Tomato Sadness

Posted by missjunebug on July 30, 2009

Wow! What a Good-Looking Tomato! Way to go missjunebug! Photo by mjb2009

Same tomato! Backside! Yikes! Photo by mjb2009

Same Tomato! Poor Thing! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug has had some successes in her life, but growing good tomatoes is not one of them. Every year she buys an unsuspecting tomato plant from Target or her local nursery, and every year she fails to harvest the bumper crop of tomatoes promised by the little tag gripping the plant stem. She has brilliant friends who possess not just green thumbs but green hands. Their tomatoes are robust, round, red, and really, really delicious.

Still missjunebug perseveres mostly because she loves the smell of the plant itself. There’s nothing quite like the fragrance of the green leaves and furry stems of the tomato plant. They’re  just so tomato-y!

At first missjunebug thought she had a winner as she followed the progress (okay, erratically followed the progress) of her first tomato progeny. When she remembered to water the poor thing, it looked pretty perky and green. Then she took a closer look at the fruit (yes, technically a tomato is a fruit). What she saw wasn’t pretty and most definitely wasn’t appetizing.

She couldn’t begin to quantify all the things she did wrong, but one notable mistake was leaving the plant in a location that was on the radar of all bunnies living within a five-mile radius of missjunebug’s home. They managed to chew down the leaves to little stubs, but with a little care (and some serious relocation to a more protected area), those fragrant leaves recovered and begat little yellow flowers, one of which sprouted the tomato progeny in question. Perhaps fertilizer would have helped spare mjb’s tomato its disability, but who knows. Certainly not missjunebug.

She put the singular tomato out of its misery yesterday and pulled it from its furry green stem. It now sits on her counter in the kitchen looking a little forlorn, no doubt wondering what fresh hell it’s going to be subjected to now. It did have to suffer through a photo session so that missjunebug could fully document its tomato sadness.

But what’s that missjunebug sees? Two more tiny green tomatoes peeking out from under the fragrant green leaves? Maybe there’s still hope for that bumper crop!

Weighty Matters

Posted by missjunebug on July 29, 2009

TinyJB's Livestrong Wristband: Worn Till It Wasn't So Strong! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug is suffering from post-cruise lethargy exacerbated by digital-scale phobia compounded by life still lived on Shanghai-time (day for night, basically). Finally this a.m. she pulled herself out of bed, dragged herself to her computer and registered at www.livestrong.com website, a full-service make-yourself-over from top to bottom resource for exercise, diet, and lifestyle support.

How she happened upon this website is an interesting story in itself. Occasionally (read 3 times a day) missjunebug googles her website missjunebug.com just to see what’s getting indexed. To her surprise, her post Junior Mints: A Treat for the Ages was referenced at www.livestrong.com under a Google Images listing of Junior Mints calorie count articles and yes, people other than missjunebug do write about Junior Mints. Sure enough she pressed the hyperlink and there she was at her own website with her photo of that cheery green and white box of Junior Mints staring right back at her! Wow! missjunebug had hit the big time BIG TIME!! At least it felt that way for a nanosecond or two. Still. She was pretty happy about how the internet and the ubiquitous Google had found her article on Junior Mints and calorie counts and some how got it hooked into the livestrong.com website and their articles on Junior Mints and calorie counts. Perhaps missjunebug has a shot at expanding her tiny (albeit devoted) fanbase!

Because one thing missjunebug has learned about writing a blog is that she craves the comments of her readers even more than she craves Junior Mints.

mjb Adventure: Shanghai’d by Shanghai

Posted by missjunebug on July 25, 2009

mjb is standing on top of the world in the Shanghai Pearl Tower! Photo by mjb2009

Shanghai's Pearl Tower: Totally Awesome! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug suffered through the twelve hour flight on China Eastern Airlines and two helpings of in-flight Chicken Rice, a warm pork bun, many tiny cups of her last vice, Coca-Cola and 8 episodes of Gossip Girl Season One (that Chuck Bass…you gotta love him!) to arrive at the Shanghai airport 100% humidity then into a crazy taxi drive to her posh digs at the Langham Shanghai Boutique Hotel (mjb took the Wall Street Journal recommendation to heart and booked there!). She and Mr.JB luxuriated in the a.c. while they soaked up the ambience of their tastefully Art-Deco inspired room complete with robe, slippers, fresh fruit, hot tea, not to mention the flat screen tvs in the bedroom and the marble-tiled bathroom (above the full bathtub, natch!). It felt a little too good to be true, but, guess what? It wasn’t! This 96-room De-double-luxe hotel was on its best behavior during its “soft-opening.”

Soft, indeed. Especially that fab down comforted-bed and delicous hot-entree breakfast in the hotel’s lovely Ciao! restaurant, gratis! It all boded well for mjb and her Mr.JB.

