POISON IVY!!

I was out weeding the flower beds on sun. the 22nd. then on tues. a small rash started on my left arm then by thur. right arm, left leg etc. etc. POISON IVY! I can never see the ivy. Mom can spot them right away. Here are some pic.

I know...another NPR post

I'm sorry people, I really do love NPR! I know that Margie (and probably others) get tired of me posting links to great NPR stories, but I can't help myself! I think there are just some things we should hear about!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12353776

I'm just floored by this story. I realize that we live in a country that had legal segregation until 1954 (and later in some places), but I just can't believe how such incredible racial unrest still exists. It was especially poignant to me that these are high school students. For some reason, I thought that those in the "younger generation" would not divide themselves so much according to race.

Sorry to be so heavy, but I just thought the story was very interesting

Just some thoughts...

Some lady asked me at work the other day to add up the 4 packs of ground beef she was buying saying, "I hate when they put those little point things in there." I think she meant decimal points. Looking back, the funniest part of the story is that I added them up wrong. Oops!! I spent the rest of the day feeling like an idiot.

Also, I often get mad at the HUGE men and women at the grocery store and wonder how they can have no self control... but then I remember how good Entemann's coffee cakes are and I let it slide. At over 1,800 calories for one of those things (yeah I can and have eaten a whole one in a sitting... judge away) I realize I could look like them someday. EEEKK.............

-Karl

This Didn't Happen to Us

We made it okay. Long trip. Harry Potter was awesome.

Thriller in a Filipino Prison

I just found this on a blog I read and thought it was pretty funny. Hope you are all having a nice Sunday!

Sick of seeing the old man...

Okay people, I am basically just sick of seeing Old Lee Hamilton on the blog so I've decided to post. But with virtually nothing going on in my life (other than babysitting last night) I am a little hard pressed to come up with something new. But Ah HA! I almost forgot! Something sort-of interesting-ish happened last night!

As I stated, I was babysitting yesterday for my friends so they could go to "Mormon Night" at Dodger's stadium. The Mormons buy a bunch of seats at the Dodgers game and typically a "famous" Mormon either throws out the first pitch, sings the national anthem or some such thing. Last year, Larry King was the famous "Mormon." Larry King is married to a Mormon, but isn't Mormon himself. We take what we can get. Richard and I have never gone, but he really wants to. I hate baseball games. I think they are boring. Although I do love stadium food.

Anyway, getting to the point of the story. After my friends daughter went to sleep (10:00 p.m. people...I was so tired!) I flipped through channels and came across Victoria Beckham's reality television show, I believe called "Coming to America." In the particular episode, Posh Spice was practicing her driving, and then went to the DMV to get a US license. The DMV she went to was MY DMV!!! I recognized it immediately because there is a lady there who has a desk COVERED in Leopard print-everything is Leopard print, from her chair to her trash can...her pencil holder and filing cabinet...ALL LEOPARD PRINT! Naturally, I realized that there was no way that this was any other DMV in LA...but the DMV near where Richard and I used to live and where we got our drivers licenses. Another great brush with celebrity here in Los Angeles. We live a very glamorous life here.

Another Great Hoosier

People, do you all realize how many wonderful individuals are from our great Hoosier State? I'm just going to highlight another great Indiana politician here. Lee Hamilton. You may remember Mr. Hamilton as one of the chairmen of the Iraq Study Group and the 9/11 report. He is a former Democractic Congressional Representative. When he was in office, he chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Renee Montagne of NPR interviewed him today. You can listen or read the full story here. He basically says that we still have time to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Report.

Additionally, I learned on Wikipedia that he attended IU Law School and received his undergraduate degree from DePauw.

Any other great Hoosiers that we should profile?

I already know Dad hates him but...

...has anyone seen/was anyone planning on seeing Michael Moore's latest?

I've heard plenty about it and I approach it with great great caution, but the issue is an interesting one. Thoughts?

Team Hawkins point of interest

Just some interesting information from Team Hawkins. As you may know, GWB invoked executive privilages, refusing to allow two top level White House executives to testify (on record or under oath) regarding the firing of federal prosecutors. Here is a little article from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/washington/09cnd-prexy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

The two officials that GWB has refused to allow to testify under oath or on the record are Harriet Miers (you may remember that she was President Bush's first nominee for the Supreme Court, replaced by Samuel Alito) and Sara Taylor, former Political Director at the White House. During the 2004 election cycle Sara Taylor was the Political Director for the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign. I actually interviewed Sara Taylor (along with my boss, David Magleby) for the project we were working on. I remember that she wasn't very forthcoming with information, so I suspect that even if she were able to testify under oath or on the record, that she wouldn't say much of interest.

