I can't imagine 70 days, much less 70 years...

Tomorrow, June 7, 2010, my grandparents, Earl and Wilma McWilliams, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. SEVENTY YEARS!!! Seriously. I can't imagine being married for 70 days, much less 70 years. It's truly amazing.

They both turned 90 in the last year, and while they have had some health scares and we've had a few moments where we thought we'd lose one or both of them, they're still here. And for the most part, they are very much alive and kicking.

It was amazing to have them fly to California from Texas and celebrate Christmas with me and my mom and her husband last year. I'm so unbelievably blessed to still have them in my life and just wanted to share my joy with all of you. Check the pictures to the right to see them with their stockings - in addition to a couple of others over the last few years with me and my mom. When they visited at Christmas, my grandfather was 90 and my grandmother was 89, just a little more than a month before she turned 90. Hey, if I I'm that happy and having that much fun with a Christmas stocking when I'm that age? More power to me!

Due to their health, they've recently moved from their house and for a little while, as my grandmother recovers from a couple of hospital stays, they have been staying with my grandfather's niece and nephew, but in a short time, they will be moving into the one-bedroom apartment that sits on the same property. As my mom said, after 70 years of marriage, they're back in a one-bedroom apartment with independence we weren't sure they'd still have. They are a true testament to making it work no matter what.

Since they got married in 1940, they raised two daughters - one of whom they lost far too early and one of whom is my mom. My grandfather served in the war and then served the city of Houston as a firefighter, becoming Chief and being beloved by his men. A number of years ago I visited a firefighter's museum with him in Houston and while we were there, another gentleman came in, also a retired firefighter, and he remembered him and still called him Chief McWilliams. That spoke volumes to me. My grandmother worked at East End State Bank when I was little and retired right on time. I remember visits to both the bank and the fire station when I was little and still lived in Texas. The bank was cool, and I think I even got to go in the vault once, but going to the fire station was awesome. I've always had a special place in my heart for the men and women that serve our cities in that capacity, and I know that's all because of my grandfather. 

They have devoted much of their time to helping others as they've served in various capacities at a number of churches. Until very recently, my grandfather was always the first one to show up on Sunday morning, and many times the last to leave. Their example is one I continue to admire.

Imagine how different life is now than it was when they got married. In 1940 a new house was around $3900 and a gallon of gas was 11 cents. You could buy a bottle of aspirin for 76 cents and a new refrigerator for $240. They have seen a lot of change in their lives, and I hope they live to see even more.

Happy Anniversary Grandmommie and Papa!!!

I love you so much!!!

It's Left...It's Right...

I had a bizarre revelation today about my desktop icons...I seriously think the antibiotic/steroid combo is whacking my brain out (took the last of that today!), but whatever...you now get to benefit from my insight...yes, I'm calling it insight.

I glanced at my desktop at work today, a PC, and recognized that I keep all my shortcut icons on the left. I try to keep them to a minimum, because too many icons just send me over the edge, but there they are...on the left. And then I thought, "Hmmm...you know, on my Mac at home, all the icons are on the right." And then I just sat there for a minute and thought about why that might be. Because it's been that way forever. It's not new. I just never really noticed that I did it differently between work and home, PC and Mac. Then I started thinking about how I actually sit and work.

At work, I'm docked and have the full monitor, keyboard, mouse thing going on, so my right hand is typically on the mouse doing things. At home, I'm all laptop, so my hands are used more equally. They both "mouse", if you will, on the trackpad. Then I thought about what it is I'm doing at work as opposed to what I do at home. Duh. I work at work and I do more play at home - there's certainly work at home too, but it's more play, more creative. Then I thought, "Hmmm...left brain? right brain?" And then I found this great graphic on the web - thank you Internets. You rule.

And really...there it is. Left is really all about work (at least the work I do) and right is really all about the more creative, the stuff I tend to do at home. OMG. It's so crystal clear it almost made both sides of my brain do a dance inside my skull. How crazy that such a little thing could delineate my life so clearly!

