Yipee skipee

10 months today... 10 months closer.

I will write more on that when I return... I'm off to the mountains for a little ski weekend with some other single adoptys
The kids are hanging out at Kitt's for the weekend.
Happy St. Paddy's to you all.

news flash

My sister sent me this e-mail and Ithought it responsible to share it with you:

I thought I should pass it along. Check your driver's license. Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet, including your own!I just searched for mine and there it was..picture and all!!Thanks Homeland Security!Where are our rights?I definitely removed mine. I suggest you do the same.Go to the web site and check it out.Just enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. Afteryour license comes on the screen, click the box marked, "Please Remove."This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement.

http://www.license.shorturl.com/

Put a fork in it...

...and call it done. Yep, that's right. I just can't conjur up the excitment for Id0l anymore. I've seen it thru all the previous 5 seasons, planned my schedule around it or made sure the VCR (yes, I still use one of those) was programmed to record (and yes, I know how to program it). I just can't get excited about this year, so I'm done (I really can't believe I'm typing these words).
Tonight, if it weren't for multi-tasking the evening would have been a waste. However, I was able to finally address envelopes to send 100 good wish requests out to non-cyber friends and family.
And, then I did a little knitting on a fair isle hat I started in 2004. ...here's the hat. I started this in 2004 whan the pattern came out and then set it aside. After finishing Sheldon, I was ready to start Norberta (see prev post), but decided I have too many unfinished objects (UFO). So now my idea is to finish a UFO before I can start a new project... So, Fair Isle sampler hat then Norberta, then 2nd sock, then ?
Here's my progress....

This is what it "should" eventually look like.

My picture is a little dark, but the colors are really fun. this is my first 2-color stranded work so I'm learning a few things. Like "throwing" yarn. I learned to knit continental - or holding the yarn in the left hand. When using 2 colors, you hold yarn in both hands, you"pick" up the yarn held in the left and "throw" the yarn held in the right.

Also, with all the color changes, I've learned to "spit-join" the ends. It indeed involves spit and with all the different colors, my DNA is spread throughout the hat. It's quite a process, but saves the HUGE headache it would be to sew in all the ends .

I'll let you know when it's done.

Meet Sheldon

I saw Sheldon on Knitty and fell in love. I started making him on my flight to Hawaii and because he's a quick knit, had him almost completed by the time I returned. The knitting indeed was quick, however, he's a little fiddly to put together, and given my sewing skills are lacking...well, it took a while. but, here he is!

Apparently green turtles are quite popular in Hawaii and they were the subject of many children's books... This one's a cutie with great pictures.

next... Norberta!

Idol idles

apparently I'm confused.... I wrote this last week and saved as a draft rather than publishing.. Really no loss for the blogging world, but still...

American Idol…Boring! I actually skipped the girls’ night opting to go out for a burger and beer instead (unheard of over the last 5 years). There’s no one this year with the appeal of Chris Daughtery, Bo Bice, Kelly Clarkson… I think Sundance may have stepped up to the plate, but America got it wrong and he’s gone home. What’s with that? I guess all the teenage girls and boys are voting for Sunjiah like Simon said “they like your hair”. The boy has no charisma or stage presence, much less his singing…. (And Haley? she can sing, but should be on the Grease competition - the other chick that went home was awesome)
Ah well, I guess my vote didn’t count this time. Frankly, I’m losing interest in AI this year, but that probably won’t keep me from watching…much like rubber-necking at an accident – you just can’t help yourself.

We'll see what tomorrow has in store

Did you vote????

I've been planning to do another post about my trip to Hawaii - it really wasn't ALL work for me. However, I'm admittedly obsessed....

I'm not sure that America got it right last night....American Id0l I mean. This is the time of year when I won't answer my phone on Tues or Wed eve for fear of missing a note - torture sometimes, yes. But I do love it. I agree with others that the women were much better than the men, but it's still early. This year doesn't have a frontrunner like Chris from last year although some of them are interesting.

I'm not good at all the names yet, but I think the right men went home. I do, however, think we got it wrong on the women. The chick that sang the pretenders song should have gotten the boot. She didn't sing one note in tune Ah well. sometimes the saps out there voting for the underdog get the wrong person kicked off the show. She should have gone and the white urban chick (Nicole - maybe) should have stayed - wrong song for her, but she really is a much much better singer.
Whada U think?

