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Laurie called me this afternoon to tell me about a bumpersticker she saw today:

My other car is a pair of boots.

Love it!

Graffiti as art.

Back in college in the early 80′s, I wrote a paper on graffiti for an art class I was taking. The paper suggested that personal expression on the streets was an art form. While this wasn’t a purely original thought, it was, I believe, early in the movement. And it was controversial in the class. Especially with the real artists. I thought it was really fun – I had great photos, etc. And it was a lot more interesting than my paper about Kandinsky’s White on White.

Max submitted a photo for a contest with the theme Why? – he chose Why do people destroy property? And he came in second place! (He submitted the Blaze photo & spray painted the mat! It was very cool. The other one is from the shoot that day!

Yesterday, my in-laws took us all to a great lunch at the Lancaster Brewing Company. I had a great grilled caesar salad. Yum! But I digress.

The boys went to the rest room and came back laughing uncontrollably. Serious giggles. They tried to explain what they’d seen – and finally, I gave them my phone and told them they could take a picture of it. Here goes.

A graffiti treasure hunt of sorts.

Charming.

Askew.

Ever notice how many 2-syllable words that are just a little off start with a? It might not surprise some of you to know that I spent some time yesterday morning (on a snow day – no school!) laying in my wonderful bed – with the kabillion count sheets expertly washed with Era and Mountain Fresh (okay, I’m still depressed about that) Clorox and my down comforter pulled up high and my three down pillows fluffed to perfection (and I might have hijacked a couple of Andrew’s also) thinking about just that. Two syllable words that start with a that are just a little off.

I vowed to share the list with you. So here goes.

askew
ajar
acerb
adrift
amiss
amok (AKA amuck)
amort
awry

It’s just a start. But,see my point? Now you have a teeny glimpse into the odd workings….

Any to add?

I’ll try to have more coherent thoughts tomorrow.

Wowie wow.

I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it
I’m about to lose control and I think I like it
I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it

(Pointer Sisters originally performed)

I found some new cool online things to play with. First, I played a little hooky this morning and checked some of the blogs in my bookmarks and Bloglines. Not my blogroll…the ones I don’t see so often and some I even forgot about. Wow that was fun! I wish I had a month to explore blogs alone!

Then, I came across the big score. A list of Web 2.0 (barf, I hate that term) search engines. Oh my goodness. What a blast. I’ll put a few here, but I’m going to save some for my business newsletter so I don’t want to spoil it! (shameless plug – if you want to sign up for it, click on that there link and there’s a sign up box at the top right)

Here goes. And if you end up wasting your whole day surfing and playing and don’t get your work or your laundry (or whatever else you were supposed to do) done, it’s not my fault. Okay?

Flickrstorm Really nice mashup for images. Neato! I found this really great series of a gorgeous Italian guy in B/W… but I digress.

FundooWeb mashup with Yahoo!, Flickr, Yahoo! News, Amazon, more…

Whonu semantic web search – totally contextualizes what you’re looking for. Try putting your zip code in. Then try the little links underneath. Hours, I say, hours are lost from my day.

Like is a visual shopping engine. Fun!

Ujiko is just so cool! Try your zip. Try your name. Try anything. It’s so appealing visually and frankly, I just like it!

So there you have it.

Sorry.

Thorny issue.

Every rose has it’s thorn
Just like every night has it’s dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song
Every rose has it’s thorn
(by Poison. I thought it was Whitesnake – silly me! Thanks FSAM)

So today. Wow a lot happened today! No school. Snow and ice.

Max and Reed sledding down the big hill. Crash bang into the brush. Max crying for some time. Turns out he has a big honking thorn in his head. Never mind that Andrew told him (before I got there) not to worry, it’s nothing. Get over it. A big thorn! We had to use pliers to get it out. Yikes.

Later, Reed crashed and you should see his skin-deprived ear. Ugh. Not a pretty sight.

And even later yet? These videos:

The sweet (but oh so corny) one….

The one trying to be sweet, but….

The silly one…

And the gross one…

All in all, it was a very nice (but strange) day.

I heart you.

We were dating a couple of months when we had these taken in a photo booth in Ocean City. What a road trip that was. We talked all the way there (3 hours), for hours in some really ratty bar – one of the few places open off season – and all the way home. It was a business trip, if you can believe it. I had to go see a client’s shop, a Precision Tune, in Salisbury for about 10 minutes. The rest of the day was wonderful. It was when we got to know each other. Really got to know each other. You know what I mean. When you ask each other the hard questions. The awkward ones. And you listen and learn.

That was over 15 years ago.

And there aren’t that many photo booths around anymore. And we have 3 kids – 11, 9, and 8. And a mortgage. And a business.

And it’s good.

Happy Valentines Day, Andrew.

Geogreeting

Have you seen Geogreeting? These are real buildings — nice mashup! Isn’t Andrew geeky? Oops, I meant romantic?

Who benefits?

I got a phone call about 3 weeks ago. Seems Juanita, an older member of the non-profit I currently lead, is ill. I knew she’d had surgery recently; we put get well soon wishes in our monthly newsletter and sent a donation card. But now, as the somewhat gruff member who called me told me, the woman was in need of much more medical care. And unfortunately, Medicare won’t be covering much.

Stepping back a second, I need to tell you that this woman has been a member for quite some time. The organization is a Jewish group, and this woman is not Jewish. Sure we have some non-Jewish members, but this woman? She’s amazing. She volunteers for real jobs – gift wrap, yard sale. Consistently. She posts at all the big events. And even some of the smaller ones.

The first time I met her, I admit I was surprised she was a member of NCJW. Here she was, 70-something African American woman. Quick with a smile, she introduced herself to me. It was at one of our yearly yard sales. Realizing she knew everyone (and I mean everyone!), I started figuring out she had been around.

And it seems she knows everyone at the local Kiwanis, local community association…pretty much everyone. She even hangs out in the shopping center near the rougher middle school to make sure the youths don’t get into trouble before and after school. This woman volunteers for everything. She helps people. Apparently, it’s been her full time job.

So when Ruby called me to tell me that she and some other friends were putting on a fundraiser to help Juanita, I told her I’d do my part to get the word out.

So I did. I sent an email out to the membership. I had it included in the monthly newsletter. Blah blah blah.

And the event was Saturday night. And I went.

Tears filled my eyes as I walked into Kahler Hall. The room was filled – seriously filled – with people. All ages. All races. All for Juanita.

There was food that was donated. Wine, beer, water, soda. All donated. A silent auction. (of course, all donated items) Music was playing. People were laughing.

I asked Juanita how she was feeling. And she said “Never better.” She said that feeling this loved made her heart want to burst.

By the end of the evening, I hear that over $5,000 had been raised for Juanita’s medical expenses and that they expect more to come in.

This is my community. I’m so proud to be a part of it.

All those times I grumble to myself that people are so caught up in themselves. That no one gives a damn about anyone but themselves. All those times. And to think, I was wrong.

This blew me away.

Weekend project.

Cost for jeans and insulation board? $27.00

Time invested? 5 hours (3 for me, 2 for my guest who got sucked into helping)

Reed’s smile? Priceless