Sep 15, 2010
I've Moved!
For those who still have this blog in their RSS reader, you can find me over at natalie-stone.com these days. Or you can reach me at natalie [dot] stn [at] gmail [dot] com.
Sep 28, 2009
Aug 12, 2009
There's a reason for things
I just read an article entitled, "In New Film, Urban Chickens Come Home to Roost." I may be blowing things way out of proportion here, but doesn't it seem to you like we stopped farming in cities for a reason?
I have no real issue with using abandoned urban areas for growing vegetables. That seems like advanced gardening to me. But animal husbandry is a *groan* horse of a different color. Animals, when properly tended to, may not be much of an issue. But the scope of disaster for people who do it wrong, yeesh! Can you imagine all the exciting disease outbreaks that could await us?
I know that people who handle this responsibly wouldn't have as much trouble with this sort of thing (for all those respectable urban farmers reading my blog), but laws are made for abuse, and this seems like an area that would be very dangerous. These are my thoughts on urban farming. Aren't you glad you know now?
Aug 10, 2009
Jul 8, 2009
Sometimes I get bored...
Jen sent this to me, and I thought it was fun. It's a quiz where all of your answers have to start with the first letter of your last name. Here's mine. Not thrilling blog content, but get over it.
- What is your last name? Stone
- A 4 Letter Word: Stop
- A Boys Name: Sven
- A Girls Name: Sara
- An Occupation:Seamstress
- A Color: Silver
- Something you wear: Shoes
- A Beverage: Shasta
- A Food: Salami
- Something found in the bathroom: Sink
- A place: Shangri-La
- A Reason for being late: Sleep
- Something you shout: Stop or I'll shoot!
- A movie: Sleeper
- An animal: Sphinx
Jun 26, 2009
Bad Luck Comes in Threes
Yesterday, when it was officially announced that Farrah Fawcett died, one of my co-workers said, "I wonder who's next?" It's a bit of a newsroom legend/old wives' tale that bad new, particularly deaths, travel in threes. Who would have guessed that MJ would be next?
I have to say, I liked Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. They will both always be a part of the pop culture that surrounded me as an American, but MJ was bigger than both of them for me. MJ was a quintessential part of being a child in the 80s. I heard on the news last night that his first TV appearance was in 1969. That's 40 years of public life, and his public life was a part of my private one.
For me, MJ stopped being of interest to me in the mid-90s. After that, things got a little too weird for me and most people my age. While I'm certainly sad to see that he'll never make a big comeback or transition back into the realm of normalcy, I have to say that his death won't likely affect me much more than the initial shock. MJ is already a part of my past, and I was never a part of his life. It was a one-way street that I've stopped traveling.
But that doesn't mean I won't sing along. Don't ever think that.
(I was going to put in the video for Billie Jean here, my all-time favorite, but I can't embed it. You should check it out anyway because it is SO good.)
Jan 14, 2009
Guys, I cannot even deal with how cute this is. The closer on the story is a little schlechy, but COME ON a dog and an elephant who are FRIENDS! You cannot make this stuff up.
The video below I stole from Taylor's blog, but it's just too weird. Needed to share.
I will post my resolutions soon, really I will...
Jan 2, 2009
Jan 1, 2009
An Eventful Couple of Weeks
Well, 2008 decided to go out with a bang for me. Since a blog is a place to start a conversation (even with comments, blogs are naturally one-sided), I'm going to give you the run-down on what happened and what remains...
Dec. 22: Dinner party at our house. Gift exchange, too much champagne, good times had by all. Great to see such good friends before leaving for Huntsville.
Dec. 23: World's worst hangover, haircut, chiropractor, packing and driving to Huntsville.
Dec. 24: Christmas shopping with Dad, Christmas with the McCutchans. Really not that weird without Dad, oddly enough. Elaine, my aunt with whom I have nothing in common, was very low-key this year. Refrained from saying anything to raise my blood pressure (like the time a few years ago when she told me that it was stupid to study history because it already happened...).
Dec. 25: Christmas morning with the fam at Mom's, great family time, good gifts and the treat of brunch with Grandaddy Charles. GC did let us know that he's planning to live to 104, since his oldest sister was that age when she passed; he's 95. Again, I kick myself for not being related to him by blood. No Stone family Christmas at Grandaddy's this year, as my cousin Michelle was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Dec. 26: Chill. No shopping even. Excellent dinner with Mom, Mammaw, Pappaw, Sara and her boyfriend Tadi. Delicious food followed by Mexican Train.
Dec. 27: Head to Atlanta with Mom. See the Tut exhibit, do some great shopping.
