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January 29, 2006
Quick & Easy Marshmallow Roasting
Place entire bag of marshmallows on back of stove where oven vents (use jumbo size bag for best results). Forget they are there. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Leave long enough for plastic bag to melt away, and bottom layer of marshmallows to turn golden brown.
Posted by Anna at 4:29 PM | Comments (1)
January 28, 2006
Do You Remember?
It's been 20 years since the Challenger exploded just a few seconds into it's flight, but I still remember seeing it happen live on TV. I was only 13, but it made quite an impression. I even wanted to be an astronaut for awhile after. Funny how time changes things, now I think our world would be better served by taking the money we throw away looking for possible evidence of microscopic lifeforms on uninhabitable planets and use it on improving the living conditions of the neediest lifeforms currently residing on this planet. Surely if we can put a man on the moon we could bring food and water to Africa, perhaps not as glamorous, but much more worthwhile.
Posted by Anna at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
A Dubious Honor....
The maintenance supervisor at work has taken to calling me the "best maintenance man on second shift". I'm not quite sure how to take this, as I'm not in the maintenance department, nor am I male.
Posted by Anna at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2006
I don't know...
... who Dorian Gray is, but I still love James Blunt's song "Tears and Rain" (from his "Back to Bedlam" album). I could listen to his music all day, and his biography is as interesting as his music. And even though his vocals are great, I'd really love to hear a purely instrumental album by him.
Posted by Anna at 7:51 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2006
What's on my mind?
Every week I get a little closer to my goal of home-ownership. Watching my downpayment savings grow and dreaming of what MY little house will be like fills a lot of my downtime. This week, while mindlessly making thousands of little car parts, I found myself pondering the energy costs of a home.
Right now I'm in a one-bedroom apartment, and the heat in it just plain sucks. I've got two little electric heaters which are supposed to heat the place, but in the winter it's tough to get it over 65 degrees and prevent having a heart attack when the light bill arrives. I discovered electric blankets, which are a huge help, as it's much cheaper to just heat me than it is to heat the entire apartment. But, sadly this winter, my main electric blanket gave out, and I've not replaced it since moving to a new place will mean buying a "real" bed (instead of the twin bed I'm using now), so I've decided to wait and buy one which will be the right size for a new bed.
Initially, I'd thought if I bought a home with a gas heating system, my worries over high heating bills would be ended. That was before Katrina, now with the cost of gas soaring to awful heights I'm not so sure it would be a better choice than electric. Enter the third option: solar electricity (aka photovoltaics or PV). So I made a mental list of what I'd need to know about solar electricity, and once home I unleashed the incredible power of google to begin my quest.
Along the journey, I stumbled into the U.S. Department of Energy's "Million Solar Roofs Inititative", and suddenly my hair-brained idea of a solar powered home seems more realistic than idealistic. Although the cost of installing a system is expensive, there are some great financial incentives to consider, as well as the knowledge that a system would pay for itself in less than ten years. For example, the federal government is offering a 30% tax credit up to $2,000 (not to be confused with a deduction) for homes which install a photovoltaic system, as well as a seperate credit for solar water heating systems (complete info here).
The "Rosie the Riveter" side of me has been activated, this is a challenge I know I'm up for. Of course, there is also the warm fuzzy feeling I'll get from doing something which does not harm the environment, and the space-age "tech-y" feeling for being on the leading edge of the new era of energy.
Posted by Anna at 5:26 PM | Comments (2)
January 19, 2006
IMHO: Should death row inmates be allowed the right to refuse lifesaving medical care?
The execution of Clarence Ray Allen, the second oldest death row inmate since the death penalty resumed, leaves behind an interesting question. Having already suffered one heart attack in September, Allen requested that he not be resuscitated should he go into cardiac arrest prior to his execution. Prison officials said if the situation arose they would refuse to honor his request.
"At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life. We would resuscitate him," then execute him, prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon is reported to have said in this CNN.com story. I wonder about the paradox in this policy, there seems to be cruely and hope in the same breath. It is good that the prison officials would not simply allow him to die to be done with it, in case of a last minute change, but at the same time to resuscitate someone who is facing certain death seems cruel.
