Loving and Hating the Colonel

From way back in the days when I used to teach in southeastern Kentucky and lived just down the road from the original Kentucky Fried Chicken stand in Corbin, Kentucky, I have been a fan of the Colonel. I mean, who could hate that yummy crusty 11-spiced up coating surrounding all that moist chickeny goodness? However, over the years, my wiser self has come to realize that not all chicken is good for you--particularly not the lard-infused version KFC sells. So, these days, I typically avoid it.

Until recently. KFC now has a GRILLED version of their recipe! Hubby and decided to try it yesterday (as a test, of course). I am delighted to report that the new slimmer, meaner KFC is yummy (although hubby is not nearly as thrilled as I am). You can taste many of those original spices and the insides are nice and juicy.

Give it a try! Your taste buds and your waist line will thank you! And, no! This is not a paid post. Let me know what you think of the new KFC.

(photo by ax2groin @ http://www.flickr.com/)

Lovely Is As Lovely Does

I hope my blog Subjective Soup received the One Lovely Blog Award from Xephan and Reema because it's lovely. With my new look that Harriet created for me, I am feeling particularly lovely these days! Thanks again Harriet and thanks Xephan and Reema for noticing!

Let's see. Who else is especially lovely these days? As I look around the blogosphere here are a few blogs that simply glisten and gleam!

1. New York Nitty Gritty: I know, I know. Not all the fantastic photographs on this blog are of lovely images in New York, but the quality of the photography IS amazingly lovely.

2. Photography By KML: Here again, I am impressed with the skill of this unbelievable photographer.

3. Photodito: The photographic images on this blog really pull me in--a beautiful golden apple followed by realistic scenes of telephone repair men.

4. Beltran Studios: I love the art work produced in these studios.

5. Digital Artisan: I am always drawn back to the image on this site of a flower on a piano keyboard.

6. Color Addiction Blog: Lots of beautiful jewelry--beautifully photographed!

Enjoy! They are all lovely! Don't you think?

Milton the Martian

My husband Milton informed me quite early in our relationship that he was a Martian. As proof, he showed me his collection of Marvin the Martian creatures. His large Marvin holds a place of honor in our house, guarding us from high on Milt's roll top desk. The small Marvin is close by, as is the Marvin face on a ball. (I grouped them together for this photograph).

For those of you who aren't Martians, Marvin the Martian was first introduced by Warner Brothers in their Looney Tunes cartoon series back in 1948 in Haredevil Devil. He was supposed to look somewhat like an ant dressed as Mars, the Roman god of war. In the Looney Tunes' adventures, Marvin was a destructive character and frequently outsmarted the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. More recently, Marvin has been seen in television cartoons such as The Simpsons and South Park. Marvin is also the mascot for NASA's Mars Rover space exploration vehicle program, with his image being featured on both rovers.

My Martian, Milton, is not as war-like as Marvin. My Milton is gentle, considerate and tender (although he does scream at politicians a lot). I'm hoping that the planet Mars is inhabited with creatures that are more like my Milton than Marvin. Oh, you say that Mars isn't inhabited? Wrong, says my Milton! All the residents live underground in an amazingly complex civilization. I can hardly wait to visit!

What do you think?

(NASA insignia from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Martian)

Memorial Day Memos

Just a few memos for you, then off to celebrate Memorial Day!

1. First--a great big thank you to the amazing Harriet of Creative Site Me who redesigned both of my blogs--Communication Exchange and Subjective Soup. I have been wanting to make-over my blogs for quite a while, but I was afraid that it would require me to do things I couldn't do. That is, I thought a designer would send me reams of html code for me to place in my template. Egads! I knew I'd never be able to do that!

Never fear! Working with Harriet was a piece of cake! She was quick, responsive, and understanding of a total computer doofus like me. It feels as if I've had my entire house completely remodeled--along with having my closets re-organized too! Not only do my blogs look better, but they also have more room and don't feel so cramped. It's wonderful! I highly recommend Harriet to all of you who are interested in updating your blog--and inexpensively too!

2. Second--a great big thank you to all members of the military, police, and fire fighters. My grandfather Clarence fought in World War I and my dad Richard fought in World War II. Although I didn't have much of a personal connection to the military growing up, when I met my husband Milt, he was active duty in the Air Force, so I became "militarized" quickly! Although I do have some funny stories about my introduction to military life ("Mrs. Rockwell, if the United States Air Force had wanted you to have a baby, they would have issued you one."), most of my experiences with the military have been positive.

