It’s time for some football at the Strategerie/Dauphin of Software household

 

Julian Peterson of the Seattle Seahawks

I only watch because I love the game.

-S 

p.s. It’s time to go downstairs now and watch The Howie Long Show, Featuring Three Other Guys I Really Don’t Give A Rip About. I’ll let you know how this goes.

The King County Sheriff’s office seems a bit…confused.

First of all, I must brag on my unranked University of Washington Huskies. They lost by three to USC, the number one team in the nation. Did I mention USC’s eighteen penalties, several of which were personal fouls? Let’s just say that I held Husky season tickets for fourteen years, and I’m not a USC fan after watching several seasons’ worth of this kind of stuff.

Go Dawgs, and Seahawks, you’d better start saving up those draft picks NOW to get Jake Locker.

In the meantime, there seems to be a little trouble brewing in the King County Sheriff’s office. A local woman’s car evidently lost control on the highway in Maple Valley and disappeared into a ravine, where she lay injured for eight days. The sheriff’s office refused to mount a search. After all, she wasn’t a minor, elderly, or mentally ill. Ironically enough, Tanya Rider was found after accessing her cell phone signal and while her husband (who’d been begging for assistance from law enforcement,) was undergoing a polygraph test.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003911730&zsection_id=2002111777&slug=rescue29m&date=20070929

His injured wife under heavy sedation not far away, tears welled in Tom Rider’s eyes as he talked at the hospital Friday about her weeklong ordeal and the sheriff’s policy that he says nearly cost her life.

Tanya Rider, 33, was upside down, wearing a seat belt, in her crumpled sport-utility vehicle for more than a week while her husband of seven years begged the King County Sheriff’s Office to search for her. But he said he repeatedly was told that the Maple Valley woman didn’t meet the qualifications to be considered a missing person.

It wasn’t until Thursday, after Tom Rider signed over access to his wife’s phone records and volunteered to take a polygraph test in an effort to eliminate suspicions about his role in her disappearance, that deputies launched an intense search. Investigators found the missing woman’s car that afternoon about 20 feet down a steep ravine overgrown with blackberry bushes and heavy brush.

Rider said he asked the sheriff’s office last weekend to trace his wife’s cellphone. Since his first interaction with the sheriff’s office, he said, he was met with bureaucratic red tape from a 911 dispatcher who said Tanya Rider couldn’t be categorized as a missing person because she wasn’t a minor, elderly or mentally ill.

The King County Sheriff’s office insisted that they did not believe Ms. Rider was missing due to the use of a debit card on a joint checking account; they also said that they suspected Mr. Rider initially because of activity on the account. In other words, it’s all kinds of CYA at this point, and Tanya Rider’s fighting for her life in a local hospital.

Here’s a question that’s dumber than a box of hair: The King County Sheriff’s office insisted that they had to have a court order to get the information about the banking transactions and the cell phone information. Hasn’t it been widely reported that none of that information is classified anymore to government agencies? In other words, it’s okay to snoop on all of us, but it’s not okay to use the information to actually locate a missing person.

Typically, I’d be defending the law enforcement involved, because we know lots of them in real life. They work hard, it’s thankless, and everyone’s human. At the same time, after watching the interview on a local channel with the King County sheriff, something is a little odd here. It might have been nice if the sheriff actually used the words “I’m sorry”, instead of using the minutes she was on to blame the victim, in my opinion. I wait to hear more in the coming days.

-S

Jane’s book publishing party

 

Jane Porter’s book, “Odd Mom Out”, hit bookstore shelves across the country yesterday. I’m not sure if this same phenomenon happens in other genres, but Jane had quite a turnout for her book signing last night.

For romance authors, a release party is like, well, a baby shower. Most of your author friends (well, the ones that aren’t on deadline,) show up and are thrilled for you. Your project is going out into the world, otherwise known as bookstore shelves, grocery stores, and Amazon.com. We all must stick together when this happens, because after however long it took you to write it, revise it, have your critique partner go over it, revise it again, more revisions, attract a publisher and an agent and get it out into the world, it’s the closest thing to giving birth I can imagine.

Your author friends are the only people on the planet that will understand exactly what this means to you, because they’re the people that have experienced it as well. The hours (or years!) you spent writing, writing, WRITING, wrestling with the plot, the characters, the point of view, the self-doubt, the fear, the query letters, the family members and friends who do not understand and/or are less than supportive, the bizarre meetings with editors and agents, and the words you’ve waited one book or fifteen to hear: “We’d like to publish this.”