Aloha

Aloha,

I'm just back from a refreshing week long conference in Kona, Hawaii.
Beautiful.
My sister went with me. Her job was to keep the room in check, scout out the resort, and most importantly - mai tai research - a damn fine job she did.

Here's my morning.....





And here's hers!

Book group challenges

So tonight I'm hosting book group at my house. We've been meeting monthly since late '99 and it's an interesting and fun group of women. The way we work the group is that the host makes the main course and everyone brings everything else. The host also picks 3-4 books to choose from for our reading for the next month. My problem is that I've come to a creative halt (those of you awaiting sqishes will be feeling the impact of this).
In the group we have
1 vegerarian,
1 who doesn't eat beans,
1 with a gluten allergy
and 1 allergic to nuts.
Quite a challenge when creating the main course. I think I've found the solution here. It's cold - read 5 degrees - outside so I thought a warm soup will feel good - this one looks like it will taste good, too... So, for the archives, does anyone have any yummy recipes that are vegetarian, wheat and bean free, without nuts?

On to the book selection... again, no ideas - nothing is jumping out. The one suggestion I have is The Glass Castle which was recommended to me as a great read and uplifting story. The only other one I'm interested in reading these days is this one.

I'll let you know how the chowder turns out.

PS. If you're dying to see more pics of my crazy poodles, Kittbo took them to the park again and posted her photos here. She also has baby poodle Jackson with her - what a cutie. Warning: lots of pictures.

Awwww...

Anniversaries...

Hopefully, I'll say more later, but this was a week to remember. The 16th was the 8 month anniversary of my LID... the 17th the 1 year anniversary of CCAI's single lottery... and the 18th the 1 year anniversary of me being notified that I had "won the lottery". My application was accepted and this journey began.
The past year has been somewhat surreal with many highs and lows. Among the highs I would have to include meeting so many new people, both in-real-life and virtually that I would otherwise not know. I'm grateful to you all for being a part of this past year and I anticipate good things to come.

So, I've been away from the blog for a while. I guess I needed a push to get me back and Maggie provided just the thing. It's an interesting little meme having to do with a book. I have to say that getting just a few lines from the middle of a book is a little unsatisfying. I think this would be better with first lines from books, but I'll obey the rules...

1. Pick up the nearest book.





2. Turn to page 123.

Done

3. Write down lines 6-8.

"Puck thinks that a combination of lucky accidents, including
factors that could have been adverse, have contributed to the
Chino's success, as if the farm itself were a delicate organism that..."

4. Tag 3 people.

Well... I will follow the usual habit of the Wicked Witch and say it's an "all tag". If you want to participate, please do! (feel free to use the first lines from the book if you want) - I can't help myself, here the first few lines of this book: "The playwright David Mamet and the theater director Gregory Mosher affirm that some years ago, late one night in the bar of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago, this happened:..."
See, first lines are much more compelling...

b-day wishes

Happy Birthday to one with a generous heart.
Happy 2007, wicked witch

Merry Christmas

So, as it turns out, I wouldn't have been able to travel home for the holidays even if I'd planneed on it. The blizzard kept DIA closed until noon Friday and then only a few flights made it out. And, if driving... I-70 was closed to the Kansas boarder until Friday eve while they cleared huge drifts from the interstate. So, I stayed put and have had quite a lovely holiday.
Saturday was cookie baking day.
Then Sunday - Christmas eve - I was busy around the house until late afternoon when I went to Christmas eve service. Funny, it started snowing - AGAIN - just before I left home. Now as I said on the last post, DOT has been able to clear the mainstreets quite well, however the side streets are a nightmare with 8-12 inch ruts that you'll crash through or that act like rails taking you careening thru the streets - parking even worse. After finally finding a lot to park in and hoping they'd be gracious and not ticket me while attending Christmas Eve service - I parked and nearly broke my neck getting to church. But, I arrived, got some cider to warm my chilled bones, and found my seat with my friends.

After the service, I went to dinner with my firends in this picture - they are my family away from family. Lala and Hgirl are the sweetest and make me excited to have my own little one some day.
After dinner I drove home and got stuck in the frozen over ice rink that used to by the alley behind my house. It was 9pm, so I figured noone will be traveling the alley on Christmas eve, so I left the car until a kind stranger in a beat up Jeep Cherokee with only 3 tires - the 4th being one of the spare donut thingys- pulled me out today. (The roo hung it's head in shame for being bested by a 3 wheeled Cherokee.)