I have discovered over the years, that people in the military are, far and away, the most generous, unassuming, considerate, and hard-working people I have ever met. Now, our family has come full-circle and my nephew Kyle is in the Army, stationed in South Korea. Certainly, with today's announcement of North Korea's new underground atomic test, he is uppermost in my thoughts.

Whatever we may think of our country's policies, our soldiers, veterans, and other protectors such as our police and our fire fighters deserve to be honored on this Memorial Day.

(photo by cowboybill13mwz @ www.flickr.com)

I've Had It With Telephone Solicitation!

We were awakened early this morning with beeping from my husband's cell phone. He keeps it on so our children can contact us in case of an emergency. My heart skipped a beat. What could be wrong? Guess what it was? A big sale at Payless Shoe Store!

I'm the same way with my land line phone. Maybe it's my generation, but a ringing phone MUST be answered. I need my phone on and available in case there is trouble and for interaction with friends and family members whom I don't see every day. I know there are people out there who don't mind letting the phone ring and having the answering machine take a message. I'm not one of those people.

If I had been keeping track of the actual phone calls I have received in the past few months, I know the percentages would be about 5% meaningful calls and 95% advertisers or solicitors. It is in my nature to be courteous to people who call me, but I am quickly getting to the point where I no longer feel obliged to be polite because these telephone solicitors call with such frequency that I don't know what to do--except hang up.

When we lived in Louisiana, there was a "Do Not Call" law where you could request that solicitors not call you and if they did, they would be breaking the law. That worked, we felt, for a while. Then it seemed it slowly lost its effectiveness. We have lived in Illinois for almost two years now and the constant barrage of telephone solicitation drives me batty!

Believe me, I'm all for advertising. I want businesses to be able to advertise and make money and be successful. I have no gripe with ads on television, radio, movies, newspapers, billboards, etc. But a telephone is a private communication device, not a public message board! Please, advertisers, you do yourself a disservice by phoning potential customers; in fact, you probably antagonize them.

What do you think? Should telephone solicitation be banned? Or am I living in the dark ages?

(photo by planetoftheades @ www.flickr.com)

Answers to "First Line Favorites" Meme

Okay, folks! It's been over a week since I posted this list of first lines from ten of my favorite novels and plays and asked you to guess them. Now, here are the answers!

1. Grocer's Wife: Oh, that woman gets on my nerves! Too stuck up to buy from us nowadays! (Eugene Ionesco's insightful absurdist drama Rhinoceros)

2. I am almost a whole day old now. (Mark Twain's charming take on the battle of the sexes--Eve's Diary)

3. In a castle of Westphalia, belonging to the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, lived a youth, whom nature had endowed with the most gentle of manners. (my favorite French novel, Voltaire's satire Candide)

4. Algernon: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane? (Oscar Wilde's delightful comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest)

5. Tituba: My Betty be hearty soon? (Sherry at Ex Marks the Spot knew this opener from one of my favorite American plays--Arthur Miller's The Crucible)

6. It is difficult to know quite where to begin my story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. (Murder at the Vicarage from the Queen of mysteries, Agatha Christie)

7. Theseus: Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in

Another moon; but O, methinks, how slow

This old moon wanes! (Grace at Hugs Before You Go is right with Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream)

8. Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. (Flit at Flit's Canadian Fiction knew James Thurber's The Unicorn in the Garden)

9. Tom: Yes, I have tricks in my pocket. (the beginning of Tom's beautiful opening monologue in Tennessee Williams' amazing The Glass Menagerie)

10. Bartholomew Lampion was blinded at the age of three, when surgeons reluctantly removed his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer, but although eyeless, Barty regained his sight when he was thirteen. (Sherry from Ex Marks the Spot knew one of my favorite Dean Koontz novels--From the Corner of His Eye)

Congratulations to those of you who knew your first lines (particularly Sherry who got two right)! Bravo! I guess you can tell the type of literature I like. What do the first lines from your favorite pieces of literature say about you?