I don't personally know anyone who has been resuscitated, but it does not sound like an easy recovery. When I learned CPR over two decades ago the instructor taught us to expect to hear sounds of bones cracking, and explained that sometimes ribs break in the process. Allen had been resuscitated recently, and would certainly be able to decide if he wanted to go through the experience again.
Would it be unreasonable to allow death row inmates a living will? Perhaps this concept is too new to for a prison official to determine, but it's a debate that should be opened. How would advance directives for prison inmates differ from the general public? What would the legislature need to consider? What safeguards need to be put into place to allow inmates that right? Should a court review the request to be sure the inmate has voluntarily made the decision and to insure the inmate understands his/her right to revoke the decision at any time? Has our society evolved to a point where we are ready for questions like these?
Posted by Anna at 2:53 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
James Frey: Literary Pioneer
I've watched with mild interest the controversy swirling around the book "A Million Little Pieces" written by James Frey and energetically endorsed by Oprah. This is a book I haven't read, and since it appears to lean more toward fiction than non-fiction, it's not likely that I will read it, but the controversy I do find intriguing. For some reason tonight, while performing a mindless task, it occured to me that Frey may have stumbled into an entirely new genre of literature. Reality TV is already wildly popular, and most viewers don't seem to mind that there is very little "reality" occuring, so why not "Reality Literature"? Writers could publish stories which contain elements of truth, but which readers would understand have been exagerated for dramatic effect.
Posted by Anna at 2:53 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Dear Senator Clinton,
How is the US House of Representatives like a plantation Senator Clinton? Your apples and oranges comparison shows a total disrespect for the African Americans who do know what it is to be a slave. Maybe you feel your voice wasn't heard, but did you face brutal beatings for your disent? Did you spend hard summers forced to work with inadequate protection from the heat and sun, poor nutrition, rags for clothing? Did you face winters without heat, did you walk through snow in barefeet? Were you taken from your homeland, transported in unhuman conditions thousands of miles away to a strange land where you couldn't understand the language and treated as an animal? Was your family ripped apart? Your children taken from your arms, sold to others who would treat them as cruely? Were you raped by your Masters? Were you unjustly convicted by lynch mobs of heinous crimes based solely on the color of your skin? Were you condescended on by a "Christian" church through the taking of a vote to determine whether you had a soul and could go to heaven? This list could go on and on.
What do you offer in comparison? An annual income of $157,000 (as of 2004), health benefits, life insurance, retirement plan. You've had a comfortable life, yet you claim to be on par with children of slaves. Your education cannot compare with what they've learned about the depths of human indecency.
*** My Recommendations:
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (note: my recommendation is for the dvd edition, I have not read the book.)
Contempt of Court
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
Posted by Anna at 12:43 PM | Comments (2)
If......
If there is reincarnation, I want to come back as something that hibernates.
Posted by Anna at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2006
First Snow
After a week with daytime temps in the mid 60's I've been wondering if we somehow managed to skip winter this year and moved right into spring. My hopes were dashed when a co-worker informed me after supper tonight that "It's pouring snow now". Indeed it is, by the time I left work my car had to be brushed off. I just looked out, only two hours later and there's about twice the snow covering it again. All the natives will be in heaven tomorrow, people get crazy when it snows here. I'll have to pull out my little "snowman in a box" kit that sister Gloria gave me over a year ago for Christmas, but hasn't been used yet, due to lack of snow. After making a mini patio snowman, I'll spend the rest of the day curled up with a good book and a mug of hot cocoa.
Posted by Anna at 2:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 8, 2006
Oh great.....
I think my computer has become a teen-ager. If I want it to do something I have to tell it twice.
Posted by Anna at 7:59 PM | Comments (1)
QUIET!!!!!! (please)
Here's an article I've been mulling over for several days. An increased risk of heart attack due to noisy environments could be a problem for me, as I work in a noisy press shop. (I frequently compare it to listening to a percussion band warming up, each machine has it's own rhythm, and they never quite seem to get it together.) Of course, I wear the mandated hearing protection, but even still, I'm constantly surrounded by noise.