This moring woke bright and early and headed for Copp*r Mtn resort for a little skiing. It was a beautiful day with good snow, short lift lines and happy people everywhere. Kittbo drove up - thank you very very much, and we had a great day of it.






Happy Holidays everyone.
Peace to you and yours.

Yum Yum

Someone from the ALT group posted the link to My husband cooks. After being housebound from the blizzard wanting so badly to bake cookies, but having no supplies..then viewing My husband cooks... On my first outing I headed straight for the market to get eggs, flour, cocoa... all the fixins for some yummy Chiristmas cookies. I was able to shovel my way out of my garage, and once off the sidestreets and onto the mainstreets, the roads were ok. The grocery store however, was bare. I was able to get all that I needed, but if you were there for fresh produce - outa luck! The trucks were having trouble delivering shipments after the blizzard - I think a lot of people were having to improvise for their holiday meals.
But, for cookies, all OK! Sat night I spent in front of the stove making all the Christmas cookies that My husband cooks made. Look at their blog for the recipes and much better photos....


The toffee has a great flavor, but I wasn't able to get the "crunch" - I don't think I cooked it long enough...next time.


These chocolate cookies are devine! The texture light and crisp, the chocolate flavor... heaven. Try them.
I also made the chocolate shortbread and the creme anglaise clouds (substituted sour cream for creme anglaise). They're all so good and I was able to give some away to my friends.

Greek Art

Lovely Angel
.

I'm playing catch up after no blogging for a month.
Here's photos of the art I bought in Greece. Two paintings very different styles. One a typical painting of the Greek Islands - A boat dock with azure,shimmering water. It was beautiful and this painting can take me back there.
The other whose face you see now is an incredibly beautiful painting of an angel. The gallery sent a short bio of the artist and a sentence from her regarding the painting. It says "This painting is inspired from the Byzantine Hagiogrpahy. It represents an Angle that brings good news to the villagers. She flows and flies through the houses of the village, it has metaphorical meaning.: The artist's mane is Agni Mpampiska, she's originally from Poland. The gallery owner said she would bring in some beautiful, but traditional Byzintine paintings and he encouraged her to step out a little and she's become this graceful imaginative (my words) painter. I love my angel and am happy to look at her each day. I love her sweet serene face. I also love the idea of her bringing good news to the village. I know the adoption village could use a little good news these days!

What the....

The Nightmare Next Door
.

Ok, my neighborhood is a "transitional" neighborhood, if you will. My house is cute and fun, but happens to be placed next door to this.... I think the guy fancies himself a set designer, because each halloween he drags out these tired decorations. That would be one thing, if they were halloween and then gone... but no there's more. After halloween, he slowly begins the transition to Christmas. The coffin becomes Santa's sleigh - What had once been a creature thingy, now wears the jolly man's outfit, without the heft - it's creepy to see skinny skeletal fingers poking out of HoHo's suit - I think it knows I don't like it and watches me... The cauldron becomes the christmas tree stand and the headstones suddenly don stockings and wreaths....
It's a fright I tell you, and the neighbor seems to think "his public" would really be disapointed if he didn't do it. I try to reassure him that it would be ok, but to no avail, this horrid display shows up each year early October, and if I'm lucky, it comes down mid February.
This alone is enough to make me a scrooge.

Blossoms of Light

CIMG0330
Originally uploaded by MBmama.

Each year The Denver Botanic Gardens goes hog-wild on their holiday decorations. I went last weekend with several of the single adopty moms (specifically Jannine, Jan and Burnadette). The lights were quite pretty, we just happened to pick a bitter cold night to go. The dinner afterward in the warmth of Dizaly (with a name like that, this place won't be in business long...) and a bottle of red wine.
I've enjoyed getting to know these women throught the various parenting classes we've been taking and lately the outings - much more fun. We've planned to take a Chinese New Year cooking class in Feb, and sometime between now and then we will have a knitting night - I've promised to teach them..hmmmm...hope I can
More picture of the gathering here.

By the way, if you click on the photo above, you will notice the view of the lights through the Hologram glasses that Burnadette bought. All the lights look like snowmen...see.....

The final picture in the set of photos is of my friends Danielle and Nancy. We've spent the last 5 or 6 Thanksgivings together - like family. This year I don't remember if there was a storm or what, but Danielle and John lost their electricity for about two hours - it's a little hard to fix dinner without an oven... they improvised and fired up the grill... about 10 minutes into it they ran out of propane - Luckily they have nice neighbors and were able to borrow a tank of propane and the meal went off without a hitch. Thanksgiving at their house has been a nontraditional affair of late - much to my pleasure. Last year steaks, this year duck -none for me, thank you - and ham.
Creative Danielle has a tradition of making Christmas ornaments after dinner each year - the photo is of Danielle and Nancy modeling theirs. It's fun each year to pull out the ornaments and remember each Thanksgiving.