(photo by graffink @ www.flickr.com)

A Serendipitous Scene

I just finished reading Hybrids, the third book in Robert J. Sawyer’s science fiction series about the meeting between homo sapiens of our world with Neanderthals from an alternate universe. My blogger friend Flit of Flitting Through Canadian Fiction recommended this Canadian writer and I’m glad she did. Sawyer’s works entrance me. Although his characters aren’t quite as exotic as those of my favorite writer Dean Koontz, his plots vibrate with ingenuity and cleverness. There are many “aha” moments to be had in his fast-moving stories.

One small moment in Hybrids (that was very "aha" for me) involves a plot turn which is similar to an event that occurs in the mystery I wrote called The Sound of Murder (you can read a revised version of the first chapter here). As I'm presently working on revising my novel, I feel as if I have each line of it almost memorized. So when I read this paragraph in Hybrids, I was excited by the similarities. The scene in question involves the use of a lot of computer terminology and I was worried when I wrote my version that it wouldn’t sound accurate to a computer expert. So, when I read this scene in Hybrids I was delighted to see Sawyer using comparable terminology and description.

See for yourself:

The Sound of Murder
Patricia Rockwell

Pamela glanced around the lab. Already she’d been here too long. Anyone might walk in at any moment, and after what Shoop had said to her, she didn't want to run into anyone in here. Grabbing a blank CD from a bottom drawer in the master console, she slid it into the CD slot and hit “duplicate.” The console whizzed and whirred and then quickly stopped. She opened the drawer and removed the CD, placing it back in its paper sleeve and into her purse. Then, after shutting down the console, she gave the lab a quick once over, and when she was certain it was the same as it was when she entered, she slipped out, locking the door behind her. (p. 67)

Hybrids
Robert J. Sawyer

Mary knew that she might never again get access to these computer files. She looked around Jock’s office and found a spindle of blank CDs (Kodak brand, of course, this being Rochester). She took one, put it in the computer’s CD drive, and clicked on the CD-burning application. Just to be on the safe side, she selected all the files in the folder. The whole thing topped out at 610 meg—small enough to fit on a single CD. She clicked the “copy files” button, and leaned back in the Aeron chair—which, just now, didn’t seem comfortable at all—wishing she knew some way to calm her racing heart. (p. 306).

Yes, there are obvious differences between the two excerpts. I say “duplicate” and Sawyer says “copy files.” I have my blank CDs in a drawer and Sawyer has his on a spindle. I put the CD into the “CD slot” and Sawyer puts his in the “CD drive." The major similarity is that both main characters are nervous about copying these computer files--and well they should be in both stories! I’m hoping that the computer terms and procedures I describe are accurate enough to pass muster with computer experts. Reading Sawyer's paragraph assures me somewhat.

What do you think?

How Lovely!

How lovely! I received a One Lovely Blog Award from Maria at Writings of Maria. She has asked me to distribute the award to 15 other bloggers that are newly discovered (and, of course, to contact each of them to let them know how lovely their blogs are!). Fifteen was more than I was able to do, but searching my Entrecard inbox yesterday, I encountered ten lovely blogs that are new to me (or relatively new) and I hope you will find them as lovely as I do!

1. Window in the Web

2. My Lanpband Progress

3. Flavor of Nothing

4. House of Book

5. Doug's Missoula Blog

6. blackwomanthinks

7. the single frugalton

8. Wine at Five

9. C'est la Vie

10. Kenabeck's Korner

What do you say? They're lovely, aren't they?

Recent Ruminations on Entrecard

Sorry to all of you out there who don't know or care about Entrecard (an online system which promotes blogs and bloggers), but I have some thoughts about Entrecard's new system of paid ads and I'm going to share them with you.

I really want Entrecard's new system of paid ads to work, because I believe any business deserves to make a profit. Entrecard provides a wonderful service to bloggers and it deserves to benefit from all of its hard efforts. However, I am well aware of the dissatisfaction that exists among many Entrecard members regarding the new paid advertising system. Many members are so unhappy that they are refusing to accept paid ads; some have even left Entrecard altogether.

So far, I have not taken a stand. I have been accepting most (but not all) paid ads. I have not purchased any ads, nor have I sold any ad credits. I have tremendous sympathy for those who dislike the new system. However, I am trying to remain neutral.

