Opinion

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Friday Dance Party – Aloe Blacc Needs A Dollar

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for another week of living.  We give thanks for making it through and for being able to celebrate this fact.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So take a moment and be proud of the fact that you’re here and you’ve made it to another Friday.  Not only you, but your family and friends as well.  So, to that end, are you alive this Friday?  Have you given thanks for this?

Good, now let’s dance.

I’ve been reflecting a lot about my constant desire or need to buy things.  I’m absolutely someone who loves to shop.  Clothes and shoes, of course, but I can shop for dirt and be pretty happy.  There is nothing better than to scan the internet and see what things pop up that I feel that I need to buy.  My favorite internet items have to be books, music, jewelry and….again….clothes and shoes.  However, what’s scary about the internet and shopping on it is that it is too easy.  All you need to do is pretty much hit a button and you’ve spent money.  Not as real as actually counting $20 bills out to a sales clerk.  So while I enjoy shopping, I’ve been looking around and taking notice of all the things that I have.  We had to build onto our house to store all the clothes and shoes that we have.  I have more pots and pans and kitchen gadgets than you can shake a stick at.  Jewelry….forget it.  While I am lucky to have a great job and can pay for all of these things, that is just what they are….things.  Better yet, do I really need them and, if the answer is no, why do I keep buying?  Simple answer….no, I don’t need anything and I think I keep buying because that act of being handed a bag full of something at a store or a box full of something coming from the internet makes me feel good.  That feeling that there is something here for me.  I guess it makes me feel special and validates me in that short set of a few seconds.  I’m really trying to feel validated in other fashions.  It might never happen, but I’ve been trying.

Which leads me to our dance party song for this Friday.  With all of my soul-searching, I thought we needed a little soul music.  Aloe Blacc and his song ‘I Need A Dollar’ can help here.  He is a soul singer that I have recently discovered and can’t get enough of his music.  While he is from California, he seems to be much more popular in Europe.  I don’t think that is going to be for long.  Sometimes things come together for a reason…I’m thinking about all of my things and then I hear this song about needing a dollar.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to want or need something and not have a job or money to pay for it.  I can’t imagine the angst you would go through.  It would be even worse if you had a family.  Makes you think about things, that’s for sure.  So this week, we’re going to do a little soul swaying.  You’ve made it through another week so you deserve it.  However, this week, if you are financially secure, give yourself another round of applause.  Having your life, your health, the love of your family, friends and being secure is a blessing.  Who needs things when you have all that?  If we are going to keep it real, one day at a time, we need to make sure we understand this.  We need to re-define and understand what’s important.  Thanks for letting me preach.  Now turn up those speakers and dance!  What life lessons have you learned or are working on at this point in your life?

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Friday Dance Party – Will I Regret Blow by Ke$ha?

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So, are you alive this Friday?  Are you and your family safe and sound?  Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have.  Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

I’ve thought a lot about music this week and even did a post about it.  As I’ve been reviewing my collection of music in all forms:  8 tracks, cassettes, vinyl, CDs and now MP3s, I’ve realized that what I was listening to at certain times in my life was really a reflection of how my life was progressing at that certain point in time.  Great times seemed to attract great music and vice versa.  As my post this week discussed, there were some times that I have no idea what was going on in my life given the music I was buying and listening to at the time.  What was going on when I was listening to ‘Muskrat Love’?  You look back at some of those old tunes and just say ‘what was I thinking?’.  So that’s why it’s funny that I have this tune for us to dance to this week.  Again, while the song by Ke$ha is fantastic, what is going on in this video?  The dude from Dawson’s Creek, a party with unicorns and a laser fight?  I’m sure I will be looking back at this video ten years from now and asking again ‘what was I thinking?’.  For the time being, it is a great tune to dance to in front of your computer.  Remember, you’ve made it through another week and you deserve to celebrate through dancing.  So turn up those speakers and let it rip!  What other strange videos do you remember watching over the years?

