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29 de fevereiro THE THREE QUIZI was tagged by Kaylotta THREE SCREENNAMES I GO BY: 27 de fevereiro venue I really need to choose a venue for my birthday party. Soon. Or there won't be a party. I wanted a place where there would be space to dance, space to play tablegames, and space to serve food. Not a lot to ask, is it? Any suggestions? 8th grade math
26 de fevereiro quoting MattMatt came up with this really great line on Sunday night: Just because someone seems like they're a nutbar, doesn't mean they're not. He often produces such gems, but I usually don't have the presence-of-mind to write them down! 22 de fevereiro it is hard to break a habit, but not impossibleOne of No Impact Man's entries reminds us that all is not lost; we can break our habit of consumption. Are we too selfish to change?A hundred years ago, waste was considered immoral. Throwing out something that still worked was just plain wrong. What changed that? Marketing. Factory owners wanted to keep their production lines churning and factory workers wanted to keep their tummies full. Repetitive consumption seemed like the answer.* Slowly but surely we convinced ourselves that new was better than old. It became ok to throw things out. It became ok to waste. In fact, out with the old and in with the new kept the economic wheels turning. Buying became downright patriotic. The result of this old messaging is that, now, everybody wants the newest iPod, the biggest SUV, a huge vacation. And no one is going to give these things up voluntarily, right? Wrong. Because history shows us that acquisitiveness, a twentieth century phenomenon, is not based on selfishness (which presumably would have been present from the Stone Age). Instead, our consumption arose because of newly-learned social norms and values. So, we can change the message. For many years, in this country, smoking was trendy. Now it’s not. The message changed. When I was young, people threw their wrappers on the New York streets without a thought. Now people sneer if you drop your trash. The message changed. Why wouldn’t the same be true of our use of planetary resources? For many years, as a culture, we thought it was great to get more and use more, and that was the message. People argue that changing course is impossible. You can’t, they say, change human nature. But we don’t have to change human nature. All we have to do is change the message. Firefly quoteShepherd Book: River, you don't fix the Bible. River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense. Shepherd Book: It's not about making sense. It's about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you. 21 de fevereiro thankful Thursday thirteen I am thankful for:
Bill Nye the swingdancing guy? I wish that I could be spun around the dance floor by Bill! "...I don’t even go to the gym for exercise anymore. Instead I go swing
dancing! I’ve found that it’s just an incredible form of exercise, and
the girl to guy ratio is terrific in these kinds of places. So I say to
every man in America, get into swing dancing! I mean, you’ll find that
there are literally loads of women just waiting for you to grab them
and dance with them. It’s incredible!"
 19 de fevereiro I don't agree with the Norwegians They have a saying: There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. Great attitude, I suppose, but I still don't agree! If you haven't seen this video yet, you surely should.  18 de fevereiro is there an echo in here? Things I've been saying a lot: Get. Out. Of. Bed! Get off the computer. Are you almost done in there? Arghhhh! Montreal misc. Our hotel room was on the 20th floor, and my ears actually popped if the elevator made no stops on the way up or down. I only encountered one person who couldn't speak English. The food service workers were friendly in a way that I don't usually encounter in Wpg.  Montreal's underground city downtown (now called the RESO) is BIG. It just keeps going and going and going... I didn't get lost, although it did take me a while to find one store that I wanted to visit again, and I was surprised a few times to discover where I was, having come to a store underground that I previously visited at street level. The 'underground city' is very unfriendly, however, to anyone with mobility issues. There are stairs and escalators in the tunnels joining the various buildings, with no elevators, lifts, or ramps as alternatives. What's up with that? Each new building, it seems, had another foodcourt. I enjoyed Pad Sew (or Pad Siew, or Pad See Ew) each of the four days, for supper. And I got ridiculous enjoyment from my first square cardboard takeout box! 
Read the small print on top of the box. Yes, it was hot, it was delicious, and it did create dependence!! Taking the metro was a fun experience - our first time on an underground. Montreal's metro was the first to run on tires, which is different from many subway systems; it reduces the noise and vibrations, as well as making it easier to start, stop, and handle slopes. It WAS odd to have no view out the windows.   