In my neutrality, I do have concerns. One concern is how the new paid ad system affects members' typical Entrecard dropping behavior. Deb at Mama Flo's Place discussed this issue recently. Many members, like Deb, worry that if they accept paid ads, these ads will take over the Entrecard widget and the regular EC ads will not be worth as much as they used to be. I am concerned about this issue also. This morning I tested the premise by visiting this blog ten times and checking to see which EC ad was running each time. Four of the ten times, the scheduled EC free ad ran. Six of the ten times, a paid ad ran. Now, this was just a test, but I had hoped that the EC free ad would run at least five of the ten times I checked.

A second concern I have involves the number of paid ads running. As I look at my Entrecard dashboard, I count over 100 paid ads. When I ran my mini-test this morning, one paid ad ran three times and the other three times were each different paid ads. I have no idea how Entrecard circulates over 100 paid ads on my blog to give equal distribution to them all.

Along this same line, as Deb at Mama Flo's has noted, the new system has influenced my Entrecard dropping behavior. Typically, I would always drop on my advertisers first, then my favorites, then my inbox. This is becoming harder to do with over 100 paid ads. Obviously, I have no problem dropping on my EC free ads, because these are usually blogs I visit and love. Also, the EC free ads move up the ladder in sequence and when they reach the top, they run on my blog for 24 hours and then are removed. I can count on that happening. However, with the paid ads, the ads seem to just stay in the queue and never are removed, with the line of paid ads becoming longer and longer every day! It is becoming increasingly difficult (and exhausting) to drop on all of them. Yes, some of the paid ads are from blogs I visit and I enjoy dropping there, but the vast majority do not interest me (and I'm sure I do not interest them and, therefore, they will probably not return my drops). And, of course, it's impossible to tell which paid ad is just an ad and which is actually a blog with an Entrecard widget until you actually visit. When there are over 100 paid ads, I can hardly remember which are blogs and which are not.

So, what I am saying is this: I no longer intend to drop on my paid ads, until I see that these paid ads are being treated similarly to the unpaid ads and disappear after a set period of time, and until I see that the paid ads are not running more than 50% of the time on my blogs' Entrecard widgets (as promised by Entrecard).

Entrecard has a right to make money and a right to institute this new system, but they have an obligation to keep their loyal members updated about how the system works (or doesn't work) and, so far, they aren't doing a very good job of that.

What do you think?

"First Lines from Favorites" Meme

I swiped this meme from Stephanie at Ask Me Anything. Here are the first lines from ten of my favorite pieces of literature (many of these are plays rather than novels, as I have a long theatrical background). For the plays, I have given you the name of the speaking character. If you are the first person to correctly guess one of the ten in a comment, I will update the post with your name and your correct guess. I will repost this meme some time next week with the answers and the names of the readers who knew them. Good luck!

1. Grocer’s Wife: Oh, that woman gets on my nerves! Too stuck up to buy from us nowadays!

2. I am almost a whole day old now.

3. In a castle of Westphalia, belonging to the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, lived a youth, whom nature had endowed with the most gentle of manners.

4. Algernon: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

5. Tituba: My Betty be hearty soon? (Sherry at Ex Marks the Spot knew this opener from one of my favorite American plays--Arthur Miller's The Crucible)

6. It is difficult to know quite where to begin my story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage.

7. Theseus: Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in
Another moon; but O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! (Grace at Hugs Before You Go is right with Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream)

8. Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. (Flit at Flit's Canadian Fiction knew James Thurber's The Unicorn in the Garden)

9. Tom: Yes, I have tricks in my pocket.

10. Bartholomew Lampion was blinded at the age of three, when surgeons reluctantly removed his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer, but although eyeless, Barty regained his sight when he was thirteen. (Sherry from Ex Marks the Spot knew one of my favorite Dean Koontz novels--From the Corner of His Eye)

So, can you guess?

(photo by Sir Andrew Aguecheek @ www.flickr.com)

Music Torture

When we think of torture, what probably comes instantly to mind these days is waterboarding. But other types of torture abound, as I discovered when I recently read Ilias Chrissochoidis' article in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled "Composed in Hypocrisy." The author describes the concern of several academic music groups such as the American Musicological Society and the Society for Ethnomusicology about governments (particularly the United States government) that use music as a type of torture.