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A Plant I Like

This is a plant that I like named Cornus Sericea. It is better known as a red osier dogwood. During the Summer months, the leaves of this dogwood are a beautiful green and white color. The white color is so light it is almost like silver. In the Winter months, this plant has so much appeal. The twigs actually stand out against the dark colors and snow in a reddish blaze. It is nice to have a plant with so much Winter appeal. Everything looks so barren during the dark Winter months and this red osier dogwood’s branches give a little pop of color to an otherwise bleak landscape.

The red osier dogwood is a pretty easy plant to grow and is also widely found in nurseries with an even better low price. This plant transplants readily from a container, ball and burlapped or even bare root and they adapt well to most soil types and are also great plants to grow in area where you fear that you might have erosion issues, like a sloping area in your yard. Red osier dogwood does best in full sun to develop the blood-red stems.

Clusters of tiny white flowers appear in the Spring and will continue to bloom sporadically through the Summer. The flowers are attractive, but do not make a dramatic display. The fruits are white and usually go unnoticed. This dogwood has a purple to red fall color, but can be variable.

They grow pretty rapidly and are best trimmed in February or March by going in and cutting out the older, thicker twigs (which are darker in color than the newer ones) close to the base of the plant. They grow around six feet in height and are an excellent addition to any garden. What are some of your favorite plants in your garden or yard?

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Albums I Loved But Shouldn’t Admit

This is a story about albums that I have loved, but am now embarrassed by the fact.  Everyone has them.  Those stacks of albums, cassettes, CDs or whatever medium you use that you can’t believe you bought.  It’s one thing if you bought them and didn’t like them.  It’s another thing to buy them and like them and then, years later, realize how embarrassing it was for people to have heard you listening to it or, even worse, singing to songs on that particular album.

Kids of today have it much easier.  They can download a particular track.  They don’t have to buy the whole album or CD to get one favorite tune.  They can listen on their iPhones or iPads to particular genres on apps like Pandora.  They don’t have to go to a record store like I did and ask the clerk for advice on a new music type.  I walked into Record Shack in Iowa one day as a teenager and remember asking the 40ish year-old woman if she had ever heard of a music genre called rap.  And if she did, could she make suggestions on a rap CD I could buy?  She could not.  In our day, it was more trial and error.  You bought as many duds as you did great collections in order to stay hip and current.

I’ve recently had the chance to think through my music collection.  I have decided that because I have always liked to sing is one reason for so many embarrassing albums.  My second reason for the embarrassment comes from the fact that I have always liked a good ballad.  With ballads come bad choices….trust me.  So here are five albums that I dearly loved, but am ashamed to admit it today.  What was I thinking?  I am sorry to all the people who had to hear me sing along to the songs on these collections, that had to hear me discuss their musical merits or that had to stand in line with me when I bought them.  Here goes:

In 1975, the Captain and Tennille came out with ‘Song of Joy’.  The actual tune, ‘Song of Joy’ was to become the last song they sang each week on their ill-fated prime time variety television hour.  I knew all the words.  Each week, my parents would be forced to sit in their recliners and watch the Captain and Tennille entertain and, at the end of each show, watch me join in as they played and sang through their signature goodbye song, ‘Song of Joy’.  Towards the end of the first and only season of their variety hour, I was able to sing harmony to Tennille’s melody.  I’m sorry Mom and Dad.  As a side note, this album also spawned the song ‘Muskrat Love’ which I played so often that the needle from my stereo actually destroyed the grooves on the album.

In 1978, my main man Barry Manilow released ‘Even Now’.  I had several Manilow albums in my stash already, but this album is the one that always sticks out in my mind.  While it contained three of my favorite Manilow hits, ‘Even Now’, ‘Can’t Smile Without You’ and ‘Copacabana’, there was always a sadness in my heart when I listened to it.  I knew that Barry’s world dominance was coming to an end.  This album was one of the first where I realized that I was going to have to work it if I was ever going to be in entertainment (which I am not).  I would sit on my bed and belt ‘Even Now’ out in a manly, yet sensitive seating arrangement.  I even introduced a light dance number to the interlude on ‘Can’t Smile Without You’ just to spark things up a little when I sang it in my bedroom.  I also asked our local barber in Iowa if he could cut my hair just like Barry Manilow’s.  I think that I may have been asking for a mullet, but I thought it was perfect for me.  Barry’s hair was always ‘business in the front, party in the back’.