Dec. 28: Visit Michelle in the hospital, see the Georgia Aquarium. Drive back just in time to miss the Stone family Christmas, that I had not been told was happening.
Dec. 29: Sandy, one of my parents' dogs, gets very ill, spend most of the day watching her.
Dec. 30: More time watching Sandy, lunch with Mammaw and Mom at Taziki's (hooray!), drive back to Nashville and begin the plumbing fiasco. Find out that our homeowner may not be able to afford to fix the problem, as in the house may get foreclosed on can't afford it. Cannot use toilets or showers.
Dec. 31: Visit houses that we may be moving into this weekend, should the plumbing situation worsen. Birthday lunch for Jen at J. Alexander's. Prep for NYE party at our house, after much debate over whether it's a good idea to have a party when you have to go to the neighbor's house to pee. Amy Harlan comes into town, friends arrive, 2009 rung in watching Eddie Izzard.
Exciting times...Next post, New Year's Resolutions. Boring, but helpful for me...
Dec 15, 2008
Christmas
This is a recent Twitter from Merlin Mann:
"If I were Jesus, I'd make a rule that nativities had to use live ducks. Because ducks hate costumes, and Christmas should be hard but funny."
Christmas is always an interesting time of year for me because my family is not majority Christian. We don't really celebrate the "reason for the season," and it's easy for me to get caught up in the tradition and gift-giving. I think that both of these things can be positive, but they are not inherently so. However, I love getting to spend time with my family and the people who understand me best, in many ways.
One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is Home for the Holidays with Holly Hunter and a host of other excellent actors. There is a wistful, nostalgic tone to the film that I have appreciated since I was a teenager. (I feel a little emo saying that...) Christmas is hard in our family, and it will only be harder this year with trying to figure out our "new normal." I'm a little apprehensive to be honest, but that's nothing new.
In past years, I've been tempted to make myself an advent wreath to remind me of why I celebrate Christmas: the birth of Christ. Not my family or tradition or gifts. The birth of my Lord and Savior. I'm a little late, but I might make one anyway. What are your Christmas traditions?
Nov 18, 2008
Nov 5, 2008
Bipartisanship
bi•par•ti•san |bī'pärtəzən|
adjective
of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies : educational reform received considerable bipartisan approval.
DERIVATIVES: bi•par•ti•san•ship |-ˌ SH ip| |baɪˈpɑrdəzənˈʃɪp| noun
This is the first time in my three voting presidential elections that the candidate I chose won so I'm excited about that. But I have to agree with the author; this election was extremely acrimonious. Now is not the time to rub it in that you won or lost. Which means I won't rub it in your face that the government is extremely Democratic this term, if you promise to stop calling me comrade. Deal?
Nov 4, 2008
For my fellow Nashvillians
If you don't know where to go, check out this info from the Election Commission.
Alright, I've ACTUALLY voted. Now let's see what happens, folks.
Oct 19, 2008
I'm so tired
Of the election. I think election fatigue is going to become a diagnosable medical disorder one of these days. Here is my lament, and it's not related to a candidate so don't think I'm going to tell you why I'm voting for who I'm voting for here. We picked the wrong way to choose the men who run for President. When Washington was elected, he didn't campaign. The people wanted him, and he acquiesced.
We used to nominate people in a more honest fashion. We looked around for the best and brightest and said, "Him! I want him to lead us!" And then there was an election, and then we had a President. It wasn't an office you prepared your whole life for in the same way that it is now. You spent your whole life living as a good and honest servant, and people responded. They weren't perfect, but no one is. So, despite advances in technology, I'm just wondering, could we go back to the late 1700s? I would still like to be able to vote, though, and wear pants, which could be tricky...
Oct 7, 2008
Good grammar. Who needs it?
Hilarious op-ed piece from the New York Times on Sarah Palin's speech patterns. I know that this kind of negativity isn't exactly productive, but it sure is funny. Because if we can't agree to pick on people who who willfully ignore the conventions of the English language, the communists have won, folks.
That diagram, by the way, is the Preamble to the Consitution.
For the Pledge of Allegiance, head over here.
Oct 3, 2008
Woot.com
STFU Maltin
Maybe it’s Death Race. Maybe it’s Eagle Eye. Maybe Wanted. This year everyone has one pretty lousy action movie that they still very much wanted to see. That’s the dirty little secret of the movie industry. Namely, that the system used by movie reviewers is completely unscientific.
You can throw out “four stars” and “six thumbs” all you want, but what does that mean? There’s really only one measure of thrills and romance, and that’s heart rate. So we’re proposing an new system based on the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor.
