Well, where the hell have i been? Sheesh! It's amazing how fast time flies...I can't believe it's August already (shaking my head)!

Brief Updates:

Had a 2 week vacation in June - will share some pics later. L  & I went to La Push WA USA for one whole week and walked on the beeches, visited the Hoh Rainforest, and generally had a great relaxing time that was way too short.

Am going to Billings MT for a friend's wedding in August...why would anyone pick the hottest month to have a wedding in MT? And most importantly, why are we going? Well, because we love the person getting married and we love her family too - can't wait to see them - even if we'll all be sweating and swatting at bugs.

I've been working entirely too much this year - what was that I said? Yes, as an American in the USA, I have the exact opposite problem of those poor folks who lost their jobs.  I've got too much work and (thankfully) it's not stopping anytime soon.

I haven't been able to spend enough time on my hobbies nearest and dearest to my heart: crystals / gemstones, poetry, art, photography, reading on my Kindle, yoga, and languages.  I am in the middle of trying to figure out when I can put more of those things back into my life - while working 45 - 60 hours a week! (wish me luck) 

L is at least working on her art / paintings!  She finished the male beefcake and also the Vajrayogini and they are absolutely incredible!  I love her artwork and I hear she's now starting on a new piece to donate to the HRC Dinner Auction in September 2009. I can't wait to see what she decides to focus on - she showed me some rough sketches and WOW are they amazing!

Well, I'm off to sleep, and then work work work.

Peace Love and Mild Temperatures!
~rowangrrl~

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: thirsty
Current Music: Silence (no music)

I've been watching MSNBC entierly too much the past few weeks and I've found two new shows that I find intelligent and educational with a little humour thrown in for kicks. The winners are The Rachel Maddow Show and Keith Olbermann's Countdown.




So, in her show tonight is possibly the best review of what's going on with the Bail out $$$.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26950033#26964084

*The greatest part is at the end when 'Mr Republican' from Texas refers to Rachel as 'sir' and she responds: "Hey, it happens all the time." (*sigh* This is my experience, too)

Also, the best description so far of what really needs to be done to fix the financial crisis a discussion with Dennis Kuchinich http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26950033#26964090.

And Keith Olberman ends each show with how many days since 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq.

Here's a great clip about McCain ditching his appearance on David Letterman and Keith ends it with his usual statement of how many days since 'Mission Accomplished' in the Iraq war http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#26894706.

America: please Vote!

L and I will be attending Foolscap X convention this weekend in Redmond WA. Here's the link: http://www.foolscapcon.org/.  My lovely and talented partner L will be showing some of her art and also doing an art demo on Saturday! I am very excited for her and hope she has a blast!

In other news, here's the new CD cover and name for TATU's latest creation (formerly know as Waste Management):  “Veselye Ulybki” / “Happy Smiles”





(Yi So-yeon, a South Korean scientist, "the first Korean and the second Asian woman to fly in space" (in April 2008)) A special 'thank you' to forum members at www.tatu.us/forum for all of the info!

Happy Smiles track list:

1. Intro
2. Beliy Plaschik
3. You and I
4. Snegopady
5. 220
6. Marsianskiye Glaza
7. Chelovechki
8. Happy Smiles
9. Running Blind
10. Fly on the Wall
11. Vremya Luny
12. Ne Zhaley

Sources:
http://dl1.tatu.ru/trailers/press-release-en.pdf
http://www.tatu.ru/en/news.html?id=668

I found this amusing, and snagged it from http://firmlist.woolgatherers.org/wool034.phtml.

Here's a little bit of math to help explain the complexities of the corporate world pay scales...

We have been told that:

Knowledge is Power and Time is Money

and, as every good engineer knows:

Power = Work / Time

So, if Knowledge = Power, and Time = Money; then:

Knowledge = Work / Money

Solving this equation for Money, we get: Money = Work / Knowledge

Thus, Money approaches infinity as Knowledge approaches zero, regardless of the work done.

What this means is: The less you know, the more you make.

Finally, proof for what we all suspected! 

Current Mood: pleased

So, L & I went to MT for my mom's family reunion during the weekend of Aug 7-10. It was held at the old homestead where Grandpa P & Grandma M first put down their MT roots around 1937 after coming from ND. They had 9 kids - 4 boys and 5 girls.

Teh view from my Grandma M's homestead in MT.

Ye olde dairy barn behind the homestead.


Grandma M's old car



What I'm really thinking: 'Is 95 degrees in the shade really that hot? Yes. Yes it is. And why am I wearing this coat?' And yes that is pink lemonade in my cup, not a pink martini. No, really.



and finally some beautiful ancient cottonwood trees that have guarded the homestead all these years - at least from 1938 or so.



I hope you enjoyed the brief tour of my Grandpa P & Grandma M's homestead. :-)

~peace out~

Current Mood: nostalgic

yes i am a romantic...i just can't stop - not that i would want to either. 
Please, enjoy my efforts of emotional expression through poetry.

i  imagine
kissing you
you're leaning against the brickwall
fullness of the moon 
   lights
       up your eyes
bodies      pressed       together
Jupiter   spinning   around   us
        inviting   us   closer
              intimacy
      immediate
              taste of laughter on your lips
      romance dripping from my fingertips



mbrandt  26 Jan 2002 

This is a poem that goes with the picture below (in the previous post) titled 'deception'...well, at the least I did both during the same timeframe in an attempt to express my anger which then had a positive outcome:  art and poetry!


the deception
 of one so close,
                  yet so out of step
                        with me,
  runs deep

my anger burns             burns               burns

       the charred remains
    of what was, and,
         picking through the ruins,
    i find smoldering
             pockets of 

               hate

      rage
                    disgust

            sorrow

                     wasted energy

   my soul's next step,
         carefully planned,
    will allow for new
           growth
      and love...
           openness
expression of all things
       that spark 
        in me


mbrandt 22 May 2002

A self portrait from 2002.