Star Wars: The Nerdly Menace

That's right sportsfans, (such as Star Wars is a sport) Meridth and I spent last Saturday in a galaxy far far away. Brandon, my fantastic brother in law (who could be Chewbacca for Halloween, if that were his thing) tipped us off for this fantastic exhibit at the County Hall in London. Thousands (well...probably closer to dozens) of delightful rarities were on display. This particular piece is clearly from 1980's Empire. You can see Luke hanging below the Cloud City of the gas city of Bespin. Interestingly, you can see that Luke has both hands! The painting is by Ralph Mcquarrie, who did lots of the conceptual work for the classic Holy Trilogy. He also once drew Chewie with a row of breasts, because Lucas wasn't clear on his gender yet. There were a lot of really cool classic drawings. Another example is Darth Vader's castle. Yeah! He used to have a castle! This lovely piece is clearly from the latter trilogy. It's an early sketch of Queen Amidala with her elaborate costuming. The artist is Iain McCaig, one of Meridth's favorites.He uses pen and ink and a special set of shading markers. Meridth's got her hands on a set of them last year. She does a lot of fantastic sketches with them, at church and in numerous other places. (Go see her blog!)

This is an early sketch for the speeder bikes from 1983's ROTJ. Check out the detail, like the skull mounted on the bike in the upper right hand corner. Cool.


This is a really cool piece from the new trilogy which wasn't really featured in the movie. It's a Wookie funeral bier. Does my indomitable enthusiasm for this obscure bit of minutia make me really nerdly?

Yes. Yes it does.


Here's some more. I know you want to see it. This, for example, is a storyboard. How cool is that! Stick it to the Emperor, DV!




What of miniatures, you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!
This one absolutely blew. My. Mind.

Vader:"Several transmissions were beamed to this ship. I want to know what you did with the plans they sent you!"
Meridth: "This is a councilor's ship. We are on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!"
Vader: "If this is a councilor's ship where is the ambassador?!?"
Meridth: "How should I know? You're the Sith Lord, you tool!"



A-Wing!!

I love the detail. Check out the airlock hatch in the side of the tower and the rungs of the tiny ladder. Who ever saw that as Luke was streaking across the surface of the Death Star?


Best. Exhibit. Ever.

I love NPR and history

I love NPR so much. I love the wonderful things I learn about when I check out their website.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11783231

What an excellent idea! I love the idea of telling the story of America through music. It reminds me of some of the old folk singers like Woody Guthrie. Way to go Janet Reno!

Question of the day

What do you say to the guy from the deli that tells you he is entering his 11th year at Kroger? Congratulations?

Happy 4th of July!

Hi everyone,

Just a note to wish everyone a happy 4th of July! I'm missing the real deal, but Betsey has just left and will be home on Tuesday night at 11:30 p.m. (Pacific), just in time for the festivities. Anyone doing anything fun?

Betsey and I enjoyed watching the fireworks on July 1st, the 10th anniversary of the reunification of Hong Kong and China. We watched the fireworks explode over the harbor from my law firm's offices. The fireworks were amazing, which doesn't surprise me because I think I remember hearing that the Chinese invented fireworks. My favorite moment: First we saw fireworks in the shape of stars (China's symbol) and others in the shape of flowers (Hong Kong's symbol). After that segment, Betsey and I saw a lot of fireworks that looked kind of warped. We kept yelling "They sure messed that star up!" and "That one doesn't look like a flower at all!" and "These fireworks are going downhill fast!" At this point, someone kindly pointed out to us that they weren't showing stars and flowers anymore, they'd moved to exploding fireworks that spelled out the Chinese characters for "China!" and "10th Anniversary!"

Dumb (impressed) Americans!

Coming to America...TODAY!

So Meridth and I are coming home a few months earlier than planned so that we can off-set the costs of rent here by living in a hovel in Provo for another three months while I write my dissertation. We're flying into Fort Wayne on FRIDAY THE 13TH (!!!) and we'll hang out in Indiana for a week or so (just long enough for the seventh Harry Potter book to come out) and then we'll drive out west in the Trusty Saturn Ludo, while listening to HP and the Deathly Hallows on CD. What a fab nerd-tastic roadtrip.

Anyway, we can't wait to see everyone (like YOU Betsey!) and stuff.

Hey, has anyone see Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones costume again? A bit rough around the edges, but he pulls it off better than Arnold in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." I'm skeptical about the forthcoming Indiana Jones movie (Shia LaBeouf?) but I'll give it a fair chance.

-Meridth and Rusty