With the ability to measure Systolic, Diastolic and pulse rate, the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor can finally tell us which is more exciting, the first time Jason leaps out of the bushes in Friday The 13th or when Freddie grows to a hundred feet tall and eats Johnny Depp in Nightmare On Elm Street. The built in memory stores up to sixty readings, so you can poll your friends to find out who is the better leading lady, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct or Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not. And once you get those readings, you can move them via the USB connection to your Windows PC. The Hypertension Data Management System lets you break down the measurements by hour, day, month or year, making sure we can finally have a guide to movies based on real numbers, and not some jerkface who thinks Blade Runner was lousy. I mean, honestly, Leonard Maltin.
With the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor, you can find that guy who hates the Batman movies and shut him up once and for all. You can even use the irregular heartbeat indicator to see if you’ve got an irregular heartbeat. Good to know before you get in the popcorn line. And having visual cues will really help you understand what changes your blood pressure.
Don’t waste your time trying to explain the complex nature of chaos and order and how they entwine in a unending dance. Pull out some hard figures like a geek should! The Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor is your ticket to winning every movie debate conclusively. What’s better than being right?
Sep 30, 2008
Too good to ignore....
This really was too good to pass up.In other news, I had a pretty fun-filled weekend. I went to a toga party on Friday night, which was fun, although it did make me feel a little old. I went with Bekah, but most everyone else there was about 21-23 and very enamored of drinking too much. Still entertaining, though...On the plus side, I did get to help Bekah make her toga so that was fun. I also spent the night with Bekah because, joy of joys, our hot water heater broke over the weekend! (Hooray for our landlord, though, it was fixed by Monday evening.)
Saturday morning, I went to talk about Til We Have Faces, which is shaping up to be a really interesting study. (More on that later, I'm sure.) After that, Bekah and I grabbed lunch at McAlister's and checked out the TJ Maxx Home store. Bekah got a super cute hat, and I got a new pillow! (Sadly, I left my new pillow in Huntsville on Sunday. [fail]) After that, we went on a bike ride, my first pleasure ride, since last time I was trying to get to work.
Then, I went home and took a cold shower (because the hot water heater was still out at this point) and packed up to head home to Huntsville. I got in around 9:00 and hung out with my parents for a bit. I wish I could have been there a little longer because we are entering the final days that they will be sharing a house.
[more lol celebs!]
All in all, it was a very sunny, happy weekend, and I hope I can pack in as much fun over the next few weekends while we have fabulous fall weather.
Sep 24, 2008
I'm so hardcore
For those of you not in the Nashville area, we are having a bit of a gas shortage. It's a little surreal, but interesting in a, "Someday, I'll tell my kids about it," kind of way. The downside is that for the last 4 or 5 days, I had no gas, and none of the stations close to my house had any fuel. Which meant that I couldn't really go anywhere, including church and work.
I had to miss out on church. No worries, I can listen to the podcast today. But Monday, I rode my bike to work out of necessity. Big thanks to my sister, Sara, for giving it to me for my birthday this year. This is something I'd been hoping to start doing so it was more like an adventure than a trial.
Overall, it was a very fun experience. I loaded up my messenger bag with a change of clothes and a little bit of makeup, because I really am that vain, and took off. The ride itself isn't too bad. It's a little less than 4.5 miles. There's a stretch that's on a main road where I rode the sidewalk, which you really aren't supposed to do, but no one seemed to mind. I made it to work in about 30 minutes, with another 10 minutes of clean up time on arrival.
I did have a minor spill on the way in to work. Clip-in pedals, for the uninitiated, are both a boon and a hindrance on the road. On the pro side of the equation, you stay connected to the bike, allowing you to pedal more easily, particularly on hills. On the con side, if you don't clip out when you stop (or if you clip out on one side, but pitch to the other because your messenger bag thought it would be an opportune time to shift), you will fall. And you may hurt yourself. I got a pretty awesome bruise / scrape about the size of half dollar just below my right knee and another on my left that was smaller but bled a little.
The ride home was a little more difficult, as it was mostly uphill and there was more traffic. I did a little more sidewalk riding (sorry, pedestrians!), but I also didn't fall so a success on that front.
Later that night, I was walking home from community group and the gas station just down the road from me had gas. I had to wait a few minutes before I could fill up, but not too long. The moral of this story is that I should ride my bike to work because it's not difficult and it doesn't take too long. We'll see if it sticks...
Sep 18, 2008
Five Things
I've been reading 5ives.com lately. So here's a little list of my own.
Five Things on my nightstand whose presence is only explained by the fact that I'm still organizing my room.
1. Three-sided architect's ruler
2. Disposable chopsticks (unopened)
3. Matches
4. Screwdriver
5. Gold acrylic paint
Tomorrow is my birthday party, and there will be bowling. Hooray!