No matter how many other authors I meet, it never gets old to me. I love going into the book section anywhere and looking at my friends’ books. (I’ve bought a lot of them, too.) I was practically jumping up and down because Kristan’s new book was on the shelf, too, for instance. I KNOW how much this means to her, and I’m excited for her. The crowd at Barnes and Noble bought every copy they had of Jane’s new book, and snapped up the shipment of 40 they were expecting today as well. I know the women who bought those books will love it as much as I did, because Jane writes from the heart. She holds nothing back.

In the meantime, congratulations, Jane, and thank you for the mojitos.

-S

p.s. Buy Jane’s book: http://www.amazon.com/Odd-Mom-Out-Jane-Porter/dp/0446699233/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0728365-9811208?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191004619&sr=1-1

Take me out to the…opera?

The incomparable and soul-stirring Renee Fleming, singing “Ave Maria”

San Francisco Opera and Major League Baseball are partnering on an interesting promotion. San Francisco Opera’s season opener, “Samson and Delilah”, will be simulcast at the baseball park. I think that the director of SFO is right — it’s time to air things out a bit. He’s bringing opera to people who’d never otherwise attend, because they think it’s a) boring, b) snotty, or c) not relevant in their lives. I’m only sorry that I can’t go. http://www.sfopera.com/

I went to my first opera earlier this year when I was doing research for the book. If anyone would have told me that I would fall in love with it, I would have told them they were nuts. The local classical station, KING-FM, broadcasts operas from Chicago Lyric Opera and the Met. Most of the time, I don’t listen. After all, there’s no subtitles, and I most likely don’t know the story. Opera must be seen live. I was fascinated by the music, the sets, and the reality that the singers aren’t using amplification. One must have the training (and the sheer talent,) to lift his or her voice over a sixty-person orchestra, which is no small feat. The other thing I liked about the opera is that the composers explore the human condition — Love, Death, Revenge, and Envy, to name a few. It’s definitely not boring.

I’ll be interested to hear how it goes over at the ballpark, and San Francisco, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

-S

Patrick Fitzgerald has a press conference. There’s video…

 

Ladies, we’ve wondered where he disappeared to, haven’t we? He’s busy fighting for truth, justice and the American way. (I’d say something about “devastatingly handsome” and “nice tie”, but I’ll keep it somewhat PG rated around here, huh?)

Shorter press conference: It’s not okay to allegedly arrange a murder for hire, especially not when one is a police officer.

The press conference can be viewed here: http://video.nbc5.com/player/?id=160807 

-S

An open letter to Tucker Carlson of MSNBC

Mr. Tucker Carlson

MSNBC

Secaucus, NJ

Dear Mr. Carlson,

It has come to my attention that you spent part of your television program today maligning www.firedoglake.com. Evidently, the Left are “haters”, and the Baby Boomers are to blame for this phenomena. I know I was oddly fascinated at your comments. It’s the same feeling I have during natural disasters, train derailments, broadcasts of your appearances on “Dancing With The Stars”, or perhaps an evening at the karaoke bar. 

Let’s face it: You don’t have the smarts God gave a duck, because, frankly, the Ladies of the Lake would wipe the floor with you in quick order. I don’t think you have the stones to have Jane Hamsher, Christy Hardin Smith and Marcy Wheeler as guests on your show, because America doesn’t want to watch an hour of you curled beneath your chair in the fetal position and crying for your mama. After all, they can actually back up their opinions with fact and proof. I know that’s a new concept for you. In the meantime, it’s only kind to show you some mercy.

I was a guest in the studio audience during an April, 2002 taping of “Crossfire”. I’m sure you’ve blocked this right out of your memory, because it’s, well — embarrassing to be on the receiving end of a verbal beatdown from a blogger, isn’t it? It’s especially, well, humiliating to see your co-workers egging her on from the stage, isn’t it? As a result, Mr. Carlson, I propose the following:

I’m willing to take one for the team. I’m not as smart as Jane, Christy and Marcy, so therefore, you’re getting a handicap. I’ll debate you on the subject of the Left being “haters”. That’s right. In the meantime, I must insist, though, on equal time for my comments. No dump buttons. No shutting off my microphone. No talking over me. No going to commercial. It’s you and me, Mr. Carlson.

Bring your best argument, because, frankly, I’ll be taunting you again. Have your people contact my people.

Very truly yours,

-S

My friend Kristan’s book is AMAZING!

 

Kristan wrote me an e-mail yesterday (after she generously sent me an Advance Reader’s Copy of her book, otherwise known as an ARC,) about two weeks ago. She innocently inquired if I had I read the book, and what did I think of it, anyway?

