Day 109

For whatever reason I was up early today.
Since no heat advisory was in effect, yet, E and I decided to try to finish weeding/tending the garden. But let's be real. It was still hot out, and many water breaks were to be had.

I would also like to give E some major props for going along with my plan to keep the yard chemical free.
No chemicals=safe for dogs, safe for kids, safe for earth, safe for you!
This is no easy task in our yard as our brick patio, thanks to all the rain, is covered with weeds, as is the grass (I, unlike my diligent friend MG, didn't dig up all the dandelions before they re-seeded, so we have quite a few weeds within the lawn, but our main concern presently is the patio.

So E has been doing research online to see what will kill weeds organically.
Boiling water has worked, as he tried this the other day, but we can't reasonably boil and transport that much water.

He also found that vinegar will kill weeds, so he sprayed vinegar on all the weeds on the patio and along the alley, and while it smelled bad, it did enable us to let the dogs hang out with us outside and both of them had a water party with their water bowl, especially Rice.

After spraying the weeds, he helped me out by digging a trench for the flower bed, which I then helped him fill with the pavers/bricks that have been lying around since we bought the house.
When you're living through a recession you've got to be thrifty and use whatchoo got! I actually think it looks super great, E did a fabulous job, and I'm not terribly embarrassed by our yard anymore. True, it's a little bare, as my flowers from seeds didn't take as well as I had hoped, this is just something to think of and budget for next year.

BUT!
My tomato plants look quite good, no flowers on them yet, but there is something growing on one of them...a flower? the first tom of the season? Don't know yet, I will keep you posted. It's times like this I wish I had a digital camera that was worth it's weight in batteries, but sadly, mine is grainy and a battery-sucker.
My tomatillos look as if they have wee little fruits developing! Which I'm very excited about and my broccoli/cauliflower (I ran out of labels!) is looking fairly healthy.

In other news:
I would like to comment on all the debauchery that has been going on in the political sphere lately.
Mostly all this brou-ha-ha over the extra-marital affairs.
1. This wouldn't matter NEARLY as much if your political party didn't espouse puritanical values.
2. Does this really effect the way said person governs? Quite frankly, I think we all know people who have cheated on a partner, hells maybe that is YOUR deep dark secret. Should this mean they have to resign from your job? Or call into question your integrity at said job? And especially in a nation where monogamy rates are below 50%. Is this really a shocker?
3. There was a female correspondent on CNN or MSNBC, who was saying we wouldn't have all of these affairs if more women were in politics. Which I thought was ridiculous. Are these male politicians just have sex with other males? Are you trying to tell me that when you are having an affair you don't know whether the other person is taken? Really? It didn't make sense to me. I don't think women are "purer" by nature or more monogomous, unless, as previously stated all the affairs are homosexual affairs.

In other news:
Way to go TMZ.com for reporting hours before everyone else that Michael Jackson had died.
You were right, and you made my fb statuf updates true.
I am actually more upset about Farrah Fawcett, because she suffered through horrible cancer, and kind of seemed like a nice person at the end. I don't know.
Plus she was nowhere near as creepy as Michael.
I hope Paul McCartney can get his songs back now.

I would also like to take this time to discuss a topic that has recently been brought to my attention.
That of the awkward, extended phone call.
Due to my continuous job search, I'm often forced to answer phone calls I would otherwise ignore, or answer the phone when an unfamiliar number appears.
This was the case yesterday.
A vaguely familiar number popped up on our caller id, I thought it might have been a neighbor, or maybe one of my old L's cohorts, as I don't have their numbers memorized.
Instead it went like this:
Jj: Hello?
JW: Jj?
[at this point I realize it's a dude, so I assume it's ZG, our CSP buddy, but it sounds nothing like him]
Jj: Yes?
JW: It's J.
[in all honesty I think to myself, this can't be my brother, why would be calling from a 414 number? Then I realize it's one of E's film colleagues]
Jj: Oh. Sure. Hi.
JW: Hi. How are you?
Jj: Um, alright.
JW: Just alright, huh?
Jj: Yep (sigh) How are you?
JW: Pretty good, pretty good.
Jj: Well that is good.
JW: So what are you doing right now?
[at this point I realize I am in for a treat of the awkward, endless phone call]
Jj: What?
JW: What are you doing. Right now.
Jj: Um, I'm watching a movie [which is now on pause because this phone call is never going to end] and folding laundry.

We then get into a discussion about what movie I'm watching, how he only really does commercial work, David Lynch (??), and FINALLY he asks if Erin is there.
I tell him no, but I would definitely give him the message that he called and have him call him directly.
Of course this wasn't enough information and he asks me about our pseudo documentary we're interested in doing, how he could help, blah blah blah.
Eventually, I said, well I will tell him you called, to which he said "Oh yeah, sorry I kept you on the phone so long--" and literally would have kept talking if I didn't say "Okay cool, talk to you later, bye.

To be fair, I've met this persona a couple of times. Most recently at the Firestarter Film Festival, where we discussed his film. He did accompany E and I to get some pizza, but that was it.

This is how I would've handled the sitch:
Jj as the caller: You?
You: Yeah?
Jj: This is Jj
You: Hi!
Jj: Hey. Hey is Potsie around?
You: Excuse.
Jj: Okay well could you ahve him call me when he gets in?
You: Sure.
Jj: Great! Thanks! Bye!
You: Bye. Ooh wait!
Jj: Yes?
You: Your blog is tops.
Jj: Aw shucks. Thanks. Bye!
You: Bye.

Okay so that blog part was just a little ego-stroking. But seriously. That is a one minute conversation at best. AT BEST. I don't even talk to E's parents that long, and I've met them and stayed with them numerous times.

E then gets home while I'm making homemade strawberry shortcake, I'm about to go into my story when he tells me how he saw Trevor Hoffman driving his truck, stuck in Milwaukee traffic.
How awesome is that! I was really excited for him, and for the fact that my whipping cream was finally starting to thicken.

I then laid into my story regarding JW and he says, "He's a talker."
Really?
Really.

If this recession is doing one thing for me, it's broadening my reading horizons.
As I've stated before I like to go in order at the library, and as I just finished regarding "Confederacy of Dunces" I decided I should move on to a non-fiction book, to get back to the old routine of fiction/non-fiction. So I am currently reading a non-fiction book about the mythos of the Priory of Sion. It's so unlike me, but thus far it's interesting and this way I will have a wee bit of knowlege about something that I knew nothing about before, well nothing that wasn't in "The DaVinci Code."

I have to say "Confederacy of Dunces" was a let-down. I kept waiting for the outrageousness that was promised by 95% of reviewers and fellow readers. I got a couple chuckles here and there, and that was it. No guffawing. No lol-ing.
In all fairness, I expected to hate the book, because it was getting such great, glowing reviews, so when I didn't hate it, I think I automatically expected to love it, which didn't happen at all. If you've read it, please let me know what you think. What parts had you rolling on the floor?