In 1982, Diana Ross released ‘Silk Electric’.  The big hit on this album was ‘Muscles’ written for her by her friend Michael Jackson.  At the time, I was into some sports like wrestling and track (although not great at either) and therefore thought I had an incredible body.  Let me re-phrase….I did have an incredible body at that time, but didn’t think so.  Now that I am a troll, I realize what a waste of time that was thinking I needed to be in better shape.  I should have worked it more!  Let me tell you right now that there is not a man on Earth that should ever, ever sing ‘Muscles’ where anyone can hear them or could possibly hear them.  There is no good that can come of it.  Yet, I was proud to sing along to the radio in front of my friends.  I’d sing over the buzz of a loud party when it came on so that everyone knew that I knew all the words.  I was proud of that.  Sometimes I would flex my arms to really get into it.  Again, not good.  Don’t try this at home.

My roommates in college during 1985 were listening to new music that their parents would never allow them to listen to at home.  I am remembering Rush and AC/DC.  I was listening to Sheena Easton’s ‘Best Kept Secret’.  ‘Almost Over You’ was my favorite.  Again, any ballad is a good ballad to me.  I listened in my college dorm room to this song when I was happy and I listened to this song when I was sad.  For Christmas that year, my college dorm roommate gave me headphones that worked with my stereo.  He said he had heard enough of Sheena Easton and that song.  I was stunned.  As a side note, I gave every girl I knew the fashion tip to wear her pearl necklaces at an angle like Sheena did on the cover.  I didn’t date once that year.

In 1990, I had moved to San Francisco and was enjoying the whole new R&B and hip/hop scene.  Bobby Brown’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ was the album to own if you liked this kind of music.  There is nothing wrong with this album and the music on it.  ‘My Prerogative’ is still one of my favorite tunes and I listen to it on my iPod even today.  It is probably (and unfortunately) Bobby Brown’s singular contribution to the music scene before he turned into the crazy Bobby Brown he is today.  The problem was the clothes.  I filled my closet up with double-breasted suits that had huge, stuffed shoulder pads in them.  Tab collar shirts buttoned all the way up to the neck were all I wore.  As the album got hotter and hotter, my shoulder pads got bigger and bigger.  My hair got shorter and shorter on the sides and higher and higher on the top.  I saw Bobby in a sequined blazer at one point and exhausted several department store sales people in a massive hunt to find a match.  This is the truth….see the jacket in the picture on the left.

I was cool while this style was popular.  However, after it wasn’t popular anymore, no one told me.  When a woman in a club looked at me circa 1992/93 and called me a ‘Sad Bobby Brown’, I knew I needed a makeover.  It was my prerogative to change, so I packed up my suits and tab-collar shirts and put them away for another time when they would be back in style.

They say that the truth will set you free.  Telling you about my embarrassment and shame around these albums is helping to release me.  Again, there is nothing wrong with the music on any of these albums…they are not duds.  It’s just that hindsight is 20/20.  Looking back 20 and 30 years later, what was I thinking?  Thanks for reading.  I’m off now to download a couple of these songs onto my iPod.  At least I can listen to my iPod in secret with my ear buds and no one will even know what I’m lip synching to in my bed room.  What albums do you still love but are embarrassed to admit…be honest?