I did not realize that music was used as torture, but evidently it is according to Wikipedia. The type of music typically used for torture is heavy metal or some type of hard rock music played at loud levels. Certainly, I empathize with prisoners undergoing such torture as I would not find such music pleasant either (although I know plenty of young people who would). If you wanted to torture an American teenager you probably wouldn't succeed by playing hard rock. You'd probably need to blast them with Debussy or Chopin.

What would be music torture for you?

(photo by gedankenstuecke @ www.flickr.com)

Beware the Unisex Bathroom

I was sure it was a unisex bathroom—it had the man sign, the woman sign, even the handicapped sign. Or at least, I thought it did. When I opened the door, it looked like a typical public restroom with two stalls. It seemed empty. As I thought it was unisex and I didn’t want some man wandering in, I locked the door and ventured toward the first stall. I quickly did my business and was finishing up when I heard some noises in the booth next to me. I glanced down and saw some shoes and trousers on the floor. I had forgotten that I had locked the door to the restroom, but I didn’t think much of it. It was probably just another lady in the neighboring booth. I left the stall only to be confronted as I exited by a row of urinals—not something I’m accustomed to seeing on a regular basis. Hmm, I thought. Would a unisex restroom have a row of urinals? Maybe that wasn’t a lady in the stall next to mine. I quickly washed my hands, unlocked the door, and exited.

Later, much later (like two days later) my husband, who had been waiting for me outside the restroom, informed me that the “unisex” restroom I had entered was actually a man’s restroom! He thought I knew! He figured I really had to go! He was relieved that he didn’t hear me screaming inside because then he would have had to go in and rescue me! I told him about the feet in the booth next to mine. He said I probably gave some guy quite a scare.

Then I had a lot of questions for him. What are those red bathmats with holes that they put in the bottom of urinals? How in heaven’s name can men stand to pee in front of other men? Why can’t they make bathroom signs that are more obvious to even us morons who can’t read the standard gender symbols?

Have you ever made such a terrible restroom mistake? Am I obsessed with public restrooms? I remember writing a post on my other blog Communication Exchange about a similar experience.

Exciting Field Trip To Darien

Hubby and I broke retirement routine today and went on a field trip to Darien, Illinois, to the Parkhurst Army Reserve Center where we renewed our military photo ID cards for another five years. How exciting!

Here are some shots of our trip including previous ID photo of me and new ID photo (both are horrible). I was especially delighted when the clerk asked me if the weight listed on my old ID card was correct. I told him I weighed a bit less but he could leave the weight as it was. When I got my new card, he had listed my weight as ten pounds lighter than the previous card. Gee, I hope that means he thinks I LOOK ten pounds lighter!

After we got our cards, we returned home and I took hubby to the Egg Harbor Cafe in Naperville (which is a favorite of mine and my sister's) for lunch.

Have you been on any interesting field trips lately?

A Great Idea for Mother's Day

What to get my mother for Mother's Day? It's always a problem. She is 88 years old and lives in a small apartment in an assisted living facility. She doesn't want candy, clothes, or flowers. She doesn't want to be taken out to dinner. She doesn't want any thing to put in her apartment.

Well, in perusing the Internet and thinking about my mother's history I think I may have found the perfect gift--and it may even be a gift that some of you might want to consider for your mother. I grew up in Nebraska and my mother was always an avid gardener--always planting flowers and trees.

My family lived in Lincoln, not far from Nebraska City, which is where J. Sterling Morton founded the holiday called Arbor Day. Today, the Arbor Day Organization is an international group devoted to planting trees and other environmental good deeds. When I visited their site, I discovered that I could have a tree planted in one of the national forests in my mother's name for a very small fee and they would send her a card that thanked her for this donation that I could give her for Mother's Day. Perfect!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! What are you getting your mother for Mother's Day?

(photo from www.arborday.org)

Mystery Bird and Top April Droppers

What is the name of this tall, white water bird that inhabits the lake behind my home? He finally got close enough the other day so I could get some shots of him (not great ones, I'm sorry to say), but I hope good enough for some of you birders out there to identify him!

I know, at least, that he is not a rare white peacock that Veronica Lee discusses on her blog Of Mice and Ramen. Wow! Now there's a beautiful bird!

Also beautiful are the ten bloggers who visited Subjective Soup every day in April and left their Entrecard. Thank you, Top Ten Droppers for April!