So, after finding this most yay graphic, I was determined to write about it when I got home. Then, when I sat down here a few minutes ago, on my right-brained Mac, all that popped into my head was Michael Jackson's Black or White. And you could see how I got there...It's black, it's white..It's left, it's right...but then I got to thinking about songs that actually use the whole left right thing...it's really quite a popular song subject...

So here we go...add your own in the comments if you have a favorite! Because you know, that's fun for everyone!!

• We've got the classic left/right song, the Hokey Pokey. It's pure left and right joy. Put the right this in, then put it out; put the left this in, then put it out; shake it, do the Hokey Pokey, etc....it is, after all, what it's all about.
• The Fray tell us that "he goes left and you stay right" in their classic, How to Save a Life.
• Beyonce puts "everything you own in the box to the left" in her, um, classic? tune, To the Left.
• Bon Jovi's got an album called "This Left Feels Right" (could that BE more confusing?).
• The ever-popular Stealers Wheel jam "clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right" reminds us that most of us are really Stuck in the Middle.
• Even Jimmy Buffet talks about "fins to the left, fins to the right" in a tune called, well, Fins...which I can only hope is really about the Sharks swarming the Blackhawks in their next game...but I digress...
• And of course the US Armed Forces have given us the always peppy "Your left, your left, your left, right left" chant.

I guess my point is, at the end of the day, it many times just comes down to left or right. Are you left brained or right brained? Did you turn left or right? Are you left or right handed? Do you have a box on the left? Did you push the button on the right?

And still...Michael Jackson sings in my head...and now he shall sing in yours...

Please rise...

...and disrespect your country. 

No. I don't think that's what they say when it's time for the anthem, but lately, I have to wonder if that's what people have decided to hear.

While I was watching the movie "The Rookie" last night in my fevered state, it got me thinking about how pure and uninterrupted the national anthem was when it was sung at this tiny little baseball field where this tiny little team played it's tiny little district-championship-winning game. And then I remembered how obnoxious it was at The Tank yesterday before the Sharks game I probably shouldn't have attended.

What has happened to us that we can't be still and calm during our country's national anthem? Many do sing along, and I love hearing all the voices, but oh my goodness, there is so much hooting and howling and crap that goes on that it literally makes me sick to my stomach. Yesterday, there was a Chicago Blackhawks fan that clapped through the entire song. CLAPPED. What? Earlier this season when we played the Blackhawks there was another of their fans that made comments throughout the whole song. Both displays were completely disrespectful. 

But it's not just opposing fans that do this. I see/hear Sharks fans do it too, and I just don't get it. The anthem has nothing to do with the actual game, so why get all crazy about it? Heaven forbid we're playing the Stars because then there is a loud chorus of boos when the poor anthem singer gets to the "broad stripes and bright stars" portion of the song. It's wrong at so many levels. At least they started telling the anthem singers to pause before starting so that the awesome "Hey [opposing team name]? You suck!!" chant doesn't drown out the first few words. They forgot to tell the saxophonist playing yesterday though. We missed the first few notes of the song, because in case you hadn't heard Blackhawks, You Suck!! Never mind that they beat us...that's a separate story...

Now, I did a little Internet surfing this morning about why it is we even have the national anthem sung or played at sporting events and found this little tidbit on Mental Floss, and though it pains me greatly to credit the Chicago Cubs or Boston Red Sox for anything, I guess they started it. I guess it didn't really surprise me to learn that it was baseball that started the whole anthem singing thing for real though. It's been around forever and is still considered America's pastime.