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A Non-Traditional Strawberry Shortcake

This is my take on strawberry shortcake.  I love strawberries, but place them in a traditional strawberry shortcake recipe and I don’t really care so much for them.  I think that the strawberry sauce with its syrup is too sugary sweet for my liking.  The shortcake is another thing I don’t like either.  A homemade shortcake tastes like it has too much of something in it.  Maybe baking powder?  Then when it is topped with whipped cream, that does it for me.  Just too much sweetness.  I guess I don’t really strawberry shortcake on second thought.  So I wanted to create my take on traditional strawberry shortcake that takes all the sugar and sweetness out of it.  I want sugar, don’t get me wrong, but I also want it to have a little kick as well.  Something that plays off the tongue.  So this is my non-traditional strawberry shortcake recipe that uses a honey vanilla pound cake and balsamic strawberries.

Ingredients:

For the honey vanilla pound cake:

  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 2 cups sifted cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the balsamic strawberries:

  • 2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom of an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until light.  Meanwhile, put the eggs, honey, vanilla and lemon zest in a glass measuring cup but do not combine.  With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the egg mixture, one egg at a time, scraping down the bowl and allowing each egg to become incorporated before adding the next egg.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.  With the mixer on low-speed, add it slowly to the batter until just combined.  Finish mixing the batter with a rubber spatula and pour it into the prepared pan.  Smooth the top.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 15 minutes, turn out onto a baking rack and cool completely.

About 30 minutes before you are going to serve the pound cake, take the sliced strawberries and mix with the balsamic vinegar, sugar and ground black pepper.  Stir to mix all ingredients.  Cover and place back in the refrigerator to chill and blend flavors.  Cut the cake and place an appropriate amount of strawberries over the pound cake.

There you have it.  My non-traditional strawberry shortcake.  Even though it’s not my speed, a little whipped cream on top would be pretty good too if you choose.  It’s your choice.  We were so lucky to get some great strawberries at the farmer’s market.  Very fresh and pesticide free which is always nice to have.  Farmer’s markets seem to be everywhere these days so take a trip to your local one and pick up some great fruits and vegetables.  It may cost a little more but the flavor boost is worth it.  What strawberry recipes do you like that you could share on Acorns On Glen?

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Friday Dance Party – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) With Katy Perry

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for another week of living.  We give thanks for making it through and for being able to celebrate this fact.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So take a moment and be proud of the fact that you’re here and you’ve made it to another Friday.  Not only you, but your family and friends as well.  So, to that end, are you alive this Friday?  Have you given thanks for this?

Good, now let’s dance.

Every Summer has its own song.  You know, that one song that speaks for that one particular Summer season.  When you hear it, you immediately identify it with what you did that certain Summer, where you went on vacation that certain Summer, who you were dating, what you were drinking, etc.  I was reading Billboard.com and actually found a list of the top songs of Summer by year.  Reading through the list brought back memories and also made me realize that I’m not getting any younger.  The songs were ranked on each track’s performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the Summer.  So here’s the list for the last ten years, just to refresh your memory:

  • 2000 – Bent by Matchbook Twenty – I must have been in a coma because I don’t even remember this song.  Where the hell was I?
  • 2001 – Let Me Blow Ya Mind by Eve featuring Gwen Stefani – Nothing bad ever comes from Gwen.
  • 2002 – Hot in Here by Nelly
  • 2003 – Crazy In Love by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z – Danced to this one and thought I was hot and that I had all the moves until I saw a video of myself and realized I was an old man who had too much to drink and wasn’t very good at all.  Love her!
  • 2004 –  Confessions Part II by Usher
  • 2005 – We Belong Together by Mariah Carey – Listened to this one so much that when I hear it now I sort of cringe.
  • 2006 – Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland – Still love this one and listen to it all the time.
  • 2007 – Umbrella by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z – Still to this day I will belt ‘Brella, brella, brella’ for no known reason.
  • 2008 – I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry
  • 2009 – I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas – Will.I.Am is what Martko1964 Wants.2.B
  • 2010 – California Girls by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg

So what will be the song of Summer 2011?  I am putting my vote in now for ‘Last Friday Night’ by Katy Perry.  Yes, this would give her three Summer titles, but this song is what Summer is all about.  Letting go and having some fun.  She also has quite the cast of characters in this video, including Kenny G.  What can be bad about that?  So enjoy the rest of your Summer and let loose to this little T.G.I.F. goodie.  You made it through another week and deserve to celebrate.  Does anyone even wear retainers like this anymore?  What do you think the song of Summer 2011 will be?

