Author: jaimie

I have attended every Tori Amos concert since Under the Pink. For some reason, last Friday’s concert was my favorite among them. The people attending the concert, and Tori herself, had such positive energy that night.
I loved the remix of Raspberry Swirl and Bouncing Off Clouds.  I think sitting in row N of the Orchestra section helped improve the sound – historically I have always felt the band drowned Tori out, but I was usually in the balcony.
And as per the blogs, yes they were filming so the song sets were fairly standard, and no Tori didn’t improvise much, but I honestly didn’t care!  I really just had a great time, shared a lot of positive energy with a room full of happy people.  Should we expect more from a concert?  Perhaps some do, but this is one tour I am really glad I didn’t miss!

The Other Boleyn Girl is interesting bit of historical fiction, with a emphasis on “fiction”. It is amazing how little we know for sure of things that happened only 500 years ago, in a country that speaks English, in a society that was mostly literate (English gentry). It makes one question how much we know, or don’t know, of things that happened much longer ago, in societies much less literate and in other languages to boot.
Overall the novel is a nice yarn that manages to stay engaging even though we know the ending. It’s worth the read, although to quote a friend it does get a bit “harlequin” towards the end.
As a side note, I did think that Ann Boleyn was quite villainized. Who is to say what her true character was like, but my inclination is to believe she was probably not quite as vicious and autocratic as this novel portrayed. I like to think she was a survivor; a smart woman who created and took advantage of an opportunity, but perhaps hadn’t read the fine print before doing so. It was a lesson well learned by her daughter and future queen, Elizabeth I.

Landing at Logan International BEFORE Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America: Land at 9 pm ET, find way to rental car, get in rental car, ask rental car attendant for directions to Mass Pike West. Make the first turn correctly. Miss the second one. End up on who knows which freeway but definitely not the Mass Pike.
In the dark, in the rain. Apparently street lights are illegal in MA.
Several miles and many tears later, pull into gas station to find out what was already known – this was the wrong direction. Get correct directions from gas station attendant, hoping this was not the MA equivalent of the Tenderloin, try to memorize them, and get back on the road.
Pray I don’t miss the turn this time.
Landing at Logan International AFTER Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America: Land at 9 pm ET, find way to rental car, get in rental car, snap Garmin onto the windshield. A nice Australian accented female voice tells me to make a left, then a right, then the first left. Mass Pike West entrance is successful.
Drive through Mass Pike, only to find it consists of miles of tunnels. Garmin satelite doesn’t do tunnels.
Ah oh.
Just before entering tunnel # 2 Garmin reconnects to satelite and announces a turn was missed. She recalculates. She suggests the next viable option. Hop right on it. 45 mintes later I arrive at my destination. No tears, no panic, and only one easily recoverable missed turn.
If you are wondering if Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America is worth it’s $366.99 sticker price, just ask my husband. He will tell you it is worth every penny:-)

After giving up on The Expected One, I moved on to Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. It was great! It was very accessible and easy to read. Rich Dad, Poor Dad, is still my favorite and something I consider a must read, but this book really helped me understand a lot more about our money and how to protect it.
For example, and keep in mind I am paraphrasing big time here, did you know that if all you have is a will, when you (and your spouse, if applicable) pass, all of your assets must first go into probate? This can take months to years before titles to properties are transferred to the beneficiary. Once it is out of probate, some states, including CA of course, have a standard probate tax – and it’s material. How do you avoid this tax? You really should read the book, but in short you can create something called a revocable living trust.
She goes over a lot more, like durable power of attorney (so you don’t end up stuck on a respirator somewhere), life insurance, long term care insurance (1 in 2 adults who have LTC insurance will use it), and bypass trusts (they protect your beneficiaries from federal estate tax). It is a quick read and I feel a lot more confident on how to prepare for the future. I am now reading Cramer’s Mad Money. It’s really good so far too.

Growing up I was told small dogs were annoying yippy creatures that one would be crazy to own. Big dogs were respectable, smart and perhaps offered protection (or at least the appearance there of). They definitely weren’t yippy. But then we got one. I won’t deny she can be yippy, but it is our fault for treating her like a baby. How can you not!?! She was 3 lbs when we got her! We try to treat her like a dog, but ultimately she breaks us with her waggily tail.
I don’t think we are the only people that fall victim to the cuteness of a tiny dog. When we take our now 10 lb puppy out in public people literally slow down and stare at us with big toothy grins. Maggie is a fluffy mutt with a tail that shakes her whole body when it wags. It’s impossible not to smile looking at that dog. I have no doubt every owner feels the same, but I can’t help thinking Maggie makes the world just the tiniest bit a happier place for her being in it.

When we tell our friends we send our 9 month old puppy Maggie to doggie day care, we are usually greeted with a snort I interpret to mean “Are you kidding me? Dogs don’t need day care!”. Let me tell you why I disagree.
Our life before doggie day care: Bryan and I both work so that we can afford the roof over puppy’s head and afford the air conditioning that keeps puppy cool in the summer. That means that for 9 hours a day, plus 9 hours at night, puppy does nothing but sleep. What does this fun little math equation mean?
It means that all of the energy puppy gathers by sleeping 18 hours a day is expended between 5-9PM. This energy manifests itself in many wonderful ways, inclusive of but not limited to chewing anything within reach, biting (she especially likes to bite the “love handles”, not a pleasant feeling, I can assure you), digging, running outside through the mud then in through the doggie door and straight onto the couch, barking at anything that moves (or not, movement doesn’t appear to be a requirement), topped off by some crazy sprinting around the house while making strange gremlin-like noises and all be damned if anyone can catch her.
Our life after doggie day care: Doggie gets dropped off at 8 AM at doggie care, where she literally runs into the playroom and can’t be bothered by the fact that her mom/dad is leaving for the day. She spends all morning running after other dogs. She then gets a 1.5 hour nap around 1 PM, where I assume she at least stops running. The afternoon is spent following the care givers around, hoping for a treat (she is a known treat hound in puppy class).
Finally, some time between 5-6 PM she gets picked up. She walks VERY quickly back to the car, hops into the back seat, right into her crate and lies down. She doesn’t make a peep on the drive home. Upon arriving home, she calmly follows us around the house and thankfully plants herself in our lap the moment we sit down. At night, she is so tired she just waits to be picked up and put to bed. Basically, our little devil dog becomes an overnight angel.
It’s a pretty solid case to me. All of us are happier; Maggie is calmer, we feel less guilty, and we aren’t embarrassed to have guests over during the week. So go ahead and scoff if you like, but if I have changed your mind, I won’t make you admit it. Check out Planet Pooch any time you like, we won’t tell;-)