I was using her book as a carrot to finish MY book. After all, I badly wanted to read “Catch of the Day”. I loved Kristan’s first book, “Fools Rush In”, so much that I read it at one sitting. If I finished my book, I could read Kristan’s book. Yeah. That would work, wouldn’t it? Uh, no. I cracked. I was up till 1:30 this morning reading “Catch of the Day”.

I LOVED IT.

Let’s talk about how much I love, love, love this book. Kristan’s characters are so funny and so real-life that you can’t help but want to move to the town in Maine she set the book in, hang out with the lobstermen, and go to Joe’s Diner for some good blueberry pie. (Kristan, dang it, you’re going to have to put a scratch-n-sniff in your next book. Then again, I could SMELL the sea air, feel the sand between my toes, hear Father Tim’s lilting Irish brogue as he’s asking for some more eggs Benedict with bacon instead of Canadian bacon…) I loved the heroine, Maggie, and her dating disasters. I especially loved the Beethoven-playing lobsterman hero, Malone: He rescued the heroine from herself, and every woman knows that man’s a keeper.

Kristan makes real-life romantic and funny, and isn’t that what we all want? We want the guy who showed us the meaning of romance*, don’t we? We want to laugh. We want to remember what it was like when we each fell in love with the normal guy that was magically transformed into the knight in shining armor.

You can get your very own copy of “Catch of the Day” at http://www.amazon.com/Catch-Day-Kristan-Higgins/dp/0373772246/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0728365-9811208?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190837423&sr=1-1>/>

Good job, Kristan! Now all I have to do is finish MY book while we wait for your next book to come out this summer, don’t we?

Congratulations,

-S

*I blatantly STOLE this from a speaker at the RWA conference this year. Don’t tell anyone.

He’s happy, she’s not

This has nothing to do with today’s post, but Seal makes me happy — hopefully, you’ll enjoy “Love’s Divine”, too!

I read the following in the New York Times this morning, and I think it’s worth a discussion. A recent study shows that women are less happy than men are. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/business/26leonhardt.html?_r=3&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin I’m sure that there will be those who dismiss the findings immediately — after all, happiness is subjective, isn’t it?

The most interesting thing to me about the article is the fact that the study finally admits what a lot of women have known for a very long time now — whether or not women work outside the home, they’re still responsible for everything that happens inside it.

This intriguing — if unsettling — finding is part of a larger story: there appears to be a growing happiness gap between men and women.

Two new research papers, using very different methods, have both come to this conclusion. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, economists at the University of Pennsylvania (and a couple), have looked at the traditional happiness data, in which people are simply asked how satisfied they are with their overall lives. In the early 1970s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places.

Mr. Krueger, analyzing time-use studies over the last four decades, has found an even starker pattern. Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more.

Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work — and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes.

These trends are reminiscent of the idea of “the second shift,” the name of a 1989 book by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild, arguing that modern women effectively had to hold down two jobs. The first shift was at the office, and the second at home.

This begs the question, at least for me: Why do women still feel they are the ones that have to juggle the myriad of daily responsibilities that go with having a home and a family? Why do they believe that they either can’t or won’t ask the adult male living in that same home to split the responsibilities?

I realize that we’re an anomaly. Neither of us especially likes housework, so we both do it. The Dauphin really likes to cook, so he does quite a bit of it, especially on the weekends. There are certain things, though, that I’m a lot more involved with. Our calendar. Holiday planning. Social stuff. For us, this isn’t a problem, but if we had kids, my responsibilities would grow exponentially.

I’m curious to know how The Little Pink Clubhouse’s readers deal with the day-to-day at their houses.

-S

It’s Tuesday.

Cake asks the musical question: How do you afford your rock n’ roll lifestyle?

I’m working on the book today. Needless to say, I’m still trying to finish. The end’s in sight, but to quote Susan Mallery, “Oh, God, will this book EVER be finished?”

In the meantime, it’s time for a musical moment. I heard this song on the radio yesterday, and I was cracking up laughing. Maybe I’ll have to follow it up with “I’m An Adult Now,” another one of my favorites…

-S

p.s. Here it is — “I’m an Adult Now”, by the Pursuit of Happiness

It’s time to dance at The Little Pink Clubhouse!

Goodnight, sweet Gloria

 

Photo: Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times

I’ve been reading a series of articles in the Seattle Times over the past several months about a young lady named Gloria Strauss. I never met Gloria. I don’t know her family.  For whatever reason, though, I was drawn there on an almost daily basis to read the reporter’s blog and to say a prayer for her.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2003731230_webbrewer2.html

Gloria had neuroblastoma. She died this morning from complications of the disease. She was eleven years old.

Obviously, death is a part of life, but I fail to understand why any child should have to suffer this way. I want to believe there is something better on the other side.

She deserves it.

-S