Blizzard 2006

It's Cold!!
.

Leo had a heyday in the blizzard - I had shoveled the sidewalk twice already, but it was coming down too fast to keep up with it. This time was actually the last time because it quit snowing about two hours later.... Notice the cars in the background and how deeply they're buried... My ambitious neighbors had just gone inside after shoveling their sidewalk and trying to shovel out their SUV

more photos here

Well,
this has been quite a storm.
It's my 3rd blizzard with the first one 1997 (22 inches)- that one kept me housebound for 3 days - my roommate snowshoed to her boyfriend's house - I was bored!! Once it quit snowing, I made a snowangel she was pretty with branches for wings and cut-out lips from a red pepper. She was the cutest little snow angel on the block.
The 2nd was 2003 (the BIG ONE - 36 inches)- that was probably the most devastating of the three because it had more snowfall and happened in the spring when trees were starting to bud - many branches were broken snapping power lines and tons of people were without electricity for days. I lost my phone line, but electricity stayed on.

Now the Holiday 2006 blizzard... 18 inches at my house - just a light dusting compared to some areas! This one has been hardest on DIA - you wouldn't believe the wind with this one. It caused drifts up to 12 feet high in some places - glad I didn't have to shovel that! I-70 was closed to the Kansas boarder until this afternoon trying to clear the drifts, and I know everyone had heard of the fiasco at DIA. I really feel for the travelers that have been stranded there since Wed and may not get out until Monday - some reports are saying it may take until Wed. I think I'd be renting a car!
I've passed the tiime by sorting my stacks that I never seem to have time for, knitting, talking on the phone, and shoveling.
I was working Wednesday when it started - I slid the whole way into work and I have a snow-friendly car - I knew it was going to be bad. There was so much nervous energy at work that day. I happened to be rounding at one of the local hospitals (only two miles from my house)- the nursing staff there were told that they could not leave until their replacement showed up, and if they were scheduled the next day, they must spend the night at the hospital or at a nearby hotel. If they went home and were not able to get back to work...big trouble. I just wanted to get everyone seen so I could get back home. I had left two pooches in my house - one of which (Lannie) saw the snow on the ground that morning and refused to go outside.
I got home around 3pm - Lannie refused a potty break until about 9 that night (probably close to 24 hours from her previous potty break) - she's really developed an aversion to the snow - I may need to get her a sweater and some booties -perhaps pink with rhinestones!

Flashback to earlier...Before leaving the hospital - I stayed a little later to help one of the docs - more moral support than anything... Anyway, he had a severe complication resulting in the need for emergency surgery for the patient... Unfortunately there was a blizzard going on outside. One of the three thoracic surgeons was in surgery, one stuck in traffic - standstill, the third not responding. Finally after 30 min or so of the poor pt receiving life saving measures, the staff working as hard as they could - the 3rd surgeon was found, arrived and took the patient to surgery. The doc I work with was devastated - understandably so... he was going to wait to leave until the surgery was over - very afraid that the paitient wouldn't make it and he wanted to be the one to tell the family. I haven't heard the outcome, but I really hope that when I return to work Tues that this guy's name is on our rounds list. I love all the snow, but this is really some of the scary complications that can come from it.

On to more cheery things. For some reason I LOVE these sproadic blizzards we get. I love shoveling - that's why I do it, even though the snow is still coming down in bucket fulls. On Thursday, all my neighbors were out shoveling at the smae time - it's the only time we really see each other in the winter. I like having the snow days from work - I mean really, in health care that is RARE! The one thing that hasn't been so good, is the eating... My pantry wasn't too well stocked and I've been in the mood to bake cookies - no eggs, flour or sugar...bummer! I did manage to walk through knee deep snow to get to 7-11 for chocolate chips, pretzels, milk and diet c*ke (must save the calories!).

Enough babbling... for more photos of the snow, check out Kittbo's blog. She's been out and about braving the roads. Seriously, you should check her's out - she has some cool photos of her view from her office looking downtown... Denver is beautiful when the sun comes out to shine on freshly fallen snow - stunning!!

