Happy Halloween! I had my first trick-or-treaters at my new home! Four of them! Woohoo!
Oct 312006
In what could be a move towards greater media outlet monitoring and control, the Pentagon has announced that it will “set up a new unit to better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet.” (Source: BBC) This new unit has a “mandate” to develop messages and aims to “correct the record.”
The responses across Slashdot have been flying this morning. It makes for interesting reading.
Because of the distinct mention of monitoring blogs, it makes me wonder what impact this new unit will have. Will it become another arm of the section of the government that doesn’t give a damn about constitutional rights if an individual is associated with terrorism?
Oct 302006
Today was a busy day. I went to the barn early to work Rajiyyah and then bathe both horses. Rajiyyah was awesome. I lunged her first with the saddle and bride. The horses in the adjacent paddock took off a few times because of a dog barking at the back of the field. Rajiyyah snorted and curled her tail over her back. She bolted half way around the lunging circle and then calmed down. Even when she was completely hyper she still listened.
We’ve been working on getting Rajiyyah to pay attention even when all craziness is going on around her. Prior to this work out, we’ve been working when the horses were coming in to eat. She was never too happy about it, but she has learned that it means she will get to eat when we are done. It has taken a lot of patience and work, but she is doing well with it.
Today was an even harder workout because we were going to do a good bit undersaddle. We focused on getting her to listen to my seat: moving away from my legs and seat, moving out when I lowered my inside hip, circling around my leg, etc. She did very well.
It had rained on Friday and part of Saturday. A few weeks ago, Rajiyyah and I had had a discussion about a puddle she didn’t want to cross. I had purposefully worked her so we wouldn’t have to deal with the puddle. Except she headed for it. So I let her go towards it. She put her head down, snorted at it a little, and then walked right through it.
We stopped on that note. She was awesome.
Oct 292006
Okay, I’m pissed. On October 20, I ordered five DVDs on belly dance from Amazon.com. All of the titles said they were in stock at the time of ordering. None of them listed “this items takes 2-3 days to ship.” Nothing like that. Everything said in stock and ready to go.
Initially, I chose standard shipping. When I saw that the arrival date was going to be November 11(!!), I changed the shipping method to expidited. Now it’s supposed to ship November 1st some time. (Yesterday the Web page said it was supposed to ship October 31st.)
Recently, Amazon started this “Amazon Prime” subscription plan. If you are a member of their program, you can enjoy faster shipping with greatly reduced shipping charges. Maybe they are enticing their customers to try out this plan to see if packages ship faster.
I refuse to pay $80 to a Web site in order to shop at their store. Ever other online store I’ve shopped at has had timely shipping and has been excellent about notifying me if packages were going to be late. Why would a store like Amazon be any different?
I’ve sent a nasty-gram to Amazon’s customer service. This delay is completely unacceptable. If you are ordering anything from Amazon, order it form their Marketplace. Don’t waste your time ordering from Amazon.
November 18th is fast approaching.
Oct 292006
|
Your English Skills: |
 Grammar: 100% Punctuation: 100% Spelling: 80% Vocabulary: 80% |
|
You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained |
 The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. |
|
Your Monster Profile |
 Iron Darkness You Feast On: Bananas You Lurk Around In: Shopping Malls You Especially Like to Torment: Republicans |
|
Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence |
 You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator. |
|
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 55% General American English |
| 20% Yankee |
| 15% Dixie |
| 5% Upper Midwestern |
| 0% Midwestern |
Oct 282006
One of the fun things for belly dance is that you get to go shopping for things you would normally only get to wear to a fancy dress ball. I’ve been enjoying shopping for full-crcle skirts, fancy tops, and belts that make a lovely sound when you walk. It’s been a hoot. I can see why people might get addicted to eBay.
My packages have mostly arrived. I found a lovely beaded top and hip scarf outfit. The top looks like an embroidered butterfly. It’s really pretty. The other items are a burghundy top and matching velvet hipscarf, both embellished with gold coins. The last package I’m waiting for is a full black skirt with matching veil. Should be here pretty soon.
Oct 262006
So tonight was my first class. We reviewed the basic steps that are used in the routine we’ll be performing. We also did some advanced work — including working with a veil, which was also a blast. I was able to stay for the begininer and part of the advanced class afterwards. It was a lot of fun. My friend is a good instructor and took time with each person to help them master the steps. It was a lot of fun.
In an odd twist of fate, the IE7 development team sent a congratulatory cake to the Firefox development team for release of Firefox 2. That just seems so strange… The story reports that the cake was not poisoned.
Oct 232006
When I was little, I had four things I wanted to be when I grew up:
- A professional dancer,
- An archaeologist,
- A writer, or
- A parapsychologist.
(Note: Professional rider is not on the list. I like to enjoy my horses and didn’t want them to become a chore.)
which one, I wasn’t sure, but they all sounded like fun. I took dance lessons from elementary school through high school. Dancing fell to the wayside because my ankles were not strong enough to support me en pointe. And after a certain level, you don’t progress without toe shoes. So, I gave that up. I never lost my love of dance though.
Over the years, I’ve tried folk dancing, swing dance, contra dancing… little bits here and there. Enjoyed all of it, but over sustained periods of time my knees and shins hurt. I never considered belly dance, until a friend of mine mentioned that she was starting a class. Blind me hadn’t realized she had been taking lessons for over three years with several local troops.
So I’m on the phone with her on Sunday evening and she asked me about my background in dance. Couple years of Jazz, quite a bit of Ballet, plenty of stage experience with acting and singing (not related to dance but definitely related to performing). We talked about her basic class (meets on Thursday evenings). She thought she could catch me up pretty quickly.
Never trust someone when they say, “Are you up for a challenge?” Silly me, I should have known better. “Sure, why not!” She asked me if I would like to perform at a student recital in Chattanooga in mid-November. Eeep! I have never had consistent belly dance classes in my life. Jazz and ballet are good training, yes, but definitely not the same. Mild panic. What was I doing to myself?
Sure, I replied! I would love to! What better way to force myself to get in shape and lose some weight than to add a deadline onto the mix?
Oct 222006
An Internet friend of mine out in Utah has a scary knack of getting into the same activities I do. We were chatting on Friday evening and she mentioned that she was interested in belly dance. Just so happens a local friend of mine has been teaching belly dance for a year or more.
We both decided that we want to take classes as an impetus to help us get in shape (and have fun doing it). We both have crunchy knees to aerobic exercise or gyms are pretty much out. No step aerobic or anything like that. There is a bely dance instructor close to where my Internet friend lives. Funny thing is that both of the instructors teach on Thursday evenings.
We spent most of the evening looking for costumes, discussing belly dance DVDs and music (for three hours). We were looking at costumes on eBay. It was funny. I would find a pretty one and she would send me a link — it usually turned out to be a page I was currently viewing. GMTA. 
We have both signed up. It should be a lot of fun.
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