Strawberry fields forever...

Thanks to Captain Beefheart of Phat Choon Cookie for helping me find my way to this wonderful quiz:



Take the What Fruit Are You? test by Ellen!

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I agree with the findings. I am a very good friend. I wouldn't recommend getting on my bad side, however. The other side of me is no strawberry...

Pissed-off-impulse purchase

So, I'm trying to take a picture of my youngest kitty because she's being ADORABLE sitting on top of the scratching post grooming herself and my hand-me-down digital camera spazzes out as usual. I have to hit the button 12 times before it takes a picture, turn it off 3 times, hit the button 12 more times, take a picture that never records to memory, repeat repeat repeat so that I see the flash go off 5 separate times but only end up with 2 pictures. I'm swearing while Georgie keeps staring at me, grooming herself, being so cute, and I'm so pissed I'm throwing the camera on the floor. So, my husband says "why don't you just buy a new camera?"



My evil plan finally worked. So, I just bought the Sony Cybershot DSC-W1 5.1 megapixel online for cheap (not refurb, but still a great price). I can't wait for it to show up. I'm gonna go crazy taking pictures. Weeha!!

Vice abandonment.

If you're a smoker and don't want to use tobacco products anymore but you're having trouble quitting, try visiting "Fair Enough!". It may help you become disgusted enough with the tobacco industry that you'll find new motivation to keep trying to quit.



Tobacco is scientifically proven to be one of the most addictive substances known to humanity, so quitting will most likely be one of the hardest things an addicted smoker will ever do.

For anyone who reads this and gets the all "high and mighty tingle", I do understand that it is your right to smoke and that the US economy relies heavily on this addictive substance. But, some people actually want to stop smoking, so please recognize that not everything is about you. Amen, thank you, and goodnight.

Oh, happy day!

Guess who finally received her Adriana Evans CD???!?!?! ME!!! YAY!!!!!



Copying it to iTunes now... Can't wait to hear it after all..this..time!!

Fraternal twins, different daddies

Growing up I had always been told that female cats could give birth to a litter of kittens with different fathers, but that it was not possible in people. Seems that's not true! I won't be testing this theory myself, but feel free to test it for yourself!

Person for the Ethical Treatment of People

I am horrified that human beings can be so cruel to one another. Why? What purpose does this serve? Do unto others, people... So unsettling.

Lost in translation?!

D*ana is claiming Katie and Tom are actually engaged!

Rome 27-04-2005 Tom Cruise with its new fiancee Katie Holmes,an American actress, is arrives in Rome this morning (6.00am) with a private airplane from the U.S.A., and has taken a suite in the Hassler Hotel, the same Hotel of the last vacation of love with Penelope Cruz before theirs split. Tom has made to find in the suite, an enormous bunch of red roses and a ring for its Katie. The brace is only exited for supper to the Piperno restaurant the same restaurant where it went with Penelope last time.

I agree with her that something MUST be lost in the translation from Italian to English... Or, maybe not. Seems a little rushy-rushy to me.

American Idol Season 4, Week 15: Results

Bye, Constantine. Good luck with your band's record contract.

What's up with Paula crying because he's voted off?? She seriously needs to check herself...


(Thanks, D*ana!)

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise?!?!

Did someone roll some Yahtzee dice and just come up with a Chance? Access Hollywood is claiming that Katie and Tom are the next Hollywood power couple. wtf?

Pinch those chubby cheeks!

Congrats to my friends M and J who welcomed their second baby, a girl, into the world yesterday afternoon.



Don't you just want to bite that cutie pie face?! So adorable!!!!!!!

American Idol Season 4, Week 15: Songs from 2000-2005

Mama. Please make the bad man stop.

We're voting for Vonzell and Anthony.

Best performer and performance: Vonzell singing I Turn to You.

A boy is going home this week, no doubt.

Things you don't know about me

I have visited three unrelated blogs today which have lists of things you didn't know about their author. Crazy! I prefer to be more anonymous, so I'll give you just a few things that are kind of brags, but I'm proud of them:

1. In college I took French, Spanish, German, and Chinese all in the same semester and got a 4.0 GPA for that semester.


2. I have also studied American Sign Language and Italian, and would love to study many more languages in my lifetime.


3. My Bachelor's degree is in French, with a minor in Asian Studies. (A far cry from my hope of achieving a BS in pre-veterinary science...)


4. In August, 2001 I tried to teach myself Arabic in hopes that the NSA would hire me for a job. They didn't hire me, and then 9/11 happened so I became too chicken to further my studies of Arabic. Also, it's REALLY HARD to learn if you don't have someone helping out. I only remember how to say "hello" and "if Allah wills it".

I actually post #1 on my resume, because I'm not an overachiever like everyone else so I don't have lists and lists of awards. In fact, the only awards I do possess are ones from grade school for mastering my multiplication tables, etc.

The newest twist of Idol

No, I don't mean the fact that Constantine already has a record contract. I mean that Corey Clark from season 2 is claiming he had an affair with Miss Paula. From The Daily Dish:

ABDUL ACCUSED OF SEDUCING 'IDOL' CONTESTANT
"American Idol" judge Paula Abdul has vigorously denied accusations she paid one of the hit TV show's contestants to have a secret affair with her.

Corey Clark, 24, is writing a book in which he claims the 42-year-old singer paid his expenses and promised to pay $2 million toward his pop career if he kept their romance secret.

Clark -- who was thrown off the show after TV bosses discovered he'd assaulted his teenage sister and resisted arrest -- also claims Abdul threatened to ruin his music career plans if he told anyone about their relationship.