And Shanghai did not disappoint. It is China on steroids and neon with some serious reconstructive surgery going on all over the city in preparation for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The Bund was a bummer, impossible to access because of work being done there, but the Space Mountain-inspired Bund Sight Seeing Tunnel to Pudong and the Pearl Tower, a vertigo-afflicted tourist’s worst nightmare, were the wackiest kind of fun. Seriously, 350 meters up a tower, standing on plexiglass! looking straight down! mjb thought she was at Disneyland (as soon as she stopped shaking)!!

The next stop was the Shanghai Museum where cameras were okay throughout and the exhibits inspired. mjb learned that the Chinese civilization is thousands and thousands of years old and they’ve got the artifact chops to prove it. The United States is an embryo in comparison. One display she especially liked: jewelry dating back to 3200 B.C. that she’d be happy to wear today! Of course, there were the fabulous watercolors, the glazed statuary of heavenly guards, horses, and warriors, and just about the coolest birdbath she’d ever seen. mjb can’t begin to catalogue all that she and Mr.JB saw, but rest assured it was a crap-ton of very fine China!

What else? People’s Square. A Chinese Tea Ceremony with 3 Chinese students mjb and Mr.JB met outside the Shanghai Museum. The zippy Metro. The tree-lined French Concession. The frenetic, capitalistic (!) street scene on W. Nanjing Rd. All delicious, sweaty, crowded fun.

What a city! What a country!. As Mr.JB. likes to quote one of his Asian business contacts as saying in regards to China and its future: “Slowly rising. Slowly rising.”

Watch out U.S.A. This civilization has about six thousand years on you. Slowly rising, indeed.

A delicious welcome at the Langham! Photo by mjb2009

Oh. My. Yes. Photo by mjb2009

On to the Shanghai Museum:

Shanghai Museum Moves missjunebug! Photo by mjb2009

One of many fine statues! Hey! Is that the USA underfoot? Photo by mjb2009

One of many lovely watercolor paintings! Photo by mjb2009

mjb's Favorite Museum Find, A Birdbath Complete With Little Critters! Photo by mjb2009

Another One of mjb's Favorite Things: Jewelry Old-School Style! Photo by mjb2009

Yeah, that's right. Plenty old! Photo by mjb2009

Don't Miss This Museum When in Shanghai! Photo by mjb2009

Eclipse of the Century: A Pox Upon Your House!

Posted by missjunebug on July 23, 2009

This is about as close as missjunebug got to seeing a solar eclipse! Photo by mjb2009

So missjunebug and Mr.JB took the trip of a lifetime to sail the East China Sea to see the Eclipse of the Century! missjunebug loved the days in Shanghai and the fab suite she and Mr.JB had on their Costa Allegra Cruise Ship sailing to South Korea and Japan.

Fun times 10.

Except for the rain. Except for the clouds. Except for the thunder and lightning. These all occurred the day before the big day, but 24 hours was not enough to dissipate the gray overcast and those pesky clouds proved to be a serious impediment to eclipse viewing! But, no matter! The bar opened at 11 am and she and Mr.JB along with many, many others drowned their sorrows (briefly!) in libations.

missjunebug and Mr.JB knew their chances for seeing the total solar eclipse were only about 50/50 due to the prevailing weather conditions in the area this time of year, so they weren’t devastated. Just a little sad. They did think the 6 minutes of surreal darkness at sea was pretty cool! And they made a pact to try for totality again. Did someone say 2012??

Look very, very closely for mjb's single eclipse shot. Photo by mjb2009

mjb Buzz: Inside the Beltway Shenanigans

Posted by missjunebug on July 12, 2009

Congress! Do we have your attention? Photo bymjb2009

missjunebug recently took a little trip to see ElderJB in Washington, D.C. She was really looking forward to the Capitol Tour for which she’d secured reservations through the prompt ministrations of her Congressional representative. Thanks, Elton. mjb thinks you rule!

But missjunebug got more and less than she bargained for. She and ElderJB were first in line for the nifty12-minute film intro to the many legislative triumphs of the Congress in the past 100 years or so. They patted themselves on the back really well! She even teared up a few times! But the fun was far from over.

When the tour guide in the red coat led their group into the Capitol Rotunda, everyone in the gorgeous statue-filled round room got a big surprise. A few people from mjb and ElderJB’s group walked to the center of the room and peeled off their shirts to reveal nifty protests shirts, signs and even some plastic chains that they used to join them to all their other protest buddies in a moving circle that chanted really, really loudly CLEAN NEEDLES SAVE LIVES, CLEAN NEEDLES SAVE LIVES, CLEAN NEEDLES SAVE LIVES. All the while the touristas stood dumbfounded at this highly illegal show being performed for their benefit? No, not really. The intended audience was the camera guy’s camera that kept rolling (Film at 11!!!) and, no doubt, Congress who according to these folks wasn’t paying attention. Not that Congress has much on its plate these days.

missjunebug remarked to one of the many Capitol security guards who descended enmasse into the Rotunda when these shenanigans broke out, “Wow, this is democracy in action, don’t you think?”  The well-cut, yes, one might say ripped African American guard said as he pulled on his black let’s-get-this-confrontation-on-gloves, “You about to see some democracy in action, all right.”