Another drawing from 2002 titled 'Deception'



 

Current Mood: contemplative

My new favorite quote: 

"Why is it that filmgoers would believe Tom Cruise can be blown onto the top of a speeding train by a huge explosion and still survive, but they refuse to think two women in love can have a happy ending?" 

Julia Dyer 
Director / Producer / Editor of Late Bloomers 


The Wallflower By Jimmy Fowler  Published: June 19, 1997

Dallas screenwriter Gretchen Dyer fully expected that some heterosexuals would resist the plot of her debut feature, Late Bloomers. The film, which was directed and co-produced by her sister, Julia Dyer, concerns two middle-aged women who unexpectedly fall in love while working at the same suburban high school.

But she knew the film really barbecued some sacred cows when a lesbian angrily approached her after the film was screened at a festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts, often cited as the unofficial gay capital of America.

"She said the movie was proof of my own internalized homophobia," Gretchen recalls with some bemusement. "And she also told me, 'There's not enough licking and sucking.' I said that I like licking and sucking, too, but that's really not what the film's about. It's about discovering a whole new side of yourself when you least expect it."

Filmed in Dallas in 1994 using almost exclusively local actors and crew for $500,000, Late Bloomers is a modest study of unremarkable lives suddenly dragged under the harsh scrutiny of a disapproving community. Local stage, film, and TV actors Connie Nelson and Dee Hennigan give incandescent performances as Dinah Groshardt and Carly Lumpkin, the gym teacher and principal's secretary who ignite like firecrackers when they realize their attraction to each other. Unfortunately, the glare blinds friends, co-workers, and family in the process, compelling otherwise decent people to commit cruelties both accidental and intentional. 

<...and further down in the article>

The unidentified heartland setting of Late Bloomers couldn't be more commonplace, or the characters more humble in their aspirations and achievements. And yet the movie is a nimble, ingratiating little study of sexual anarchy. In fact, the film couldn't have been more subversive if it featured a pride parade full of drag queens and dykes on bikes. Director Julia Dyer sums up the theme as "It could happen to you," which only hints at the ambisexuality this terrifically acted movie serves on the fine china of the romantic comedy, that most reassuring of mainstream entertainments. 

Mild-mannered, charming, and honey-coated though it is, Late Bloomers takes some fairly insurrectionist positions. It champions the idea of gay marriage, which has replaced gay promiscuity as the outrage du jour of cultural traditionalists. Yet more than a few gay and lesbian activists are equally uncomfortable with the idea of accepting marital rights, because they believe the institution has, by and large, failed heterosexuals.

Even more radically, the film suggests that labels like "straight" and "lesbian" are often meaningless when applied to the complex course of an individual's lifetime. The women who fall in love no more think of themselves as "lesbians" than your average heterosexual high school employee. Yet their passion for each other overwhelms definitions of normalcy and renders radical politics irrelevant.

To read the full article, click on The Wallflower up above. :-)

Kudos to the Dyers for their vision and for the actors who portrayed such a great couple of human beings falling in love.

Keep it simple. Love one another. Live for each other.

Current Mood: loved

I have had the 'opportunity' this week to answer some emails at work regarding the calculation of Monthly Salaried Payroll and also explaining the calculation for Holiday O/T for hourly employees who work on the holiday. Overall, I'd say the second one was more fun because the person on the receiving end had a sense of humour. The first one however, referred to the calculation as 'dishonest.'

Now, I know that I have referred to Payroll math as the 'funny math' or the 'new new math' but never 'dishonest'.  It's all because it's never logical or obvious...hmmm...What was that you said? Give you an example? Okay (twist my arm) glad you asked!

Monthly Salaried calculation with a Holiday:

This is based on business days in the month minus the 8 hour Holiday. So, there are 2080 regular hours per year (40 X 52).  Divide 2080 by 12 and the employee will be paid 173.33 'hours' each month so that they will always receive the same $ amount each month no matter how many business days are in the month. When there is a Holiday, it must be subtracted from the total regular hours to be accurate: 173.33 - 8 = 165.33.

So there are X amount of business days per month - in May there were 21 (plus one 8 hour holiday).  If a person is hired on the 19th, then they are paid a prorated / percentage amount based on the business days on the month. So, here's how the calculation would go:

9/21 = 0.42857142857142857142857142857143 X 165.33 (173.33 - 8 Holiday Hours) = 70.86 Regular hours X their hourly equivalent rate equals their regular earnings.

Example salary:
Annual Salary 50,000.00
Monthly Equivalent: 50,000.00 / 12 = 4,166.67
Hourly Equivalent: 50,000.00 / 2080 = 24.0385

70.86 X 24.0385 = 1703.37
8.00  X 24.0385 = 192.31

And this is why I will go insane - beyond my loopy progression thus far.
With that I bid you good night and good luck!

~rowangrrl~

Current Mood: amused