The local power company has just sent out an alert warning of black-outs due to excessive heat in the SD area.  I’ve got a heat sensitive guinea pig (Snowball) at home that we leave the AC on for, set at the hairy edge of little Snowball’s survival envelop.  Any ideas out there on how to keep little Snowball alive and cool during this heat wave if the electricity blacks out while I’m at work?  This is particularly important as we are in the middle of  our hottest days of the year in So. Cal — Aug – Oct.  Steve and I were so worried while we were at Dland that we were going to come home to a dead pet.

HELP!

I use Google blogger.  It’s not the best blogging tool, but it’s simple enough and gets the job done.  This weekend — excitement, excitement — I got my first comment on my anime and manga blog.  Unfortunately, it was from some snot of a kid (or so I’m guessing from the poor spelling and the general non-mastery of the English language) who left a crudely worded review of an anime series I reviewed and then proceeded to tell me to get another job because I didn’t know what good anime was.  I was crushed!  This kid’s comment was so poorly worded, spelled, and hostile (I guess I poo-pooed his sacred cow) that I couldn’t publish his comment.  Sigh … what’s an adult to do?  He had valid points in his review that I couldn’t deny.  Well … I ended up editing his comment and posting it that way.  I felt kind weird about doing that since it was somebody elses opinion, but I really couldn’t have my blog littered profanity and personal attacks.  Was this an okay thing to do?  Is there some blogging etiquette I should be aware of with regards to inappropriate comments?

By the way, “Kiba” is great for 13-year kids who are just starting to get angsty, but I’m 33 and the degree of my angst is well beyond that of a teenager (I’ve been been this way since the day I was born and I have the 4-month baby picture to prove it — it only builds from disappointment to disappointment …), so of course I thought it was bad … sigh … there’s better anime that has appeal for most age ranges.  “Kiba” is not one of them.  If you want angsty teens check out “Evangelion” or any gundam anime series that tries to take itself seriously.

A sad chapter in the story of subprime lending.

NINJA Loan = Loans to people with No Income No Job or Assets

Of course they can’t pay back the loan!

My husband thinks these may be loans granted to criminal elements like pimps and drug dealers. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Yesterday, I was eating lunch at On the Border with my husband.  For some reason, I had this nagging feeling that something was different about the restaurant since we had last been there, but I could not put my finger on it.  I took a good look around and noticed that one of the walls was painted a very pleasant shade of blue and was decorated with clay sun-happy-faces, each illuminated with its own personal spot light.  I asked my husband it that was new.  He didn’t know.  Then I had this familiar feeling — what’s with the Banana Republic music in here.  Which led me ponder why a Mexican restaurant would want to have the look and feel of the Banana Republic and then, what exactly is the Banana Republic sound?

Music is everywhere it seems, with the exception of work.  I guess, though, at work some of us filll in the silence with our own soundtracks pumped in through earbuds and headphones from personal MP3 players or our computers.  Only recently, though, does it feel that the ambient music at a place is as much about brand as the company’s logo.  Thinking about the Banana Republic sound, here’s what comes to mind:  Imogen Heap’s “Loose Ends” and the Geico Caveman song.  Ah yes, the Cave man song … you all know the one.  It’s played at the airport where the caveman is on the moving sidewalk and wincing at a bad caveman poster.  Anyhow, it seems to me that Banana Repblic sound is at the light side of electronica with a distinctly feminine feel (I’m not quite sure what makes me say that, but it is what I feel).  What’s more is that this music seems to be very in-tune with me, so much so as to prompt me to buy Imogen Heap CDs.  Obviously the winner here is Imogen Heap and her record company.  But what about the Banana Republic?  Does it prompt me to buy clothes?  I suppose it’s a matter of providing a comfortable environment for me to shop with music that says this store is for me — it works at a very emotional level.  Oppositely, I’m repelled by music that is pumped in a store that sounds teenagely-poppy — say like Albecromie Fitch.  Automatically, my brain says, you’re too old for that.  However, I have observed shoppers my age and older in there.  Perhaps they are longing to still be very young … hmm.  Sadly, enough, the sound imminating from that store has kept me from entering, so I have no idea what kind of clothes they even sell.

