Some of my friends and I are watching a new PBS series called "Frontier House" where three families got sent out into the wilds of Montana to experience the life of frontier homesteaders. Historians set them up with period clothing, tools, supplies, etc. and make them live out there for 5 months. The goal is to get set for the winter, because living through that first winter usually meant the difference between success and failure. Of course, if you stayed for 5 years you got to keep a whole heap of land.

If you've seen it, you've seen a lot of bickering and backbiting about little things the neighbors are doing. They all said they expected to go out there and have this great sense of old-fashioned community, but it turns out they can't stand each other.

Now you know why Montanans don't talk much and have kind of chilly relationships with neighbors. They're always doing something that bugs the hell out of you, but could mean the difference between life and death in the winter. So you just don't discuss neighborly things face to face unless it's going to endanger you or your loved ones. There's also not a whole lot of grape vine rumor going around these little communities. Everyone just has their own experience with their neighbors, and when other people come up in conversation everyone just sort of nods in agreement and moves on. Or says.... "Well, it's the Smiths, so... you know." And shrugs. If you don't know, then you won't agree with me and my assessment of them anyway, so we'll just not go into it.

I miss that.

The producers of the series aren't making them actually try to live through the winter. They experienced a June snowstorm (the narrator called it a 'freak' snowstorm. lemme tell ya. It's not a 'freak' snowstorm until August, and even then.... well, every year we celebrate Christimas in August for a reason) and one of the girls wandered around in wet clothes and nearly got frostbite on her little Californian feet. So I fear had they been left to try to make it through the winter they would have some casualties, and that's not usually conducive to whatever followup series they'll come up with next.

I have been terribly remise in posting here. So sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I managed to forget my mother's birthday as well. My only excuse is that I had a doctor's appointment last week, and then had to do some miracle-working at my day job. So I was tired every night I came home.

Thank goodness for a good staff. They did a lot of the heavy lifting, but I'm the one that took a day off today. I'm near burnout, and just needed some time away.

Books: The goal is to send out that short story again this week. Wish me luck.

I wandered around Amazon for a little bit. Bought Beyond the Quantum and decided that Judith Viorst is one of my favorite authors. Just because the first thing she remembers writing was when she was 6 or 7 years old and wrote a poem - an ode to her dead parents.

Who were very much alive at the time, and a little annoyed.

I'm going to buy several of her books now - and read them wishing I were so clever.

Ok, I'm tired. I admit it. I didn't get much sleep last night. Three hours or so. Overall, I'm holding up ok so far. Adrenaline and rocks. Of course, it also helps that I had paid off most of my sleep debt Saturday. (If I haven't recomended this book yet, let me do it now. It's an owner's manual for sleep.)

Speaking of books. Someone asked me today, just as a conversation point (because, who wants to work, really?) just what are my top five favorite books? That's hard. That's really hard. I realized it was kind of like asking me to choose a favorite child. I use books in such very different ways and approach each one as an individual.

Some of them I use just to learn about writing. Some of them I want to learn something (like the sleep book that I evangelize about above). Some of them I see as spiritual nourishment - the kinds of books you can really sink your teeth into. Others I love just as much, but for very different reasons. For instance, Alexander's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.

It's a children's story, but it does a better job of really illustrating what a true child's life is like than any other book I know. It tells a story, lets you get to know and connect with real characters, tells you something about their life and really communicates - not some weepy message about love and family, just a pure example of dealing with day-to-day frustrations. ("There was kissing on TV. I hate kissing.")

But you see - I can name my top 5 children's books, or I can name my top five books that brought on a paradigm shift for me personally, or I can name my top five science books..... I can even name the top five books I've heard about but haven't read yet. (Have I mentioned Beyond the Quantum? Must read that. Sounds way too cool not to.)

I need more hours in a day.

Ah, what a productive day. Didn't get anywhere near everything done on my todo list, but at least I made some visible progress. I moved some furniture around, organized my office some more, made a trip to Target, got gas in my car, put air conditioners in my windows (just in time for a cold snap) and I even pulled a few dandylions out of the back garden. Look at me go.

I didn't get any laundry done, and that's kind of a necessity. Not sure when I'll get to that. But I got so much done today, I'm just thrilled. I even slept a few extra hours this morning. I am so happy to have my health.