Thankful for Moonbeams

I’ve always been fascinated by the moon, the night sky…I can remember many nights when I was younger staring at the sky and all the stars… we could easily see the milky way… I was fascinated by the bigness of it and my smallness. Somehow it made me feel more solid, like I belonged, I mattered if I could see something so beautiful that was soooo far away – it was proof of something – even if I didn’t know what.

Often, on Saturday night, we would drive to my cousin’s house – our parents would play cards, the 6 of us kids would watch Carol Burnett and then either play our own card games or get into some kind of mischief. We’d always stay late into the evening and then drive home in the dark. Often on the drive home we’d listen to a story on the radio – usually a mystery and I’d stare out the window – moon watching. It amazed me that each corner we took each curve and hill – even though I might lose sight of it for a moment – it was always there. Following…watching… guarding…protecting… I don’t know – but it was a safe, BIG, feeling.

A few years ago, I read this children’s book. “The Pirate Who Tried to Capture the Moon” by Dennis Haseley.
Here’s the excerpt from the jacket front:
There once was a fierce pirate who loved nothing. He lived alone on an island. And he captured ships. But after each victory, he saw the moon, drifting free. “Moon, follow me!” he ordered, jiggling his sword. But the moon sailed majestically through the sky, lighting up frog ponds, shining down on poets and baying wolves and Italian restaurants and all the things it loved. So the pirate captured all those things and waited. And the moon, seeing everything it loved gone, came down closer. And closer still…
As this huge moon- bigger than the pirate had ever imagined – came closer and closer getting bigger and bigger, the pirate became afraid. Eventually, as the story goes, the pirate released all the things he had captured trying to deter the moon, but the moon waited… then, as the huge moon waits patiently over him…
The pirate stared into its light, and a wild shiver ran through him like a wave. He forgot about being afraid. He forgot about being fierce. He lowered his sword, he dropped his armor, and he whispered, “Moon, wonderful moon, it is you who have captured me.” … now there was someone new the moon loved who loved the moon. For at that moment, in the middle of the night, the pirate began to dance.

This was such a picture of my life, taking prisoners, armor and sword in hand – then the moon – the huge, disturbing, frightening moon-sized love of the huge God of the Universe, captured me. Since a little girl it had been following me, waiting.
Suddenly, I realized that that’s what it’s all about here… just to love each other. The moon has become a symbol of that love to me – you may know it as “spirit” or choose to see it through the lens of Buddism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism… or thru simplicity, friendship...so many possibilities...
The beauty of this to me is that every day I know there are moonbeams – pieces of this love shining down. The hope of my little girl is one, my friends, my family. The people I love and those who love me are moonbeams, perhaps you reading this now are a moonbeam…all reflecting a little love and light into this world and into my sometimes dark life.
I love this book’s metaphor for life, its struggles, and the overwhelming touch of love. It lends a powerful icon to the love in my life. Hence, my moonbeam…I’m waiting to see her.

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the moonbeams in my life...my parents, my family, my friends, the hope of my daughter, my dogs.... I'm also grateful to those of you who allow me to reflect a little love your way. Happy thanksgiving folks, have a wonderful shiny day.

Weekend

I've had a great weekend.
Alicia - my travel buddy and all around good friend was in town. She's looking for a loft so I tagged along on the shopping expidition which wasn't too fruitful, but we did see a few that were pretty cool. She's patient and has time for the right one to present itself - I'm just excited that she'll eventually be moving back - nothing against Wyoming, but a country girl she ain't!
She and I bought some art while in Greece. It arrived at her house last week. Her two paintings are by the same artist and are his interpretation of two marble busts - one of Alexander the Great and one of Apollo. They are hotties - I've tried to plea for joint custody to be able to stare at them for a while, but Alicia's not going for it. My paintings are quite different than hers - one of an angel (I'm a little obsessed with angels and with the moon for their guaridan qualities - someone has to look out for my girl while I'm unable to). The painting is done in a combo byzintine/Gustov Klindt style. The gallery owner promised to contact the artist so she could include a letter telling me her thoughts about the painting, and including her bio. I'll fill you all in when I get it. The other painting is of boats in a harbor that will remind me of the Greek Islands. I should get my paintings Thanksgiving weekend when Alicia's coworker will be able to transport them here in his truck. Apparently they are pretty big. So, lucky me that her coworker has family here ( 6 hours away) and is willing to fill his truck space with my goods! Dada dada da da!!(the happy dance song)