We are a gadget house. We don’t own every new gadget out there (no iPhone for example) but we hold our own. Our latest purchase is the AppleTV. My first inclination was to think that all we needed was another plastic box on the shelf, but since I spend more than my fair share at Nordstrom’s I felt I had little room to complain. So we buy the new gadget, bring it home, and Bryan spends some time on the floor surrounded by wires (not all of which would make their way back to the garage on their own;-). A little while later we have AppleTV. I loved it! It wirelessly connected to iTunes, which is on a computer in our office, and our entire playlist was available in our living room, menu via TV and sound via surround sound. When before my music listening was relegated to the car (via ipod) or gym (again via ipod) we now find ourselves listening to music all the time.
As it turned out, this also meant we had to create some new playlists. We had a couple co-workers over not too long ago, and the only somewhat acceptable playlist we had included Bon Jovi and Journey. I was informed post dinner party that Bon Jovi wasn’t “guest appropriate”. Needless to say we now have a playlist called “Guest”, and there is not a Journey or Bon Jovi to be found.

I can usually complete 1 book a week (no kids and lots of plane time). I have been reading The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan for 3 weeks or so. Why so long, you ask? I made the mistake of looking up information about the book on the internet and came across this review:
http://www.theseekerbooks.com/articles/ExpectedOne.htm
When I thought the author intended this as fiction, I thought the book was ok. Not nearly as well paced as The De Vinci Code but it wasn’t horrible. After reading the review by Ms. Welsh (link above) I couldn’t help but find McGowan’s novel nothing short of pretentious. She claims to the be the decedent of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene (notice the dedication in the beginning of the book – To Mary Magdalen, my muse, my ancestor” – my ass!). So far, I cannot find one drop of evidence as to how she came to this conclusion. Ms. Welsh went so far as to contact McGowan, seeking substantiation of these “facts”. What did she hear? Nothing but crickets.
To add another interesting twist, Suzanne Olsson made public a letter she sent to Ms. McGowan claiming that McGowan stole Olsson’s research and own personal story to write The Expected One.
http://www.theseekerbooks.com/articles/ToMcG.html
Olsson’s story seems just as out there as McGowan’s, but at least Olsson claims to have documented proof. If she does, bring it on. I would be lying if I said this article didn’t affect my opinion of McGowan. Who knows which story is true, but I find it highly suspect that McGowan would make such a bold claim but refuse to disclose the source. If I said I was the descendent of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and that I had a secret document that proved it but I couldn’t show you the document because it was so secret, would you believe me?
I just got to a place in the book where one of the characters claims De Vinci has nothing to do with the Magdalene legacy or the grail. When I read this section, I got a flashback of grade school. Can the author be more petty? Grail, descendant of Mary, secret societies aside, McGowan could have at least taken the high road with regards to The De Vinci Code. Such an obvious sucker punch is an embarrassment.

This review is dedicated to my dad:-)   Salem’s Lot was the first non-young adult book I ever read.  I was in 5th grade and still reading Nancy Drew and The Chronicles of Narnia, when my dad handed me Salem’s Lot.  I don’t think I told him at the time, but after reading this book, I spent several sleepless nights staring at the sliver of night peaking through my bedroom drapery, hoping that I wouldn’t see two glowing red eyes or hear the scratching of unnaturally long nails.  My mom probably warned my dad and I against reading this type of material at that age, but I would never have admitted she was right.  Salem’s Lot is a phenomenal vampire story, probably one of the best in my opinion.  And thanks to my dad and his (albeit perhaps early) introduction to his novels, Stephen King is one of my all time favorite authors.  I was literally saddened when the Dark Tower Series ended, more so than for any other series (including Harry Potter).   The Stand should also not be missed (my Dad would be disappointed if I forgot about the Walking Dude;-).
With Halloween right around the corner, and the days getting just a little shorter, curling up with a Stephen King novel might just be the perfect escape from …. work, kids, house cleaning, getting the car washed, you get the picture!

Jersey Boys was just finishing its San Francisco run, and based on 3 recommendations, we decided to pick up tickets.  SF locals – be advised that the Curran theatre must have been built when people were an average hight of 5’5″ and had bladders the size of basketballs.  Bryan, who is 6’4″, had to sit sideways, and there were only SIX women’s stalls to accomodate the entire theatre.  Now imagine the crowd for Jersey Boys (sorry mom!), now imagine the line for 6 stalls.  Not pretty.
The play itself was really enjoyable.  We unfortunately didn’t get to see the core cast; the understudy for Frankie Valli performed at ours (Saturday matinee – did I mention we aren’t cool?).  The music was good and it was actually very funny.  My dad warned me about the language, but anyone who has watched the Soprano’s has heard worse.  Half the time it was the language that made it so funny.  Net/net, if Jersey Boys is your area, I would suggest checking it out, just make sure your local theatre was built later than the early 1900’s.