Unlce jay explains the news

Reverend Jim

So at age 35 I have finally entered the world of alphabet soup. Though unlike most who have earned the right to put an acronym behind their name I simply had to click a button on a web page. As of a month ago I became a reverend with the Universal Church of Life. I joined the ranks of the clergy in order to marry one of my closet friends. Last weekend I spent the weekend in NYC performing the marriage of my good friends Molly Findlay and Steve Perez. An act I could not have been more nervous for. If it wasn't for the ceremony being broken up by readings my shaking hands might have made the balcony we were standing on vibrate.

The ceremony was quite fun at the end of the day, not to mention it was my first public speaking gig since working on Das's failed County Supervisor campaign. I always like public speaking, and I have to admit given the opportunity I would do another ceremony. I wonder if it would be as fun if I didn't know the bride and groom for more than 5 years?

Molly and Steve deserve a lot of props for pulling this wedding off on short notice. The combination of Steve taking forever to propose and an unexpected terminal illness in their family they only had 2 months to put the wedding together (Can you imagine!). The ceremony was held at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe at 126 Crosby St on the Lower East Side (I may have neighborhood wrong?), a store which donates 100% of it's profits to AIDS research. Other than the Jagermeister at the Bachelor/Bahelorette party everything went smoothly.

Shipwrecks

This is where we used to go surfing every spring (haven't been in a few years)

The name game

Since holiday and baby season are upon us, I thought I'd take a moment to answer the various name questions that have come up recently.

My name is still Jodi Segal. I did not change it when we got married. Jim is also still Jim Taylor. If you want to address a formal letter, I recommend Mr. Jim Taylor and Ms. Jodi Segal.

The baby will take Jim's last name. Segal will be her middle name. So, her full name will be Violet Segal Taylor. It's not likely, but still possible, that she is actually a he. In that case, we'll have to come up with something beside Violet pretty quickly!

Bathroom Ceiling

After 6 months of carefully tiptoeing on ceiling joists, Jim finally put his foot through the brand new bathroom ceiling...

Now it matches the new downstairs hallway ceiling. We had to hire an electrician to fix a boo boo and he ended up cutting a hole in the ceiling that we actually paid someone to replace.

At least you can see the newly refinished wood frames around the windows. The kitchen will have the same wood around the 1 window and 4 doors. What you can't see very well is that the primer didn't stick to the walls, so the pait is peeling off in big chunks.

29 weeks down, 11 to go

I made Jim take a couple of photos, so I wouldn't have crazy person hair like the previous pic!

Maddyisms

You can frequently find our 60 pound dog barking and growling at her basket of toys. For some reason she is afraid of the basket and afraid of the air return next to the basket. If you move the basket or dump out the toys, then she digs through them until she finds what she wants and goes about her merry way. I can't imagine what is going through her head!

Her other amusing habit these days is sticking her head in the corner by the kitchen sink in hopes that food will appear there. It doesn't matter if we are doing dishes, preparing food, or just standing around. If we are near that spot, her face is buried in the corner.

The Great Flydidni

Santa Barbara on fire

Huge forest fire rages in Santa Barbara and Montecito.

100 houses burned so far and 5,400 people evacuated.  We know a couple of people who have lost their homes.  As far as we know, none of our friends have lost their homes yet.

Edit:
As it turns out at least one friend's house burnt down, Jeremy Lindaman lost his entire house. This photo was on the cover of the New York Times.

And then there were 3

Today is a very sad day at the Segal-Taylor household. Today we lost Kitty. He was 16 years old. He was born in either Massachusetts or Rhode Island, I can't remember. Either way, he ended up living in both states. I got him in November 1996 in Boston. We moved to California in 1999 where we were joined by Sweetie. The two of them were my companions through the divorce. Jim & I doped up the cats for a week and drove them, with our moms, to Ohio two years ago. Maddy came along last August and then we got Batman in June to perk up Kitty. We thought that a kitten would give him something to keep him busy, which it did.

He had the same looks and personality as Garfield - fat orange tabby, surly, pushy, and lovable. Just this morning he was trying to claim my breakfast as his own.

He had lost more two-thirds of his body weight, so the kindest thing we could do for him was to put him down. The vet said that there's no way that he's not in pain. It's just like an adult human weighing 60 pounds.

This picture was taken in March. Sweetie is on the left and Kitty is on the right. They are enjoying their second favorite activity, after food, which is laying on the heat register.

I miss you already, Kitty.