So, last night I was trying to feel like a wise urbanite and take public transportation to meet my friends for dinner in Lodo (lower downtown - isn't Denver so hip?) Well, our light rail system (commutor trains) is a baby and on Friday had the grand opening of the southwest corridor. To celebrate, and apparently work out the kinks, they offered free rides Friday and Saturday. Living 3 blocks from the station, I usually take the train when going downtown, so bonus that it was free, right? As it turned out, the line that would take me 2 blocks from my final destination, was down because of some fire or required maintenance (not sure which was the actual reason). NO worries, I could take the D line then the mall shuttle and voila, I'd be there. Off I went, while in the station I was looking at the schedule. There was a guy looking at the schedule too - I asked a quick qestion then the train arrived and we stepped on. The car we enter was deserted at this time and he sat in the seat opposite me (bench seats facing esch other). Normally, with space etiquette on public trasportation with complete strangers, you do NOT sit that close - across the isle, one seat away - anywhere else but on the seat facing the only other person in the car... So, a little freaked, but a well lit car on public transportation line - the next stop not too far away where others would be getting on... all ok. We talked a little - he was going to the Warren Miller film playing at the Pavilion theater - me to dinner with friends, blah blah, blah. We get to a stop - 2 stops prior to my destination and there's a voice over the loudspeaker "there will be a 10 minute delay". I'm already late, so I decide I can walk and get there quicker. I get up to leave, and my new "friend" decides he's going to walk too. He's seemed decent enough so far, if not a little unclear on boundaries, but what a delima. Am I getting off the safe train to walk 6 or so blocks with a perfect stranger who is going to turn out to be a serial murderer? Well, since I'm writing this, it obviously turns out well. But, not without a call to my friends with a detailed description of him "6' tall, shaved head, small wire-framed glasses, 40ish, black jacket and blue jeans" - to which he adds "and my name is Jeff". He said he worried about a white woman walking alone through that part of town by herself, so he wanted to make sure I made it ok. I'm not sure why I felt so ok striking out alone, and more creeped being accompanied by a stranger - fear of the obvious verses fear of the unknown?
In retrospect, it seems kinda dumb to have gotten off the train in the first place, but at the time I felt a little invincible... Hindsight makes me say the smart and safe thing to do would have been to wait on the train... next time....
I realize that as American women we are among the luckiest on the planet, but I have to say it pisses me off that we live in a culture where women still have to be fearful. Pisses. Me. Off.

On to tonight... I met 3 other single adopty women - I'm lovin' getting to know these women. Our LIDs are all within a month of each other so we'll be getting our daughters within... - well, hell, it could be at the same time, it could be 4 months apart!!! Regardless, we'll become mothers around the same time and all want to forge a support system, so we're doing things like the red thread run (earlier post), tonight we went to see a movie. Denver's international Film Festival ended today, we went to see a documentary "Free Liesl: Fear and Loathing in Denver". It was interesting and thought provocing and maddening at times about a young woman caught up in the federal murder law. A long and complicated story, but essentially she was in the car with a man who ended up shooting and killing a police officer. Despite the fact that she was sitting in a police car in handcuffs when the officer was shot - she was convicted of federal murder and sentenced to life in prison. Hunter S Thompson learned of this and became a mouthpiece for her, getting much public attention, the best lawyers involved and two days after he committed suicide, she was released from prison, thanks in large part to his efforts. The documentary really pointed out some disturbing facts about the media - stating allegations against her as if they were truth - biasing the jury, and also the needed reform of this law. Anyway, if given the chance, it's worth seeing. The filmmaker was present for questions after and said that it is available for purchase at HunterSThompsonmovies.com.

The thing about this that so bothers me is I vividly remember this event taking place. I was glued to my TV as the standoff was taking place at Denver apartment building, hearing the worst, that a respected officer was shot in the head and killed, and then the killer took his own life. The media then proceded to talk about Leisl as being responsible and I believed them. As it turns out - she was more of a hostage than an acomplice. It was all presented as fact rather than trying to understand her part of the story - it seems we all wanted someone to blame and since the killer was dead...
The media is the public's only access to this sort of information, one would hope that they would act responsibly. It seems that this documentary should be viewed in J-schools everywhere.
Again, long and complicated story, but the take home messages were:
1. The media doesn't always get it right, and unfortunately probably had a large impact on this woman's conviction.
2. Always, always get a lawyer before talking to the police (there is sometimes a fine line between cop and criminal).

Peace, and goodnight