way to work. Another mass murder - 20 Children Died in Newtown, Conn., School Massacre. The news affects us at work because we work with children. We cry and hug. More horror. More tragedy. I'm with the Dolphins as the teachers get planning time. We just hang out. Read books and sing songs. Out to the playground. It's chilly. 11 - Patty's lunch break. I take the 4 Sea Otters outside. We're all by ourselves. Where is everybody? We don't last long because it's chilly. It's great... The kids read books at the table while I set up lunches. Back to Dolphins. Whew! There's a big lunch mess! Sarah change diapers as they finish. I'm not used to their nap routine, but it goes well. My cold is ramping up. Runny nose. More coughing. Over to Seahorses for Toni's lunch. The kids are sleep. Noise next door wakes up one of them. I get out the train set for him - Mr. Swiss Federal Railways. Streetcar to d'town. Straight to my place. Watch the news. President Obama. I'm so sorry.