Whoa! Then missjunebug, ElderJB, and the remaining members of her tour group and the others were quickly and efficiently ushered out of the Capitol Rotunda. And that was the end of missjunebug’s Capitol tour! But make no mistake: she wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything!

Note to Congress: Look into those clean needles asap!

Sneaky Protestors Pretend to Be Tourists Then...Not!! Photo by mjb2009

Do You Hear Me Now? Photo by mjb2009

Fond of the iPhone

Posted by missjunebug on July 7, 2009

The iPhone:missjunebug won't leave home without it! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug can’t say enough good stuff about her iPhone. She doesn’t have the latest one but she’s in 3G-land and loving it. Today after doing her upgrade of her fab phone through iTunes, another miracle of the post-modern world, she saw a little app on it called Voice Memos!!! Cool, how did that get there? Part of the upgrade she guesses. What a boon for a little bug who sometimes forgets her shopping list or where she parks her car at the mall. Now she can just whip out her little phone and give herself a quick voice memo, play it back, and pick up those Ziploc bags and that calcium with Vitamin D supplement or whatever and find her way back to the car!

missjunebug is just beginning to fully appreciate the wonderful world of apps. Right now on her little iPhone her current favs are the following:

Pandora-streaming music of mjb’s choice by composer, genre, artist

Classics-fine books to read anytime! anywhere!

Maps-need directions? Here they are!

Google Earth-gorgeous!

Big Oven-nifty recipes galore!

iFitness-exercise helps available 24/7

Lose it!-calorie and nutrition tracker extraordinaire!

Kindle-just about the coolest thing ever created, after the iPhone, natch!

NPR Public Radio-mjb’s secret addiction

Flixster-movie madness!

WSJ (Wall Street Journal)-mjb gets it delivered at home and delivered to her iPhone!

facebook-fun connections to bffs

The Weather Channel-mjb always knows when she needs an umbrella

Urbanspoon-restaurant suggestions and locations

Fandango-movie times in mjb’s area at her fingertips

AppSniper-Apps on sale!!!!

A Level-Mr.JB’s pick for his upcoming astronomical endeavors

And a few standard ones including:

Stocks

Translator

Calculator

Camera

Photo Albums

Calendar

Notes

YouTube

Clock

Google

Safari

iTunes

iPod

missjunebug sees the way things are going. She hardly uses her iPod anymore and she can even leave her laptop at home when she travels because she’s got it all right here on her little iPhone. Tech-wise, what a great time it is to be alive!

Meditative Moment Courtesy of missjunebug

Posted by missjunebug on July 6, 2009

Take a moment to breathe deeply, rest your mind, and enjoy this lovely picture courtesy of missjunebug.

Richard Carlson, PhD. called these Golden Moments that take us out of the frenzy and relax us. Eckhart Tolle calls it being in the present moment. missjunebug in honor of her favorite drink calls it The Pause That Refreshes. Enjoy.

Amazing Messages in Water: Maybe, Maybe Not

Posted by missjunebug on July 5, 2009

missjunebug was getting her hair cut the other day when her very hip haircutter told her about these crazy experiments she’d seen on www.youtube.com done by the Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto revealing the hidden messages in frozen water molecules. The quick gist of the matter is that all things are vibrational (so says physics) and water in its infinite wisdom picks up on those vibrations for good or ill through words and music and forms crystal patterns in response. The kinder, gentler the words or music, the prettier the crystal. missjunebug is sure you don’t want to see the ugly aggregate of decidedly non-pretty crystalline growth emerging from the water molecue labeled: “You make me sick. I will Kill you!” She’s sure you’d rather enjoy the “Merci!” crystals or the “Love” crystals or perhaps even the “Mother Teresa” crystals.

Is this science? or pseudo-science? missjunebug would like to think it makes perfect sense, but until Mr. Emoto duplicates his astounding results in a double-blind study using all scientific rigor, she will remain skeptical. Still, it can’t hurt to put a “Peace” or “Compassion” or “Harmony” post-it note on her fab SIGG USA water bottle!

We Hold These Truths

Posted by missjunebug on July 3, 2009

missjunebug pays tribute to the U.S.of A today! Her fav country! She wants to remind her readers that words matter. Here are some that matter Big Time:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,  that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Peole to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

mjbTip: Celebrate our great country this July 4th weekend and do your part to make it even greater!

Don’t Want to Be an American (Political) Idiot!

Posted by missjunebug on July 1, 2009

missjunebug usually does not weigh in on political matters but she must comment on the contretemps Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina stirred up in the last few days.

Here’s her comment to Gov. Sanford: Stop talking. Now.

You’re like Shakespeare’s tragic and ambitious Macbeth without the murder: “I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er. Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.4.167-172)

Governor, you are in shame stepped in so far with such strange things in your head it astounds! Clearly, there’s no going back for you, but drop the “soul-mate” lament and think about your family for just one minute.