Check out these clouds

The thunder just made my house shake... awesome! Reminds me of summer nights gone-by when I would stand in the garage with my dad, at the edge of the cement, just barely inside, with the doors wide open. We'd watch the storms pass while having the most random conversations.

PS: The roof seems to have been repaired... no leaks (yet)!

Twitter, twitter cocoa pop; Twitter, twitter POW!

So all I've been hearing about lately is Twitter. It's not that I hadn't heard about it before, but it's suddenly gained some serious media popularity. Did you know that Time's cover story this week is all about Twitter? Apparently you're not properly locked into the "ambient environment" if you're not Twittering. I'm not sure I care.

But I will say this. I was irked at the way Time magazine made the co-founders of Twitter out to be a pair of geniuses. They wrote about them as if they were the first ones to realize that people wanted to share 140-character "updates" about themselves. Umm... hello AIM? Wasn't that what we were all doing in college everytime we left an away message? And what about Facebook? People have been finishing that "Beeps is ___" prompt for years now. I realize that Twitter is the first one to coerce everyone into paying for unlimited text message plans in order to be "plugged in", but I think that Time should have given credit where it's due.

Well that's neat.

You know what's neat? Rain. Look at all the awesome things it does:

1) It makes my car all clean and new-looking again!

2) It makes my flowers grow like crazy!3) and it makes my house BULGE!

...yeah, apparently there's a leak in the roof. This is a side-view of my wall. As you probably know, it's supposed to be flat, not sagging. Rain is neat.

Sims 3!

It's out... and I can't WAIT to get me a copy :-D

...and now she's all grown up!

Little E got a blog of her own. These things are contagious, aren't they? Thank God they're not blocked at work, or I don't know what I'd do! :)

Radio Schmadio

So lately B and I have been complaining about this particular radio morning show. We've just been feeling like the DJs seem to live in a parallel universe that has been unaffected by any sort of recession. They're always spewing snobby opinions about things. One time Erica Hillary suggested that anyone who didn't get dancing lessons before their wedding wasn't classy. This morning, B turned the radio on just in time to catch that same DJ talking about buying some new jewelry to "adorn" herself with to go along with the designer dress that she bought for the party she was going to. Apparently she excused her purchases by saying that "it's important to feel good" when going out. Ugh.

There's Hope!

Today has been full of signs that are all pointing (decidedly so) towards hope and optimism. Days like today are good ones.

My most recent sign? How about this... my dead-looking maple tree (and by "tree" I mean sapling) has FINALLY (though way behind schedule) sprouted leaves for the season. I had all but given up on it. Look closely or you might miss them!

(Photo #1 - Ignore the dead, brown, dangling leaf. That little thing is left-over from last year. Look past that one. Just above it. What's the matter, need a close-up?)

(Photo #2 - Man am I proud of this picture. It looks all professional! Plus, I guess now you can see what I'm all excited about: little red leaves!)

I know this tree looks pathetic and all, but it's kinda important to me, so I'm glad it's making a comeback. It's a seedling from my parents' tree, which has been in our front yard nearly my entire life. L has one of his older brothers planted in her front yard, and let me tell you -- these guys are fighters! Hers got weed-whacked and chewed by the neighbor's dog, but it's still hanging in there!!