Springing forwards and Falling back is for the birds

I think the entire messing with the clocks, the biannual time change is a silly idea. There is no good reason to mess with the clocks. A new study proves it.

It is silly to have to run around and change all the clocks, reset every watch you own, deal with the change and pitfalls and shift in the children's schedules (or pets, I understand it is a pain for dogs especially, since they tend to go out on a set schedule.) People forget or run late or arrive early to meetings for the first few days. A mess.

And for what? More daylight in the morning or evening. I guess 100 year ago that was an issue, but now we all have electric lights and can adjust and I am just not a fan of messing with the nature rhythms of life. I know time is a man made construct loosely based on some scientific observation and local customs, but enough already. We have a 24 hour day and some of it or more of it will be daylight depending on the season and that is just the way it is. Deal with it.

The raw power of language

I have a thing about words. I like 'em. I like to think about them, say them, read them, speak them, play with them. I am verbal person. I think out loud. (or I write and that is still expressing thoughts.)

L is learning to read. For real. She has been "reading" for years. She loves books. She sleeps in bed with a pile of books and has for some time. She carries books around the house. She lines up her small zoo of stuffed animals and reads to them.

But now - in this moment she is learning to read the words. She is collecting words the way one would collect sea shells on the shore. Building her site vocab and her list of "high frequency" words.

She is learning to write. She is making up some wild spelling and her penmanship - yep she got that from H - yeah buddy we need work on that - but again the raw power of her discovery. She can write a story now. Just like mommy she will say. The other night she made me a book about the new clothes I had bought her at the store. It was so powerful. Pictures and words working together.

Now I learned a foreign language as a young adult (high school and collage.) and I suppose it was the same process. I remember building my vocabulary slowly and over time. My vocabulary grows every time I go to Germany. The way our brains soak up language is amazing to me.

I was sharing tea with a friend one afternoon and we were discussing vocabulary and the missing pieces of it that we each have. She speaks Arabic and French in addition to English and I speak German. I had been trying to help her look for an apartment in Germany and had had to consult the dictionary a few times because I have never looked for an apartment in German and I had some holes in my vocabulary.

As we drank out tea we where talking about the missing pieces in our vocabularies and we decided that it was so much about experience. Children begin to soak up their mothers language, virtually in utero. They just hear it and somehow the mind catalogs it for them and starts their mental word list even before they say their first word. When learning a language later in life the work is harder, there is some catch up and it is so dependent in many cases on experience.

I knew nothing of German baby speak, like diapers and bottles and all of that until I actually had had a baby and needed to talk the stuff of babies.

My friend and I also came to a startling discovery that afternoon. I knew very few "romantic" words in German - that part of my life experience has been in English while she knew a fair amount about the power of romance in French and understandably none in Arabic.

Language is dynamic and our experience with it is a daily adventure, if we open our minds and take in the power, we just might learn something.

See I told you I was the kiss of death...

So I think someone once told me that you are not suppose to tell people how much you make, who you vote for and how often you have sex, but well I think that is just silly. Anyone very internet savvy can find all of that out - I think and well I am going to spill the beans anyway.

I voted on Tuesday in the Ohio Primary - for Obama. I felt like I not only liked his platform, but he is conducting himself with grace and professionalism and I think those are presidential qualities. So did Obama do so well in Ohio. No of course not - I voted for him. As you will recall I said I was going vote for Edwards and the next day he dropped out, what are the chances?

So I just have to hope that when it comes time to vote come November, I have found a cure to this curse or we could be in a serious bind. I am so longing for change and a fresh face in the White House!

Book Review: Mine to Possess

• ISBN-10: 0425220168
• ISBN-13: 978-0425220160

I have read all the books in this series and this one is as strong as all the others. While they are romances and the stories are driven by the relationship of the hero and heroine - there is alot of action, alot of intrigue and alot thrill/mystery. Nalini Singh is a gifted story teller and she knows her craft well and she executes brilliantly!

I will say this - the first three books in the series work well as stand alone stories - and while this story is strong - the love affair between Clay and Talin is poignant, beautiful and powerful - but Nalini is carrying the series arc - driving the overacing plot a good bit in this book and I think if you have missed the first three books- you would still have a pleasant read this round - but you would miss many of the finer points.

I also like the way she takes on some really huge social issues - the series is full of them - but in this book Talin is a surviver of abuse - and horrible abuse at that and it takes years for Talin to cope and find herself and her courage is beautiful - but I also admire that Nalini does not glose over the difficulties and the trauma nor does she get on her soapbox. It is in my opinion very well executed!

This is the kind of campagin ad I like to see...

This is clever and very well done - why can't we have more of this. This type of ad I can actually watch! It is not snippy or whiny or mean spirited. It is smart, witty, clever and very savvy!