Becoming a Peace Agent

I was reading an MS book recently, and there was a part about Christopher Reeve that really hit home with me. The context of the chapter was about reducing stress in your life, which is critical for those with MS. Christopher Reeve came up with the concept of being a "peace agent." Essentially, a peace agent is someone who consciously lives life in a steady stream without letting all the potential stresses rile them up unnecessarily along the way. Anyone who knows me understands that this will be a HUGE challenge for me, but I am excited to take it on!

Scary Stuff!

This is a very discouraging article about people who are holding off on preventative medicine and necessary medical procedures because they can't afford it right now. This will only hurt everyone in the future!! Healthcare is already rising at a 9% annual inflation rate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503762.html?sid=ST2008101500125&s_pos=

I also just read this in a Business Week article: "The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit that studies health-care issues, estimates that McCain's plan would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 1.3 million over the next decade, at a cost of $1.3 billion, while Obama's plan would reduce the uninsured by 34 million and cost $1.63 billion." Hmmmm...

Ponytail Coming to a City Near You

Molly's band is on another US tour...check them out!

10/4 Vancouver
10/6 Portland
10/8 San Francisco
10/9 Santa Cruz
10/10 LA
10/11 UC Irvine
10/12 Phoenix - Modified Arts, Roosevelt and 3rd Street
10/23 Baltimore
10/31 Brooklyn

For venues & future dates, go to myspace, search Ponytail Baltimore...also available on itunes!

Home Sweet Home

It feels great to be home in AZ tonight...a little warm at 100+ but good nonetheless. Thanks Grandma Bee for the best meal I've had in weeks. Big weekend of wedding planning and a shower ahead, very excited! Much love to you, Paul, who has been more incredible and supportive than I could have ever asked for over the past few weeks. You continue to amaze me. I'm off to watch Letterman continue to ream McCain...it doesn't end!

Loving Suze Orman

Suze Orman is on Oprah...I've always been skeptical of her but she is providing some really smart economic insight. She's harsh - telling people to stop buying things they can't afford, keep your cars for 10 years, downsize your homes - I like the simplicity of her message. Her passion is refreshing when all we keep hearing in the news is negativity without solutions or a deeper look at how we got here in the first place. She mentioned people, money and things, in that order. Those at the top lost sight of people, only focusing on money...I feel lucky to have been raised with the greater good in mind, always above my personal agenda. Thanks mom & dad :)

First Day of Fall

On a day with only negative economic news, I am so thankful for our BEAUTIFUL first day of fall in Minneapolis. It's been in the 70's, breezy and sunny...I'm trying to soak it all up. Coop and I can't wait for another walk tomorrow :)

Gloriously Poppy

Awesome review of PT from London I believe...

"The Deerhoof comparisons are far more obvious when it comes to Ponytail. Like San Francisco's finest and most prolific their music is based around an arty blend of noisey, chaotic riffs (from two guitars rather than one), furious drumming and nonsense vocals. But it's nonsense vocals taken to the extreme. Satomie Matsuzaki at least uses real words but Ponytail pay zero attention to that whole singing stuff that you might find in the dictionary even if what actually comes out of your unparsable thing, that's for squares. Instead they opt for growls, yelps, screams and purrs (which I guess means that you could cite Roy Orbison as one of their influences). It's mental.
And it's great.
And at the centre is the diminutive figure of Molly Siegel. So small that she could easily be mistaken for a child of indeterminate gender (more girlish looking boy than boyish looking girl you understand. Or just in fact, a girl) I've never seen anyone appear so deliriously happy to be on stage. Constantly grinning and oddly dancing around whilst declaring pretty much everything to be "awesome" she's blessed with a sort of infectious enthusiasm that swept through the venue and caught up pretty much everyone in the room in a way you absolutely wouldn't expect on a crappy September Wednesday evening in Dublin. And again, despite it being a million miles from what you'd generally associate with the term, because they're basically 4 vaguely hippyish nerdlinger types utterly lost in the joy of making a massive racket, what they do is gloriously poppy."