Ipod + Donuts= Bad

Two things I thought I loved have fallen from grace, namely donuts and ipods.

Donuts
My craving and belief that I would like to eat donuts has ceased. Dear Alex brought me some and when I took one look at the grease stains on the bag holding them I knew this was going to be a short lived pregnancy craving. Donuts are the junkiest of junk food, they’re toxically sweet and TransFattyAcid greasy. Yuck. Three cheers to Alex for curing me.

Ipods
My 2nd Ipod in 3 years is dead. The first, the 30 gig sort, succumb to Alex’s Gatorade. The second, the 40 gig variety, and most recently deceased went haywire yesterday for no reason (think clicking and the file folder with exclamation icon). The warranty is expired and so I’m throwing in the Ipod towel and going for a cheaper, not so chic option.

MeHim, An Introduction

Well, it's officially official--Alex and I are having a little human!

There’s not much to report other than the above ultrasound images and that I’ve busted out of all my jeans.

Seriously, this seems like it's been way too easy--no nausea, no aching chest, etc. My only real complaints are the nightly sweats (the 'soaking-2-towels-and-then-the-sheets' sort of sweats) and hunger (the 'I’m-up-at-3:00am-to-eat-another-banana' sort of hunger).

Speaking of hunger, I have had some very, at least for me, unusual cravings. For instance, I used to loathe blueberries—they were just too sweet. Now I can't get enough. Salsa and marinara sauce have become worthy of straight from the jar, cold from the fridge kind of eating. The next . . . I'm embarrassed to say so I’ll let the photo do the talking.



I know it’s snobby and ridiculous but I always considered the taste-return on calorie- investment a waste. I’m also embarrassed because I just don’t eat low quality junk like this. My, how things change.

I want the sort that you see here, but I can't find them here and I can’t get them on mail order (yes, I did a thorough investigation) so donut holes will have to suffice.

Yesterday I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn't even bring myself to say the name of what I wanted. I just pointed and said "I'll have 2 white and 2 brown please,"

So back to the point, which is not food or my snobby perceptions of it, rather it's Mini Mallet, due to enter the scene on August 14!

City Bench

People Rainbow

little man 2

Website Debut (insert drumroll)

My near and dear friend, and fellow photographer, Stefanie Kimball has just released her photography business website. She does amazing maternity and childrens' portraiture so if you're preggers or once was, you should have her work her wonders on you and your kinfolk.

www.stefanielynnphotography.com

P.S. Pass the it on!

Smoke Break

The Cutest, Eva

This is Arjunan Chatani Easwarachandran (aka the cutest little man eva). Brought to you by our smart, gorgeous, and-all-that-other-good-stuff, friends Kiran and Kohi.

Best Photographs of 2005

Big ups to my oldest friend Nancy for pointing me to this amazing collection of the year's best photos. My favorite is the Buddhist monks walking across the waterfall.

Check them out here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10467269

Lanterns

Kittens and Kigali

I've always had vivid dreams. Lately, things are becoming more so.

This week's REM

I’m ordering Mexican hot chocolate from a peasant woman. She pours milk into a jar she has on a shelf and something inside the jar starts moving. I asked her what it is. She informs me that this is the way authentic Mexican hot chocolate is made, with a kitten in a jar. You simply add chocolate and milk and let the kitten get a mixing.

Being the cat lady I protested and demanded the kitten be let out of the jar. The woman told me to “relax, it's only in there 8 hours a day.”

I'm in Kigali at a UN conference then something goes very wrong and I'm running through the jungle and across coffee plantations to escape the Hutus who are trying to get me and some Tutsi guy I met at the conference.

The only green seen

Observing Alien Life

Red Chair

Seattle Snow, 2004

Terremaid

Arnold, This Glower is For You

The Terminator who Terminated Tookie

Warning to Rightish Minded Readers who are Pro State Sponsored Death: I am a liberal who opposes the death penalty.

Tookie was took--I can't believe Schwarzenegger let it happen. Wait..... I take that back....This is America......I'm not surprised at all.

I'm ready to move to Europe.

Alex, dust off that EU Passport because European Green Party, here I come.

December 13, 2005
Europeans Outraged at Schwarzenegger
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:54 a.m. ET

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- California's execution of Stanley Tookie Williams on Tuesday outraged many in Europe who regard the practice as barbaric, and politicians in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's native Austria called for his name to be removed from a sports stadium in his hometown.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI's top official for justice matters denounced the death penalty for going against redemption and human dignity.

''We know the death penalty doesn't resolve anything,'' Cardinal Renato Martino told AP Television News. ''Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity.''

Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and many Europeans consider state-sponsored executions to be barbaric. Those feelings were amplified in the case of Williams, due to the apparent remorse they believe the Crips gang co-founder showed by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence.

Leaders of Austria's pacifist Green Party went as far as to call for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship -- a demand that was quickly rejected by Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel despite his government's opposition to the death penalty.

''Whoever, out of political calculation, allows the death of a person rehabilitated in such an exemplary manner has rejected the basic values of Austrian society,'' said Peter Pilz, a Greens leader.

In Schwarzenegger's hometown of Graz, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove his name from the southern city's sports stadium. A Christian political group went even further, suggesting it be renamed the ''Stanley Tookie Williams Stadium.''

''Mr. Williams had converted, and unlike Mr. Schwarzenegger, opposed every form of violence,'' said Richard Schadauer, the chairman of the Association of Christianity and Social Democracy.
Williams was executed early Tuesday at California's San Quentin State Prison after Schwarzenegger denied Williams' request for clemency. Schwarzenegger suggested that Williams' supposed change of heart was not genuine because he had not shown any real remorse for the killings committed by the Crips.

Criticism came quickly from many quarters, including the Socialist Party in France, where the death penalty was abolished in 1981.

''I am proud to be a Frenchman,'' party spokesman Julien Dray told RTL radio. ''I am proud to live in France, in a country where we don't execute somebody 21 years later.''
''Schwarzenegger has a lot of muscles, but apparently not much heart,'' Dray said.
In Italy, the country's chapter of Amnesty International called the execution ''a cold-blooded murder.''

''His execution is a slap in the face to the principle of rehabilitation of inmates, an inhumane and inclement act toward a person who, with his exemplary behavior and his activity in favor of street kids, had become an important figure and a symbol of hope for many youths,'' the group said.

In Germany, Volker Beck, a leading member of the opposition Greens party, expressed disappointment. ''Schwarzenegger's decision is a cowardly decision,'' Beck told the Netzeitung online newspaper.

From London, Clive Stafford-Smith, a human rights attorney specializing in death penalty cases, called the execution ''very sad.''

''He was twice as old as when they sentenced him to die, and he certainly wasn't the same person that he was when he was sentenced,'' Stafford-Smith said.

Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said the city would keep Williams in its memory the next time it celebrates a victory against the death penalty somewhere in the world.

Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's anti-death penalty stance. Since 1999, the monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment.

''I hope there will be such an occasion soon,'' Veltroni said in a statement. ''When it happens, we will do it with a special thought for Tookie.''

Beastie

Ya, it's oldish, but I don't have anything new so this is what ya get.