Daycare

We registered for daycare this week at a place called Little Dreamers, Big Believers.  We toured 3 diferent places and knew as soon as we walked in that this was the place for us.

They are very small and have 3 infants per teacher.  They teach baby yoga, baby sign language, feed organic food, and seem to really engage with the kids in a personal way that wasn't apparent at the other sites.

Being a small facility they are more flexible to tailor the care to the child than the corporate chains or larger places.   For example, we asked about cloth diapers at the first place and they said that they require disposables.  The second place said they can do it, but really, really don't want to because it's a big hassle.  This place said, half of our kids use cloth. It's easy - all we have to do is have a separate pail and the parents take them home.  Woo hoo!

Election

It's no secret that I'm an Obama supporter, so you can imagine that I'm quite happy that he was elected.  It will probably sink in after he's been in office for a year or two.

However, that's tempered by a few points:

1) He's a politician and I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.  I hope he will do as he says.  I'm a bigger fan of "primary Obama" than I am "general election Obama," so I hope he follows his original ideals instead of becoming a sell-out.

2) I don't agree with everything he believes, but think he is the best choice we have seen in a long time.  His position on equal marriage, the environment, and separation of church & state have a way to go for my taste.

Finally, I'm deeply saddened by the propositions that passed in a couple of states, namely Prop 8 in California which amends the constitution to limit the rights of adults to marry.  It's a sad day when our civil liberties are curtailed based on demographics.

Latest from SNL

McCain is a natural on SNL.  Maybe he should join the cast? :)

Carly - is this better?

Finally - pregnant pictures!

Finally, two pictures of me pregnant. I'm 5 months right now. Sorry for the camouflage, it doesn't really do it justice. I'll work on some more.

Debate spoof

This is one of the funniest SNL skit I've ever. I literaly hurt laughing. It's probably only hilarious to those of us who suffered through the last debate.

Domestic goddess

I've recent discovered a few products that nobody should have to live without. I thought I'd share the good word.

First is the Shark Steam Mop. This hand-dandy little tool steam cleans your floors. That means you don't have to buy any toxic, smelly, weird stuff. The only down side is that the terrycloths that do the cleaning get dirty pretty quickly before they need to be thrown in the laundry. Maybe if I mopped more frequently this wouldn't be an issue... Buy it at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

Next is Melaleuca’s Healthy Dish Washing Detergent. You have to special order this stuff from an Amway type person (or maybe online?). We've seriously been using the same regular sized bottle since early May. That includes using it to wash hands. It's non-toxic, biodegradable, etc.

Finally, also from BBB is Cuisinart Green Gourmet nonstick pan. This nonstick pan is made from enamel, not from Teflon. So it's actually non-toxic. If you didn't know, Teflon and other nonstick surfaces are carcinogenic. Birds literally drop dead if you have this stuff in your home and most people aren't disciplined enough to avoid using metal cutlery on the pans to prevent major scratching or to throw them out after signs of peeling. Jim has been making us eggs every morning on the Cuisinart pans and they are turning out great. Be sure to add a little butter anyway or your eggs will taste a bit rubbery. Nobody likes rubbery eggs.

How big am I?

We still need to get some photos of me, but to give you an idea, people are surprised when I tell them how far along I am. The lady at Giant Eagle today said she didn't think I'd be able to stand up at 8 months...

I did gain quite a bit of weight last month, but I'm not sure where it's going. I don't look fatter and the baby weighs less than a pound. Maybe I'm growing a big cushion in preparation for a giant child?

On the other hand, being petite and having an arched back probably makes me look bigger than I am. The nurse at my doctor's office nailed it at 20 weeks just by looking at me, which seems like a better gauge than the deli lady!

The Great Schlep

Sarah Silverman in all her glory. Be forewarned, she's got a potty mouth.

I figure that I can at least post a muted version of my perspecive on the election with humor without getting in too much trouble.

It's a Girl!

The big round blob on the left is her head. The big round blob on the right is her body. The small circles between the round blobs are her hands. On her head you can make out eye sockets and her chin.

The tech who did the ultrasound says she has long legs and is very active. She weighs just less than a pound and is still due mid-February.

Finally, I can feel her moving around now! I have a feeling that I'm growing a kickboxer!

Penis day!

Tomorrow, October 2nd, is the day that we hopefully find out if our baby is a boy or a girl. We're calling it "penis day" because at this stage in the game we are looking for the existence or absence of a penis. Hopefully the baby will be in a position where we will be able to tell.

