Some random photos

This is Kiefer on line for the Matterhorn.K & G on the Tower of Terror with Joe & Patti.

Just a few recent pictures. We continue to make good use of our Disney passes, and here is the ACTUAL Vespa on the Palos Verdes peninsula. 100 MPG - sweet! The pink helmet is mine.

And

Also Amelie's birthday is next weekend....

Playing Around

Did I mention Greg got a Vespa?

"One Bomb Away"

I read this a couple of days ago, but I keep seeing people say that this administration has kept us safe since 9/11, so they must be OK. That's not really what they've been worried about - they have actually been more worried about taking away more of your freedoms. A quote:

"Dick Cheney Chief of Staff David Addington had an idea for getting around all of that. As Jack Goldsmith, the former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, tells the New York Times, Addington once observed that the White House was just "one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court."

Read it here. But hey, if you don't care about freedom....

Frodo, Don't Wear The Ring

Flight of the Conchords on HBO. It's about a fictional New Zealand duo living in New York. The Arwen in the video is Mel, their one fan. They have a lot of good videos-within-the-show, I just like the line "the magical bling-bling". Classic. So I present it to you.

the Black Pearl

the Black Pearl
Originally uploaded by mariannes_stuff

Check it out- Pirates 3 filmed from Kings Harbor by the Redondo Beach Pier. This was a much more happening place a year ago, it seems like!

The 11th Hour

I'm excited to see this new Get-Off-Your-Ass-and-Do Something film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (I wasn't a huge fan of his earlier work - "Jack!" "Rose!", but he has now won my heart). It doesn't open here for a couple of weeks though! Mark your calendars.

First Week of School

So far, so good...Amelie seems to be enjoying Kindergarten, though the only answer I can usually get to the "How was your day today?" question is "Fine." Already. Yeah. Anyway, while I highly value individual creativity and expression, I am a huge fan of school uniforms and I think A looked super cute on the first day, don't you?

Selling a house

The market's just so great in Phoenix right now we decided to get the house ready to sell...ok, well, seriously, y'all, sometimes in life things can't happen at the perfect time. We'll see what happens. We're just ready for a change. Not sure where to yet but first things first, I need a handyman! :)

Off to the beach! Look for me biking the strand this weekend, and possibly the fam will be entering a castle in the Manhattan Beach contest on Sunday. High of 74, here we come!!

Taming the Energy Hogs

I was forwarded this informative article from the New York Times and I think it's worthy of passing along. Seems like very good PR for the Kill-o-watt thingamajiggy! Figure out which of YOUR devices are using needless energy and pull the plug!

The latest news

Is that Greg took a 6 month contract in Los Angeles. Which is obviously tough but check out where he is living.

We're going out this weekend, and next, and probably a lot the whole time. So if you will be in SoCal this summer look us up! Redondo Beach.

"Redshirting" for K-G

I just devoured this article from today's New York Times on the starting age of kindergarteners. I think I mentioned previously it's something I have agonized over a bit. Either I start her in August as planned (and save myself $650 a month), or wait, and try to give her a developmental advantage over her classmates that she may not need. The part that I found particularly thought-provoking is this:

But perhaps those kids with the pencils in their ears — at least the less-affluent ones — don’t need “the gift of time” but rather to be brought into the schools. Forty-two years after Lyndon Johnson inaugurated Head Start, access to quality early education still highly correlates with class; and one serious side effect of pushing back the cutoffs is that while well-off kids with delayed enrollment will spend another year in preschool, probably doing what kindergartners did a generation ago, less-well-off children may, as the literacy specialist Katie Eller put it, spend “another year watching TV in the basement with Grandma.” What’s more, given the socioeconomics of redshirting — and the luxury involved in delaying for a year the free day care that is public school — the oldest child in any given class is more likely to be well off and the youngest child is more likely to be poor. “You almost have a double advantage coming to the well-off kids,” says Samuel J. Meisels, president of Erikson Institute, a graduate school in child development in Chicago. “From a public-policy point of view I find this very distressing.”

The article went on to point out that the youngest kids in the class, regardless of any arbitrary cutoff date, will always be the hardest to teach. We are vitims of the vagaries of the school calendar. So as states race to give their own kids an edge by pushing back the cutoffs to September 1st and earlier (as in Oregon where we almost had planned to start Kindergarten), it has a hugely disporportionate effect on the most disadvantaged of kids (what else is new, I guess).

Regardless, it did point out that the fact that we, as parents, are even strssing about this issue bodes pretty well for Amelie's future academic success. I hope that will be true. We'll see how it goes this year. If it's NOT going well, then, Greg can take a contract job in Europe or something and we'll just skip that year later on. :)

Marnie's first wedding picture

Crickets (the dog) was the ring bearer.

A month plus...ooops, where was I?

Busy month! Marnie is getting MARRIED next week, y'all!! We took a short trip to San Diego and Orange County, I had my 34th birthday party (Fiesta de Cinco - Ole!), I pulled weeds on Earth Day (buffel grass sucks! and I fell down Piestewa Peak!), went to the zoo (thanks, Dawn!). I have photos, and they are coming. Just thought it was time I checked in.

BYO Bag

This will help with one of those items on the list - always bring your own bag to every store. The kit is $19.95, good deal! I usually remember when I grocery shop but I will try to always keep one of my euro string bags in my purse (stretchy!) - or refuse a bag sometimes.

Another Great List of Things We Can Do

Featured on Here and Now today, Time's 51 things you can to to fight global warming.

I already wrote a note to my mayor asking him to make Phoenix an LED city (and a Cool City as well).

Let's all work on one a day! :)

Free Veggie Burger

Buy one get one Bocas at Johnny Rockets retro diners. Click for the coupon thru 3/31/07. Yum!

Amelie and her Sisters

Amelie does not have imaginary friends, she has imaginary siblings. Usually their names are "Fluffy" and "Molly" and the others vary but they are numerous. Talk about laying on the parent-of-an-only-child guilt! Anyway, through the magic of digital photography, here is a photo of Amelie, Molly, and Fluffy.

Amelie's Best Day EVER

This past Friday, I got a message from a lady named Jan at Kaleidoscope Horses. The horses are the public art project that has appeared on street corners (Chicago has cows, and here we do huge fiberglass horses). She was going down the list of Sierra Club members in our newsletter, they had some wildlife-themed horses, and would we have anyone who could maybe pull them in the Parada Del Sol, Scottsdale's long-running rodeo parade? So I said OK, if I would be able to bring Amelie. My vision: she wear a shirt promoting CF bulbs and smile and walk with me as I pulled huge horse through parade. Her vision: she wear a princess dress and ride the horse while waving as I pull horse AND her through parade. Guess from the pictures who won? But she was SO excited, and also, there was an extra horse that we got to graffiti, to which I added my CF bulb message, amongst others, so no biggie. And Greg managed to sneak in and walk with us most of the route. Then we went for pizza and a walk through the park. After that we went to the mall for flower girl dress shopping, so Amelie says it was definitely the best day EVER.

McCain is Running (duh)

He's been sewing up his sheep's clothing (or it's more like one of those masks that have two different faces that change depending on whether you're looking from the right or the left) for 10 years, but McCain is now officially (kinda) running again, as of his appearance on Letterman last night. At least the press love-fest is pretty much over. PEOPLE: he has been my senator for as long as I have been able to vote. Nothing special- another right winger that takes calculated moderate positions enough to look like a "maverick". Plus he's already 72, and for the troop surge. Eh, whatever.