But for some reason, I have a hard time believing it is noise alone which causes increased risk of heart attack. I spend ten hours a night observing the behaviors of my co-workers, and quite frankly, a lot of them are heart attacks looking for a place to happen. Their diets consist mostly of whatever unhealthy combinations of carbohydrate, fat and artificial preservatives are available from the vending machines. It's entirely possible some of them haven't eaten fresh produce since Ronald Reagan was president. A majority of my co-workers smoke, and probably consider a pack-a-day habit moderation. They shun preventive medicine, use recreational drugs, drink to excess, and the favorite stress-reduction technique involves foul language and obscene gestures (never at me, mind you, I'm a lady and this IS the south after all). Few of them believe in personal responsibility, long-term planning, goal setting, problem solving or considering the consequences of actions. If pressed on the point, most of them would likely reply with "Ya gotta die of somethin'", "Ya cain't live forever" or a similar variation.
I invite the researchers to prove me wrong, but until they do, I'm tellin' ya, it's not the noise.
Posted by Anna at 7:27 PM | Comments (0)
My first ever blog award....
I have just joined the ranks of award winning Tennessee bloggers.
Posted by Anna at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 7, 2006
Oh Baby!!!!!
How to let everyone in the world know you breastfeed...
Posted by Anna at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)
National Red Light Running Day.....
I think that must be what we're celebrating today. I don't know how many times cross-traffic drivers entered the intersection after MY light turned green. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, sheesh.
Posted by Anna at 6:04 PM | Comments (0)
January 5, 2006
Does Anyone Know?
How to weld platinum???
Ok, I know that's not a normal question, here's the story. Yesterday at work I was having a conversation with the Captain of "Team Them" (Management). I had just informed him that I AM special (leaving the definition of "special" open to interpretation). He didn't think special quite covered it, that I needed something extra. I suggested just an asterisk, simple, almost understated, beautiful. No, that wasn't it, and besides, who would want to be an asterisk? "But, when you see an asterisk, you go looking for the explanation." I argued, "An asterisk with no explanation would drive people bonkers." (I won that point.) Somehow the conversation then turned to a reset button I had to stretch to reach, he suggested I ask the maintenance supervisor to lower the button for me, and was certain if I made the request it would be granted. (Apparently, not everyone in the plant knows that no one listens to me.) I offered the common sense reaction of the maintenance supervisor that I get a stool (and pointed to the one I already had). Oh, but then he would make me my own special steel stool, because if they're going to put me on a pedestal, it should be special. "Well, if that's the case," I said, "I don't want steel, I want platinum." "I don't think he knows how to weld platinum," came the reply.
Posted by Anna at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)
DIY Cough Medicine
I've spent the last couple weeks fighting and recovering from what I thought was allergies, but which my supervisor quickly diagnosed as "What's going around" (I think he's fishing for a copay). I wound up loosing my voice for about three days, and while I'm mostly recovered, there's still this ticklish cough hanging around. It's most irritating at night, it likes to kick in as soon as I lay down. So yesterday, having decided I was not going to spend another night fighting with it, I went to my friendly hometown Kroger store, and bought some fresh thyme.
Thyme is well known for it's anti-viral properties, and several years ago I learned how to make a cough syrup from thyme, which worked very well against the ticklish type of cough I've been having the last couple nights. Instead of going for the dried thyme like I normally do I decided to try using fresh thyme. (My thinking was that fresh herb might have retained more of the medicinal properties than dried herb.) After stripping the leaves from the stems I placed the leaves into a tea ball and left it in boiling water until the water had reduced significantly. I add honey for sweetening, and the end result is more like a strong tea than a syrup. I did use some of it before going in to work, but saved most of it for bedtime, and I fell asleep much sooner last night than the previous nights.
I'm brewing tonights stock while typing this, and thinking about experimenting with growing my own herbs in the window. (One side-effect of using fresh herbs is that my hands smell like thyme for awhile after stripping the leaves, and that makes me hungry for spaghetti.)
Posted by Anna at 1:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 2, 2006
We now resume our regularly scheduled programming...
After ten days of vacation, I find I'm quite ready to return to work today. Not that I haven't enjoyed my time off, in fact I have enjoyed it immensely. I've had time to visit with family, new adventures, time for reading, resting and restoring order to my own chaos. And not that I wouldn't continue to fill my time with enjoyable activities were I not going back tonight, but just that I also happen to like my job, and a few of the people I work with. As it turns out, I thrive on routine, and being left to my own devices for too long is not a great plan.
Posted by Anna at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)