More people are guessing it's going to be a boy. I think it's a boy, and Jim think it's a girl. Who is going to be right???

Jon Stewart on the bailout

Why I'm proud to be a professional community organizer

Raising money for grassroots organizations isn't glamorous, but I'm proud to be in the same profession as these folks.

Oh, and a little political commentary :)

Pregnancy Update

On October 2nd we get our second ultrasound. Hopefully we'll be able to tell the baby's sex at that time. We already have a girl name picked out and have a good candidate for a boy name.

Thanks to many friends, we have a ton of baby stuff and maternity clothes! Thank you so much to Meadow & Jody, Kelley, Michelle, Rachel, Susie, and Mrs. Guervitz for all of the stuff we have so far. Many friends with young 'uns have offered additional stuff once we know the sex or their kids are done with them. Please keep your eye out for a maternity winter coat. I haven't seen one yet.

Things have been going really well for the last month. I eat constantly to keep my blood sugar steady. That keeps me functioning pretty much like a normal person. I'm big enough now that people are comfortable saying "Your're pregnant!" instead of just looking me up and down and wondering. Lucky for me that the weight so far has been all baby. Hopefully it will stay that way!

SNL hilarity

Two gems from Tina Fey.

16 Weeks

First, the generic update on pregnancy at 16 weeks.

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length . Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too.

Personally, the last few days have been much better than the last few weeks. My blood sugar was OUT of control. Hypoglycemia (blood sugar factor #1) is compounded by pregnancy hormones (#2), my nutritional needs have increased (#3), I'm stressed at work because of the loss of a coworker (#4) which all adds up to me wanting to hide under my desk until March. I started testing my blood sugar and found that I was mostly in the 70s and 80s when I should be in the 100-120 range. This adds up to anxiety, vertigo, exhaustion and other unfun stuff. With the help of a fabulous dietitian, I have just figured out that I was eating pretty much what I needed, with some exceptions, but only eating about HALF of what I need. No wonder I wasn't getting fat! It's possible that I'll start putting on a few extra pounds, which is fine wiht me as long as I feel better. It will come off later.

From the Onion

I have no idea why this is so funny, but it clearly is!

War On String May Be Unwinnable, Says Cat General

15 week update

I'm a total blog slacker. I'm 15 weeks pregnant tomorrow (aka about 3 months to those of you who don't speak pregnant) and this is my first entry...

First, here's a description of what's happening with the little one right now.

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position.)

Pregnancy has definitely been challenging, even though everything has been textbook so far. I had nausea from weeks 6-10 and have been very tired the whole time. At least I'm not sleeping 12 hours a day like I was a few weeks ago! Now I'm at about 9.5 hours at night, plus the occassional nap. My blood sugar has been very difficult to control, which causes a variety of different symptoms like anxiety and dizzyness. However, compared to what others go through, this has been a walk in the park.

My belly has grown enough that I'm now fully wearing maternity clothes, althoug they make me look larger than I am. They are almost all hand-me-downs, so most of them don't fit perfectly, also causing me to look a bit bigger. I see no reason to buy stuff I'll only use for a few months, so I'm happy to have all of the donations.

Wedding Photos

A bit late, but here they are. It takes a while to load, and they are out of order because they are from so many cameras, and... there are a ton.

Jodi & Jim's Wedding

JibJab

In case you haven't seen the latest JibJab video...

Me with Jack Johnson!

Check out my new BFF!

Ira Glass on the Creative Process

Fairy Shrimp

This video was taken by my colleague, David Celebrezze. They are one of the many species that thrive in vernal pools, which are seasonal wetlands.

Summer Movies at the Ohio Theater

One of my favorite summer events in Columbus is the Summer Movie Series at the Ohio Theatre. The 2008 series runs from June 6 – July 27.

2008 highlights include 12 series premieres, one double feature, one silent film, two Saturday morning features, and one late night showing. With 22 movies, there’s something for everyone—action (Thunderball, 1965, and Back to the Future, 1985), suspense (Notorious, 1946), film noir (The Third Man, 1949), romance (Sabrina, 1954), comedy (His Girl Friday, 1940), drama (The Color Purple, 1985), sci-fi (Planet of the Apes, 1968), and musicals (Oklahoma!, 1955, and Shall We Dance, 1937).

I plan to go to a ton of these, so please let me know if you want to join me. They are $3.50 at the door. Discounts in advance and for buying a strip of tickets. Here's the full schedule.