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Friday Dance Party – Shaggy’s Sugar Cane

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So, are you alive this Friday?  Are you and your family safe and sound?  Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have.  Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

Wow, it’s been a hectic week here at work.  There was a new system upgrade (which really didn’t work that well) and so it meant a lot of late hours for my team and lots of stress.  This week I was pondering on where we should go for summer vacation and although no final decisions have been made yet, after this week, I need a break.  Whenever you have an extremely hard week at work, do you every so often think about just throwing in the towel and starting over from scratch?  This was one of those weeks for me, but every time I think about what I’d do if I could pick a different job, I can’t figure out the answer.  I just can’t think what I want to do when I grow up.  That’s what made me think of this song for this week’s dancing.  Why not give up all of this and move to a sugar cane ranch somewhere on a far away island?  I could do that.  Could I do that?  Can you see me as a sugar cane farmer?  Anyway, this is a great song by Shaggy.  So get your reggae beat going and sway to the sounds.  It’s been a rough week, but we’ve made it through.  We deserve to dance and dance hard.  Oh Whoa…Oh Whoa…Oh.  Do you ever think of giving it all up and moving far away and starting over?

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Friday Dance Party – JTX’s ‘Love In America’ And A Love Rant

This is another edition of Friday Dance Party on Acorns On Glen.  It’s the time where we give thanks for making it through another week and for being alive and present here on Earth.  How do we celebrate another week of living?  We dance.  So, are you alive this Friday?  Are you and your family safe and sound?  Take a few seconds now to be in the moment and realize what a great life you truly have.  Did you give thanks for that?

Good, now let’s dance.

It passed. 10:30 PM NYC time right now!!!

What’s the state of love in America?  It seems that everyone in politics seems to have a view on the subject these days.  If you live in the State of New York or close by in Connecticut like we do, you have heard a lot of people weigh in on the subject over the last few weeks.  This is primarily due to the New York State Legislature working to vote on a marriage act that will allow same-sex partners the right to marry in the State of New York.  Connecticut already allows it.  I first have to tell you that we are very pro same-sex marriage.  We look at it differently though in terms of views at Glen Road.  One view is that if two people love each other, than they should be allowed to marry.  Another view in our house is that same-sex partners should have the same rights and protections that others are given and this includes marriage.  Another view in the house is that they would want to be married if the church recognizes the union and they care less about the government.  Which one is right?  I think that it is probably a mix of all of these opinions.  So why does it bug me that the debate on same-sex marriage is such a big deal and so controversial?  I just don’t get it.  I just think it is so easy to see.  I don’t think that God frowns on it like some, I don’t think it dilutes the bond of marriage traditionally held between a man and a woman and I don’t like politicians weighing in on something I don’t think many of them know too much about.  Again, I like to keep it simple.  I think it all comes down to love and love is one of the most pure and simple things we have.  If you love someone, it is love.  There is no straight love, gay love, Caucasian love, African American love, Hispanic love, man love, woman love, etc.  There is just LOVE…the same feeling no matter how you get there.  There is just LOVE and if you and someone else are in love, you should be allowed to marry if you are so inclined.  The marriage that you enter should also be equal to all other marriages done in this country.  It’s only fair…this is about equality.  So to the same-sex marriage haters….if you don’t approve of gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person.  Mind your own business…God forbid if you were told you couldn’t do something that someone could do!  So that’s my rant on love.  <deep breath>

Moving on, I do think I know something that we can all agree on regarding LOVE.  I’m pretty sure that we all love living, music and dancing.  Right?  You’ve made it through another week and you are still kicking.  Celebrate that fact by turning the speakers up on your computer and shaking it to JTX’s ‘Love In America’.  You deserve it.  Go ahead and shake that money maker and remember to love the one you’re with.  What’s your opinions on LOVE…we’d love to hear them?