Sarah gets back tomorrow. Her cats will be happy. Mongo is definitely needy at this point, and Bug is constantly wanting to sit nearby a human. She's still fine, though, not begging for petting or anything.

"This is going to have something to do with us screwing you out of all your land, isn't it?"

I love C.J. Craig on the West Wing. She's so direct and to-the-point. I must admit I was looking forward to a new episode tonight, but I guess I'll have to be patient and appreciate this "classic" episode. It's a good one. I'm glad I added it to my West Wing tape.

I decide to start taping CSI too. Not to view on Thursdays. To view on Fridays, because I can't stand Friday TV. I can stand CSI. In fact, I thought I was really starting to like it. So I trained my VCR to remember to tape it for me, even when I'm not around. The VCR has been pretty good about it. The CSI hasn't been so good. I thought I'd be making a West Wing/ CSI tape. Turns out I'm erasing every episode of CSI to put on the next episode of West Wing. I just felt no desire to watch the CSI episodes ever again. I guess you can see where my priorities are.

Must go get the pizza out of the oven. Sarah bribed me with it to spend some time with the cats. Mongo is happy to have some companionship. Bug is still playing it pretty cool, though she did slink over and ask for her ears to get rubbed.

"I guess there's a time for scruples and a time for.... not." I wish I could think of lines like that.

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted. You know why? Daylight-*&^%-Savings-Time.

See, I'm a solar-powered person, and messing around with my daylight hours is a bad, bad thing. It makes me groggy and grumpy and I tend to blow off a lot of little things that just don't seem important anymore (blogging, cleaning the house, ... working)

It always takes me about a week to recover from the sudden jet-lag-like interuption of my life. Twice a year. Every year. Why can't we all just agree that we don't need to torture ourselves this way anymore? There's this great new invention called the electric lightbulb....

And yes, I realize there are a few states that ignore daylight savings time. But that's just wierd. We need to deal with this social upheaval on a national level. Unity is important here. Grr.

Someday remind me to tell you my idea about eight-day weeks (five work days, three weekend days, and extra days at the end of the year that are just holidays. solves all the troubles in the world.)

There are some commercials on the radio recently that have got me thinking. Three or four different products are using the basic theme that men are dumb - only interested in power tools, big trucks, and scantily clad women. They're attaching this image to their product enthusiastically.

At first, I laughed at these commercials because they do have a humorous take on the male psyche, which I don't pretend to understand. But then I got to thinking. Do men laugh at these commercials? Do they realize they're being insulted? Are these ads really aimed at getting the attention of women?

If similar ads were made about women - with all the stereotypes involved there - I don't think I would laugh. In fact, I think some of the more enthusiastic feminists I know would start picketing. Women are fickle. They drive badly. They can never succeed on their own in the world. These are not things that would endear me to a company selling me soap or something.

Then again - am I being over sensitive? (something women are also stereotyped into....) Ah, the politics of sexual politics.

I work in a wacky place. For instance, today when my staff meeting got a little dull, just to liven things up a little bit we put my sister on speakerphone and made her 4-year-old read a book to us. You see, he's already reading really well and it's funny to listen to this cute little 4-year-old voice say big words just fine like "envelope." He did seem to have a little trouble with the word "reunion" - kept forgetting how to pronounce it.

Still not sure exactly what he was reading to us.

Anyway, we concluded the conference call with an opportunity for all of us childless, single people to tell her how to raise her child. Now that's a productive staff meeting. (note to those of you who don't know: I work for a dotcom that has absolutely nothing to do with children or parenting.)

After that I took a call from a college professor who tracked me down to see if I was doing anything interesting with my life, and find out if I was hiring interns. If he'd been to the staff meeting, I'm not sure he would have believed me when I said I'd met with a certain degree of success since my graduation.

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy working, freelancing, painting, helping a friend move, and making Easter Dinner.

If you're a regular reader here, you'll be interested in the painting. I covered up the bright yellow that was making my green look sky blue. Now the whole kitchen (or at least the parts I got to) is a very calming blue/green. Just ask Sarah. She said so.

I just submitted an article to Salon.com - then I went to see when the last article even related to mine was on their site and discovered that my aquaintance Andy actually wrote it in the not-so-distant past. Should I have mentioned to them that I know him? Oh well, too late now. I guess my writing will have to stand on its own, rather than benefit from name dropping.

Man. I've been working with Hollywood too long.

Books: That short story is almost ready to be sent out again. I can feel it.