The skirts were shorter in Montreal! It was very noticeable. Not so much in the stores, but what the women were wearing. I was told that Montreal is the place to shop, but I didn't find that to be true. Most of the stores are the same chains that we have in Wpg. I did like Simmons, a smaller department store. I also could have spent a lot of money at Omer DeSerres, an art store. It snowed a fair amount on Wednesday, and the streets and sidewalks just weren't ever cleared, really. Lyndon heard that they've had so much snow this winter that they ran out of places to pile it, and they don't want to put it in the river. pedometer report: On Tuesday I didn't even break 10,000 steps. Wednesday was about 11,600; Thursday was 15,700. Friday was over 16,000 before we went dancing. 
Thursday evening was the AFOA dinner and convocation (eleven grads this year). The after-dinner entertainment was Gilles Sioui & the Midnight Riders which I grudgingly danced to at Lyndon's request (although it should have been WestCoast, not LindyHop). We went to Le Petit Medley on Tuesday, but couldn't dance a lot because the dance floor at that bar was so tiny and there were lots of dancers there. We went to Cat's Corner on Friday evening. The music (DJs) was quite good and the floor was good, but it there were over 100 people there so it was hard to find space to dance. Also, there was a lot of jive, and not so many lindyhoppers (there'd been a jive lesson before the dance). I did get to dance with a few frenchmen, though, and lots of dances with Lyndon. During the day on Friday, we went to Old Montreal.      More photos on Webshots. 11 de fevereiro adventures My head hurts. I'm trying to figure out Montreal's metro system from their website and maps. It would help if I could grasp the layout of the city a bit. I am very happy to see that Montreal's weather forecast is much better than ours, but my friends who have to stay here in the deepfreeze may not be as thrilled as I am...  Dancing at Raise the Roof on Saturday night went very well. We had been asked to perform during the band's first break. We did five songs at that time, one of which was the debut of Cam & Lindsay's solo. It was all very well-received. After the band was on again, the organizers asked us to consider performing again during the band's next break; the other dance group hadn't come because of a family emergency. So we hastily checked what music we had available, and settled on ShimSham, a jam circle, and a rueda. It was nerve-wracking to do lifts without having practiced, but ours went well. I'd have preferred a slower (and shorter!) song for the jam circle; we used Sing Sing Sing. The crowd was very appreciative. Sometimes whole huge groups of people can seem utterly oblivious to our performances. Other groups cheer and applaud. We had lots of applause and sounds-of-amazement last night during our performances, and vast praise from many individuals afterwards. I was also pleased to see the mother of my gal who'd been my best friend in grades 1 to 5. That was delightful. One drawback: it didn't seem to be a healthy buildling. Both Lindsay and Lyndon had sore throats soon after entering, and Vicky was very sneezy.  No church on Sunday; someone decided it was too cold so they canceled. We were disappointed, especially because our brother-in-law was to preach. 07 de fevereiro random skull-clutter I am pleased to see that our hotel in Montreal is connected to their huge subterranean city of tunnels. If the weather isn't good, I can get out and still stay warm. Perhaps even leave my coat in the hotel room.  I am less pleased to learn that the hotel charges $12.95/24 hours for internet. This is a supposedly high-class place, catering to business clients. We've stayed in SO many hotels (and motels) that had free wireless internet. Why can't a 'nice' hotel also provide free internet? It seems incredibly petty to me.  On the aging front, I have mixed feelings about my reading glasses. Not thrilled that I need them, but happy to be able to see the stitching when I have a seam to remove! Somehow I expected to be past forty before this happened... 
The February Focus recommends spiritual companions, which strikes a richer chord to me than a spiritual mentor. It certainly seems much more attainable. 
This weekend I'm going to learn how important it is to respect my husband. He's going to learn how important it is to love me. The thing is, he already loves me, and shows it well!! Our church is hosting a Love & Respect video conference on Friday/Saturday. I'm not sure that I'm up for that much video, but I will try. 
Things I'm looking forward to:
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