How well can you pay attention?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

redneck family tree

We've created a monster

We love our darling puppy. However, she has started to walk all over us. Literally.

At first we said that she wouldn't sleep in the bed. She's pretty big at 60 pounds. Then Jim caved. We compromised and let her on the bed, but she had to give us a little bit of space to sleep ourselves. Usually she curls up at the bottom of the bed, so it's not so bad. Well, yesterday she decided that the foot of the bed wasn't good enough. At about 2am, Miss Maddy walked to the top of the bed and promptly laid across our heads. Since we are reasonable people, we decided she could sleep on our pillows, as long as she would share with us. It's hard to sleep with giant dog butt on your head.

Spit and vinegar

A Couple of years ago I worked on a political campaign, after 8 years of working for a political lobbyist. After what was a pretty brutal experience I finally came to the conclusion that working 80+ hours a week for a cause, no matter how much I believed in it, was not helping me or the cause. I noticed I was becoming a mean person without provocation, the whole political process necessitates you villanize your opponent and their supporters. On more than one occasion I found my friends the target of my, or my campaign's, attacks. Consequently, I gave up working for campaigns and campaign style organizations. To date this year I had been enjoying watching the presidential race unfold from the sidelines, it's the first year I didn't know who I was going to vote for and I was kind of enjoying prognosticating from an impartial sideline.

Recently, I settled on a candidate, I was originally a Biden supporter, who shall remain nameless for this post. Since making a decision I have noticed a bit of a change in my own orientation to the opposition candidate. Every accusation they make about my candidate I find myself uttering a bitter response under my breath. Every time I hear the opposition candidate talk about how they do one thing or another better or have a better plan for some other thing I find myself rationalizing how that doesn't matter. I'm not sure if it is left over instincts from campaigning or my own competitive instinct coming through but either way I'm not terribly happy with it.

More importantly I'm not terribly happy with the way campaigns have created a world where we can't talk about politics without knock down drag out dogma wars. I want to talk politics freely without someone having to be right at the end of the conversation. Why do we have to win political battles based on who has the most successful branding and who comes out on the correct side of each sound bite war?

Not that I have any grand solutions but there are a couple of things I think could help tame all the spit and vinegar coming out of campaigns. I would like to see each candidate give a couple 30 minute, nationally televised, speeches on the most important issues, as voted on by all of us. Of course I think the debates are an important gauge of how they deal with confrontation, so we should keep those around. Finally, I would like to see us take a lesson from the French and tell them all to shut up and let us think for a little bit by putting a media ban on political campaign for 30 days before the election.

I know this post doesn't hold together from beginning to end, but I just needed to get that off my chest.

Ava Pictures

Recent pictures of Ava, Jim's niece, at 6 months

Bonnaroo, Baby!

We finally figured out how to spend our honeymoon... at Bonnaroo! I know that all of you are into the hip music scene and I don't need to explain this, but Bonnaroo is a hugemongous music festival in Tennessee. We'll certainly be meeting a ton of friends there, so let me know if you want to join. It's from June 12-15.

Here's a selection on the lineup SO FAR:

Pearl Jam
Metallica
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnette
The Allman Brothers Band
Willie Nelson
Death Cab for Cutie
B.B. King
Ben Folds
Aimee Mann
Jakob Dylan
Janeane Garofalo

C'est Fini

So the main part of the staircase is finished, that is to say you can walk up and down the stairs to the attic.

StumbleUpon

Stumbleupon This is a fun way to surf the web for random stuff that other people like. All you do is download the toolbar and answer a couple of quick preference questions. Then you can click the stumble button and it will guide you to random stuff you might enjoy. So far, I've liked 75% of what I've seen like a website where you mark what you have in your fridge and it tells you what to make for dinner.

If you sign up, then make me your "friend" and we can share the ridiculous stuff we find.

Why Can't I Own a Canadian?

Published in the Utah Humanist, October 2002

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted fan,
Jim (not THE Jim)

Men Invented Everything

Call me Reverend (did I spell that right?)

Wanna be a priest, and perform marriages, it's easy just follow this link

http://www.themonastery.org/?destination=ordination

Sunflower

I finally found a grocery store in Columbus that I like. It's called Sunflower, and there are only 3 in the city. It's like a mini Whole Foods, but with the prices of Trader Joes. They taste all of the food that they sell, and there aren't any trans-fats in the whole store. It's worth the drive.

By the way, here's some petty torture you may enjoy. If you can't figure out the 15th floor, you can cheat by looking at the hints written below the starting screen.