After searching a little more, I actually found some legal code addressing what one should do when the anthem is played. Per United States Code, 36 U.S.C. § 301, individuals are to stand at attention when the anthem is being played, facing the flag if it's present. So, in my mind, standing at attention means you're not clapping, you're not saying things, you're not cheering, you're certainly not booing, and honestly, thought it doesn't reference it, I'm not even sure you're supposed to be singing along - although I always sing along, so I'd like to think that's okay. Not that I'm always right, but it seems patriotic to sing along with your anthem. (To be honest, I even sing along with the Canadian anthem because it's such a beautiful song.) Now, I'm all for free speech and a person's choice to not sing along or put their hand over their heart or salute. That's fine. But stop ruining it for the rest of us. It's just not okay.

As someone who sings the national anthem at sporting events on occasion, I can honestly say I don't hear any of the chatter that goes on, but then again, I've never had the pleasure of singing at a Sharks game - maybe someday. Still, it's even a little unnerving to hear people cheer when I hit the note on "free". I love that they seem to be enjoying my rendition of the song, and I love that they are cheering about our wonderful freedom, but I don't know. I've never clapped or cheered at that part when anyone else is singing, and I've never really understood it. Maybe one of you can explain it to me.

Anyway...these are just my thoughts on a (finally) feverless morning. Maybe you've got thoughts of your own. Maybe you don't care at all. That's okay. Just please...next time you're at a game, think about it before you do something crazy during the anthem. For me. Thanks.

YouTube: You So Scary

So...I had a video posted in my last blog, one I made from the Eagles concert last weekend and posted on my YouTube site. This morning, when I logged into my YouTube account, I found this:

So now those videos are gone - along with the other two which apparently were NOT infringing (what, because they weren't the two most popular Eagles songs?). And now I feel like a total rebel/law breaker/bad person. Guess I should have paid more attention to the scary security lady at the concert. Man. And really Eagles? You have someone that just trolls the Internet to find things like my oh-so-fabulous video with my really expensive point-and-shoot digital camera? Really? Color me stunned.

I feel cranky...and a little ill...

On a dark desert highway...

Last night I had the awesome pleasure of seeing The Eagles in concert. First time. They did NOT disappoint. Truly amazing. Harmony like nobody's business and musicianship that was above and beyond. And funny! Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh especially. In fact, Joe Walsh is freaking hilarious. I love that he knows he's crazy and just plays it up. Fantastic.

[video removed due to scary notice I received on my YouTube account!]

What was NOT fantastic was the crowd around us.

Let me first discuss the women seated in the aisle seats on the row behind us. Now, as you know, I attend a lot of events. A LOT. And I've sat in my share of aisle seats as I'm sure many of you have. When those that need to get into the inner seats arrive, it's common courtesy to stand up, right? Right. Apparently not to these two. They would not get up for people. And actually made kind of a big deal about people crawling over them a couple of times. One guy spilled his beer on her, and while he was clearly too drunk to be having another one, I gotta say, I wasn't really sad for her. Seriously. Who doesn't get up to let people by? Really ladies? Really???

Second, let me talk about the general unsettledness of everyone in our section and the sections near us. Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down...and that was during the first song. I've never seen anything like it. No one could stay seated. And I don't mean they were standing up to sing or dance or anything. No. They were up and down the stairs. Back and forth. In and out. Over and over and over and freaking over again! It was insane. Just settle people...geesh!

And don't even get me started about people who got there late. Lame.

Third...the far-too-empowered "security" usher. She was all over the place and watching people like a demonic hawk. I did not approve at all when she touched my hand and told me there was no recording, only flash photography, allowed. No touchie sister! The video above was actually taken before she got all mean about things...and two more were taken later because I felt like being reckless and was annoyed. Needless to say, I broke the law. I guess I'm a rebel. Ah well...

But despite all that, this was truly one of the best concerts I've been to. They could have played for three days and I would have been happy. It was laid back, awesome and while they didn't play by #1 favorite, they played pretty much everything else, so I could not complain. And also, since the aisle sitters in our row didn't show, we were able to spread out between four seats. That was most yay!! I will never miss them in concert again, and I honestly can't believe it took me this long to see them.

Between them and Joe Pavelski, I had a great day...hope you did too!!

And let's not forget...

GO SHARKS!!!