The Drug of the Nation
Mark sent along this little gem of an article.

Seriously, how is Pete Doherty not in jail? Warning: it may take a minute or so to load this site, and the pictures are kinda gross.

Help Wanted
So, a couple of people have asked if I could add an RSS feed to this site. I would love to do so, but I don't know how! Blogger (the tool I use to create most of this thing) only supports it if you pay for their pro subscription, which I do not. Their website suggests I go to Feedburner to set things up, but they kind of just directed me back to Blogger. Hmmm. I'm lost!

Anyone out there know how to get this RSS thing up and running?

It's a book meme!
I stole this from Kris. Faithful readers might notice that I steal from him frequently. This means that you should read his blog if you are not doing so already. Anyway, it goes like this:

Copy this list of books (where did this list originate, anyway?). Bold the titles you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't read, underline the ones on your bookshelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never heard of (or "the ones of which you've never heard).

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
The Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Atonement - Ian McEwan
(The Shadow of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert
Sula by Toni Morrison
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
(The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo)
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

36 Hours
The New York Times has a travel article on what to do if you're in Fayetteville, AR for 36 hours. Having lived there for four or so years (and having spent copious amounts of time there while living elsewhere in NW Arkansas), I was gratified to see some of my favorite places mentioned. Hugo's! Penguin Ed's! Devil's Den and the creepy caves! Really makes me miss home.

Gone for a couple of days...
Folks, we are off to south Texas and Mexico to attend Victor's grandmother's funeral, so I'll respond to comments and stuff when I get back. Have a good weekend!

Arrrgh!!!
I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Salon.com. I really enjoy reading their arts and entertainment features, their "Ask the Pilot" column, and some of their news coverage. However, they often publish things that make me mad, so I don't read the site very often. But sometimes Mark or Ryan will forward me something from there that will either make me really happy or really pissed off. And it's usually something political.

My political views are all over the place. I was raised in a really conservative (yet pretty non-religious) household. My parents were very active with the Republican party and always attended political functions and worked the polls. So growing up, I was pretty conservative as well.

When I started forming some decisions on my own, I swung towards the left, but I never really became a full-fledged liberal. I'm really lefty on some issues (gay rights, for example), but still have conservative leanings on other issues. Most of my friends are bleeding heart liberals, yet my husband and family are conservatives, so I get to hear a good mix of opinions and interpretations on a daily basis, which I find healthy and refreshing. Hearing different viewpoints really helps me to analyze my own opinions. This is why I will also listen to NPR all day long and yet read an article Victor's sent me from the National Review.

Anyway, Mark sent over this article yesterday because he got so angry over it. This time it is really too far. I know that Salon is really liberal, but this takes the cake. They put it in their "Life" section, but it seems much more like an opinion piece to me. As Victor said (and more than one person pointed out in letters to Salon), it seems like a caricature of an East Coast liberal instead of a real article. Anyway, it really made me angry. I can't stand the current administration, and I hate the way the rest of the world views us because of the actions of our leaders, but I am still proud to be American. I still get teary-eyed when I hear the National Anthem. And I will proudly listen to my kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance (many, many years in the future, when I have decided to have kids!).

Once again, far left liberals (i.e. Salon, in this case) are alienating those in the middle and are driving them toward the right. It's what lost them the election last time. If they continue down this path, they're going to lose the next one. And we may be stuck with another ultra-religious, ultra-conservative, anti-science administration. I would really prefer a different scenario.

Laundry list!

Well, I’ve been a Grade A crappy blogger lately, so to get back into the flow, I’m going to do a long list of good news. "What?" you say, "good news? Mandy usually gripes and moans!" Well, gentle reader, I’m in a good mood, and I’m going to stretch it out as long as I can!

• Kurt and Meredith’s wedding was about the sweetest wedding ever. And by “sweet,” I mean “aww, kittens and puppies and rainbows” not “dude, I just scored a sweet dimebag.” They got married in Mayfield Park in Austin on Saturday, which was a gorgeous day, and the park looked beautiful. They wrote their own ceremony, and it made quite a number of us (and them) teary-eyed. Afterward, we had yummy Curra’s at the reception, plus heavy drinking and a klezmer band. When the reception was over, we went to Ryan’s backyard for the afterparty and dance party. Mark DJ’d from iTunes, and just like at our wedding, he did a fantastic job. I had switched from heels to flip-flops, and many of the guests changed into more casual attire, because Texas is hot, yo! So we danced the night away to indie tunes, good hip-hop, Def Leppard, and old Prince and Michael Jackson. And of course, the new theme song of our dance parties, “Since U Been Gone.” Victor stuck it out on the dance floor (and by dance floor, I mean grass and dirt, really) almost as much as I did. The cops eventually came and shut the music down, but we stayed late into the night, reminiscing and having a wonderful time.



• 2006 is turning out to be a really strong year for music. We’ve recently purchased the latest from the Flaming Lips, Morrissey, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Band of Horses, Built to Spill, and probably some other stuff I’m forgetting. I’ve still been listening to the new Destroyer, Jenny Lewis, and Belle and Sebastian albums a lot. And recently I’ve been driving around with the Arctic Monkeys album in my car, since they’re so hyped these days. Victor and Mark like the album a lot, and I think Victor is getting tickets for us to see them next month (or is it June?). And the new Streets is out next week!



• London is hopefully our next destination. If all goes well, we’re getting on a flight tomorrow evening that will arrive on Friday. I’ve got Friday and Monday off work already. If we make it (fingers crossed!), we’re going to be staying with Ellen, who recently relocated there from New Zealand. Also, I’d like to take the opportunity to direct you to her blog, Liberal and Miserable, which is open and ready for business. Yay for more friends blogging! Here’s hoping that we actually get on the flight.



• One more blog to announce before I go. I got a comment yesterday that mentioned coming here from another site, one which I had never read called Swiss Toni's Place. After a lot of googling, I found the site, but not before I learned who the real Swiss Toni is. So I went look at the blog, and lo and behold, I had been featured in the blog of the week feature back in January. How lovely! His blog looks quite interesting, with lots of music musings, so I'll definitely be reading the archives over the next couple of days.

And now, back to my job.

75 of my favorite albums
I totally stole this from Kris, but it was a lot of fun to put together. I think it represents a fair idea of what my musical tastes are. I only wish I knew how to put them after a jump, just in case any of you guys are dialin' up to read this here thing. But I don't think Blogger supports that. Also, I promise to have an update on my life soon (in case you care). Work has been crazy and a little depressing, and I haven't felt like writing. But anyway, without further ado, here they are:

Create your own Music List @ HotFreeLayouts!

Whaddaya think?

A little less conversation, a little more brokeback skating!

In lieu of a real post, which I promise I'll complete later today or tomorrow, I am proud to present you with this nugget:



Recommended if you like: Elvis, cowboys, butts, figure skating, the Gay.

I found this via Uffish Thoughts.