Watch the 47th Grammy's and look for DVR's Wife and Producer, Andrea Vuocolo Vanronk, and our beloved Christine Lavin [who helped edit it] February 13, 2005 8PM on CBS.
William Valdez is our Son-in-Law Extrodinaire. You can support our troops via this site, and support William, personally, if you wish. His TFT ID is 1862195 Thank you!
Tonite on TestingTesting... If you don't know me, and were just cruising around, you probably don't know that I am a total audiophile (and bibliophile and Ailurophile -- but that's for a different entry) and have found here on Whidbey Island, a great experiment in music and technology called TestingTesting. I am audience, cheering section, promoter, fan, contributor, cruise director, and digital photographer with TT.
Tonight we're having another out-of-towner coming on TestingTesting for your listening pleasure; Small Potatoes !!!
This time, we're *not* in Gordy's living room, but in Robbie Cribb's new digs, 10th pole off of Harbor View, in Freeland, on Whidbey Island, still floating in puget sound !!!
NASA scientists have invented a new video technology called VISAR that helps police track down criminals. VISAR could also benefit medical research and allow home filmmakers to invite a digital dinosaur to their kids' next birthday party. Today officials announced that VISAR has been selected as NASA's 2002 Commercial Invention of the Year.
Just a start...The reason I asked Gordy, my LOML, to start this weblog for my use, is because I have found that I am not only deeply troubled by the war in Iraq, but in trouble emotionally. I found myself sitting in front of the TV screen 24x7 and would just cry and cry and cry some more -- a personal melt down -- and this was not doing me, or anyone else, any good despite my need to "fly the plane"*.
After chatting with Marilyn, I have since, extricated myself from the 24x7 TVlurking, and have tried to minimize the media input (per doctor's orders) and so, I guess it's time for me to start some "healthy" healing by writing about this "action" -- hence, I'll start with this counter which will be automatically updated:
curiouser and curiouser... I tried to put the code for the counter within this entry, but it doesn't work properly, so I've now put it under the "nav bar" to the left instead
*"Fly The Plane" is a term I use to delude myself that I have some control over things. The original use was to, yes, fly the plane -- I would not sleep, but stay alert and awake during the flight, ensuring that it would stay aloft (I mean everyone knows something that heavy can't possibly stay in the air without help, right? ), hence, I would "fly the plane". People probably didn't realize that they arrived safely at their destination, not due to physics, science, engineering, trained pilots et al, but due to my staying alert and "flying the plane".
Since then, I have used the term when people I love are having surgery etc...I stay awake, and alert and "fly the plane" -- not daring to leave "my post".
My Father's Eyes (..Shirley Temple's dimples)... I finally motivated myself to create a banner for my 'blog. I tend to avoid having my photo taken, so this is a rare occurrence.
As I edited my banner in Photoshop®, I noticed that my eyes truly are my Father's! The color, the shape, the furrowed brow.
If I look really hard, I see his compassion for others, his pragmatic outlook on life, his work ethic, his sense of the ridiculous, his wisdom, his worries, his striving to be the best he can be (but never feeling he ever succeeded) his tenacity (read: stubborn), his rare but wonderful laughter, his love of all living things, his music and art appreciation, his curiousity about new technology, his belief that one's word is to be taken as a binding truth, his putting his family & friend's needs before his own, his ability to figure things out, his intuition, his love, his innate sense of style, his "happy girl". People think I look just like my Mother, but I don't have her effervescence, her joie de vive, her artistic talent, her ability to live life so completely and fully without fear, her ability to explode, on a moment's notice, into anger or into laughter with equal exuberance. I don't have her talent to draw people into her world without even trying; people want to be near her, want to make her laugh, make her happy. I don't have her exquisite beauty, her sense of style or creativity. Nor do I have her her youthful appearance; her energy, her sheer brilliance.
But, all things considered, as I look at this photo on the banner, I do note that I really do have Shirley Temple's dimples after all. ##
We salute the Grammy nomination of the late great
Dave Van Ronk's final concert album: 
Thank you Tom for this link to this 
