This is how I know I am an adult…

Posted on January 20, 2016 by A Dreamer

The word “blizzard” does not fill me with the slightest bit of joy.  As of this morning, the National Weather Service issued a Blizzard Watch for my area for the weekend.

I don’t hate snow – when it’s in reasonable amounts.  17 to 28 inches of snow is not reasonable.  Not at all.  Nope.

I am trying very hard to prevent the snow by overpreparing.  New snow shovel.  Ice melt.  New waterproof boots are on the truck being delivered today.  We have a house full of food.  I am getting Carmen’s meds and batteries for my lantern this afternoon.  I finally got my iPad to backup and I’m updating the OS and all the apps now.  I have candles.  (OK, they’re little Yankee Candle jars, but I have them.*)

I just do not want to deal with a blizzard.  Not now, not ever.  I really need to move farther south.

*You should really try the apple cider one.  It smells just like the hot cider from the Raleigh Tavern stand in Williamsburg.

Posted in Local, News, Weather | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

1.3 Billion

Posted on January 10, 2016 by A Dreamer

This is just silly now.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

$900 Million

Posted on January 9, 2016 by A Dreamer

Yes, that is a little mind boggling to say the least.  (Powerball, if you’re late to the party.)  I was listening to the radio this afternoon and they were interviewing people about the “what if you won” scenarios and they noted that it really seemed to be too large a number for folks to wrap their heads around.

I did some quick math – cash option, taxes, split with my brother – chuck the rest into a money market account and you’re looking at 17K a month in income.  Go crazy and put half in a high yield muni bond fund?  268K a month.  In two months that would be enough to tear down and rebuild my house.  Six months – car, beach cottage and anything else I could possibly need – pretty much forever – is covered.

After that it is a lifetime of “who needs money, cause I got some!”  Honestly, I can’t really figure out how I could possibly spend that much money on myself.  (Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to try.)

They’re saying on the radio that there’s a good chance it will be a billion dollars by the end of the day.

Damn.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Yeah, I threw $4 at the black hole known as the PowerBall

Posted on January 6, 2016 by A Dreamer

500 million dollars?  Hell yeah, I’ll buy a couple tickets.

How much fun would it be to be able to spend the rest of your life being the ultimate Secret Santa?

I’d remodel my house top to bottom, get a beach cottage, and probably buy a new Jeep.  Do some traveling.

That wouldn’t even put a dent in the total.  I’d spend the rest of my life giving the rest away.  Gawd that would  be fun.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Rey has a playlist on Spotify!

Posted on January 2, 2016 by A Dreamer

I’d recently read some posts about Spotify having playlists for Star Wars characters, and it pretty much focused on Kylo Ren’s being pretty emotastic – but it made me think, “Wait, wait, wait – if they did one for him, they would have done one for Rey, right?!”  And a day or so ago I searched and was super pleased to see that she DID have a playlist, and it was pretty awesome.  I was actually listening to The Scavenger as the new year arrived, and I think this is going to be my “get pumped up to go and kick ass” playlist for the foreseeable future.  You should add it to whatever you follow on Spotify, cause it’s fantastic.

Here are the screenshots of the list:

2015-12-31 06.24.23 2015-12-31 06.24.38 2015-12-31 06.25.03 2015-12-31 06.25.14 2015-12-31 06.25.24 2015-12-31 06.25.35 2015-12-31 06.26.01 2015-12-31 06.26.09

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Goodbye 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by A Dreamer

Personally, kind of a “meh” year.  Looking out at the world?  Completely depressing.  Way too much hate, war, death, and destruction for my taste.

Star Wars provided a fantastic three hour respite from it all, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  (I think it stands alone fine so it’s OK if you haven’t seen any of the others.)

I’m ready to put 2015 in the rear view mirror, and I doubt I’m the only one.

But I have high hopes for 2016, and I hope it brings everyone peace, prosperity, and happiness.

We could all use it.

Posted in Holidays, Musings | Tagged | 4 Comments

I’ve always wanted to have open windows in December

Posted on December 15, 2015 by A Dreamer

I just didn’t think I would still be living in the DC suburbs when it happened.   It’s 1:47 AM on December 15th and it is 63º outside.

Sure, every couple of years we have a little warm spell at the beginning of winter – I think it Mother Nature’s way of saying, “Sorry for how much you’ll hate me in February.”

I know it is either a symptom of climate change, or just a warning of blizzards to come later – and both are bad.

But lord help me, I love it.  I enjoy the occasional snowstorm, but in general, I am just not built for winter.

I really should just move farther south.

ETA: Even my cats are a little weirded out by all this.

Posted in Musings, Weather | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I am angry and embarrassed.

Posted on December 8, 2015 by A Dreamer

Though I didn’t watch President Obama’s speech on Sunday night, I did take the time to read the transcript later in the evening.  While I didn’t really feel any need to be consoled or reassured, I was pleased to see that he made a point of saying “Don’t be assholes to Muslims.”  (I’m paraphrasing just a bit here.)

So, I wasn’t exactly shocked on Monday when Donald Trump decided to be the biggest asshole in America by stating that we should not allow Muslims into the country.  And in clarification added that American Muslims who are not in the country should not be allowed to come home.

And while there have been condemnations of his “plan” – it’s too little, too late.

The Republican party and the media can look in the mirror as they wring their hands and wonder how this could have happened.  When you give a racist, xenophobic, bigoted asshole a national platform to spew this vile crap, you’re part of the problem.  (And no, I’m not saying his GOP cohorts running for the presidency are much better.)

We need to stop giving this man a platform for hate and any sense of legitimacy.

Trump has put Muslim Americans at great risk of violence at home – and he has put American citizens everywhere at risk of violence, because he’s doing Daesh’s job for them.  All they have to do is point and say, “See?  That guy could be their next president and  he hates you.”

And then we sit around and wonder how young people get radicalized.

Posted in Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

On a lighter note

Posted on December 4, 2015 by A Dreamer

If you didn’t see The Wiz last night and weren’t able to TiVo it, it is available on NBC.com – and I highly recommend it.

The production was just spectacular and it’s a great way to spend a couple hours NOT thinking about everything awful going on in the world right now.

Great cast and crew, the costumes were amazing and the singing was just phenomenal.

Go watch!

Posted in Entertainment, Musicals | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I’m just at a loss.

Posted on December 3, 2015 by A Dreamer

So many terrible things have happened in the past year, and nothing has changed, and I just feel like nothing will.

Gun control will not happen, even if San Bernardino is closed out as international terrorism.  Because we can’t deny “responsible, law-abiding gun owners” their 2nd amendment rights – if we do, then the terrorists win.  #Freedom.  (But the NRA has done one helluva job funding the “thoughts & prayers” campaign.)

The anti-Muslim rhetoric will continue to flow freely, and the Muslim community will continue to be at risk for violence for no other reason than sheer bigotry.

All lives will matter, as long as they’re white.

I don’t have enough money or influence to change a damn thing.  I have a vote – and I employ it even damn election, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it does any good.

I’m just tired of it all.  We don’t have to love each other.  Hell, we don’t even have to particularly like each other.  But good god, we should at least be able to leave each other in peace.

Posted in Media, News, Politics | Leave a comment