It seems to me a lot of thought goes into music selection at some stores and I wonder about those people who spend their time crafting the playlists each week for these stores.  Is this a paid position?  Can I get this job?  Is this a service provided?  Satelite radio or a CD from corporate?  Hmm … And then there’s the local Marie Callender which seems to have some jokester creating their soundtrack.  I’ve heard such woeful songs as the Cransberry “Linger” and a few songs from “Jagged Little Pill.”  The music is soft, but it doesn’t exactly feel homey and warm.

What about your personal soundtrack?  How is that part of your personal brand identity?

Here are my most recently played songs on my iPod:

Glamorous (Fergie), Heretic (Trinity Blood Soundtrack), Neko-Mimi Mode (Tsukiyomi Moon Phase Soundtrack), SOS (Rhianna), U & Me (Cassie), Sow into You (Roisin Murphy), Do it (Nelly Furtado), and GBI — German Bold Italic (Towa Tei)

I sorta feel I’m too close to the subject to figure out what my music says about me.  Obviously, there is something to the “Jen Brister” brand, because those that are close to me can pick out songs that sound very “Jen Brister” instantly.  That is what my husband said of the music played at On the Border yesterday, and yes, it was quite true.  BTW:  My favorite song is Bjork’s “HyperBallad” followed closely by America’s “Horse with no Name” — for those of you who know the songs, make of it what you will :).

In between monitoring the minute-by-minute coverage of Paris Hilton’s jail status, my husband and I managed to go to this year’s San Diego Fair last Saturday.  The theme this year was “Heros” and practically everyone was declared a hero to make that special feeling universal.  Of course there was the usual assortment of fried treats and food that never should have been created like the Krisy Kreme fried chicken sandwich (with honey) and Deep Fried Cola.  

Many of the food booths were advertising that their food was transfat free or low carb, which I found quite disturbing because I consider going to the fair the one time I’m allowed to eat food that would make my cardiologist want to kill me himself. 

So here’s what I ate:

–          Australian battered potatoes with cheese sauce

–          One foot long corndog

–          Kettle corn

–          Chocolate covered strawberries

–          Some of my husband’s root beer float

–          Lemonade

No so bad I think.  I really wanted to try the Krispy Kreme Fried Chicken, but my husband put his foot down and forbade it L.  Sadness …

Onto the animals … There didn’t seem to be too many this year, or maybe they weren’t all present yet since it was the opening weekend of the fair.  Anyhow, we admired the cows, sheep, goats, and pigs and then we came upon the featured animal, pigeons.  I thought there were only two kinds of flying rats, grey and brown.  But, apparently, there are many types of pigeons and many of them at the fair appeared to have been interbred with chickens.  There were big pigeons that strutted and scratched like chickens but cooed like pigeons, pigeons with enormous alien-like googly eyes, pigeons with feather duster feet, pigeons that stood very upright that  looked like they were wearing elegant coats, and pigeons with curly-permed feathers (amongst other strange varieties).  I was shocked, amazed, and saddened at the same time – what strange looking creatures, but how do they fly and how many chickens were experimented with to come up with these creatures?  Are these birds even edible?  And why a pigeon with curly feathers or googly eyes?   Hmm …

There was also a strong man contest in which strong men lifted boulders and tire axles in the same arena as the camel and ostrich races.  We also looked at the professional and student art.  The professional art was quite good, especially the wood crafts.  The student art left much to be desired because there were many projects that appeared to be quickly slapped together last minute and lots of photographs of young ladies and their friends hanging out together … okay … save it for MySpace.  

We spent about 6-hours there and felt that we got our $12/person out it.  It was fun J.