He tells the Globe tabloid, "She warned me, 'Don't screw me over or you'll be sorry.'"

But Abdul's spokesman insists, "Paula Abdul disputes the allegations contained in Corey Clark's book proposal."

Scandalous!

Did anyone watch The Soup's segment about Constantine's mesmerizing eyes? That was hilarious, and I swooned the whole time. What's up with those eyes???

Farewell to an innovative transplant patient

Todd Krampitz, the man who asked for a liver donation via billboard, died. Sad. He did have a transplant, but 8 months later he died anyway. He's donating his corneas, so not for naught.

Adriana Evans - the saga continues

Remember when I said that I never received my Adriana Evans CD? I filed a claim just about two weeks ago and have just been notified that a replacement CD is being shipped to me! Yay! So, like a month after I ordered it I'm finally going to get the CD! I almost took up offers from mk and Tiger Lilly for "free" music, but if I were to divulge what I do for work it might be understood why I really shouldn't be accepting free music. :) (No, I don't work for RIAA. I promise.)

How about that...

I always thought being pregnant was a rather "girly" thing to do. My friend K, the most ungirly woman I know, who is in a committed relationship with her female partner S, announced today that she is preggers. I did not see that one coming. If anyone was going to get pregnant for the sake of family, I would have bet my last penny on S being the one to be pregnant. I'm really confused now. This is what I get for having preconceived notions of my friends... Oh, to quote Ms TL, I Am So Confused!!

blah blah blah

Do you ever have the problem of someone talking AT you, and they just won't stop, no breaks, and you just have to keep nodding like you're listening but what you're really thinking is "shut the fuck up, please"? I hate that.

Geek popular

Every now and again this memory resurfaces in my brain and I get pissed off as if it's happening for the first time all over again. I'm going to try to blog it out.

In my senior year of high school the most popular girl in school was having a little tête-à-tête with me in the yearbook room (yes, yearbook staff had a room to themselves, and unfortunately their significant others also did as well which is why big-nose Barbie was in the same room as I, a legitimate yearbook layout artiste). She just blurted out the statement, "it must be so nice not to be popular!" which presumably meant that I was the unpopular one. I was instantly offended. I was the queen of my geek realm! President of the computer club! A sysop on the really rad bulletin board our school hosted for our entire county and much of the state! Geeks threw themselves at my feet, wanting to date me, know me, take me to the prom. (I know these are not conventional "cool" things, but they were cool to me.) And, yet this little bitch had the audacity to claim I was not popular! *ranting* If I had to do it all over again, I really would bitch slap that bitch and sit on her until an hour after she cried uncle.

Later in life I saw said "popular" girl on a local television commercial singing a song way out of tune about the show X-Files (je ne sais pas pourquoi, don't ask), and then even later than that I saw her at my doctor's office with a really scary lady I can only presume was her crazy lesbian lover. Serves you right to end up with someone socially inept.

Hmm. I am not sure that worked to blog out the bad, but it's a start.

Happy birthday, girl!

Today is my oldest kitty's birthday. (Happy birthday, baby girl!) I can't wait to get home and give her treats and sing happy birthday to her. I'm sending her an e-card, too.

Stress reliever foods

In my office taped to the wall is a piece of paper with a list of stress reliever foods which I wrote down in my own handwriting. It's the only time I've patiently transcribed something from the web onto paper. Here's the list:

• asparagus - 7 spears
• beef - 1 cup
• milk - 1/2 cup
• cottage cheese - 1/2 cup
• fruit - 1 orange
• almonds - 1/3 cup
• blueberries - 2/3 cup
• tuna - 3.5 ounces
• corn flakes - 1 cup
• rice krispies -2 cups

Believe me when I say that it doesn't help just to post the list on your wall, you have to actually eat these items.

Don't use tragedy to spice up your shorts

I was just watching a film short on IFC. It was about a woman who was just floating through life with her husband in the city so they move to the country and she takes on a lover who is not faithful. Nothing good about this short, save the knowledge that her husband was always faithful to her. Then, the "punchline" of the short is that the woman's husband goes to the city for a symposium and dies in the WTC attack. ? I implore you, mediocre artists -- do not use extreme tragedy to rise your uncreative works from the bottom of the pile. It's uncouth. I am all for freedom of speech, but if your only way to garner emotion from your audience is to throw in a national tragedy you had NOTHING to do with, it's not yours to use. You need to work for our emotion. Otherwise, don't bother.

Blahs, woot, and pool

I'm still very dizzy and weak, but at least I'm not curled up in a little ball with a tissue shoved up one nostril and tears streaming down my face. What the heck is the springtime cold trying to accomplish? My husband has been nothing but fabulous to me during this week-long nastiness. Man, I chose wisely. Dunno how I did that after screwing up with all (but one of) the others.

On Tuesday a co-worker of mine said "woot" to me, with his arms raised in the air. I replied, "what is that, a New Jersey thing?" Why? Because the only other person I've ever "heard" use woot is Ms. Moxie. (She was just in a car accident, go visit her and say nice things to help her feel better, thanks!) And, she says she's from NJ. Or, am I making that up? Never know with this mind these days... Granted, my co-worker is not from NJ, but he grew up semi-close to there so ... yaah. No. Whatever he told me about his use of woot didn't stick in my head.

While out sick I watched the women's 2004 billiards US Open between Karen Corr and Ga-Young Kim. Spoiler: Ga-Young Kim kicked ass in rack 13. Oh, just brilliant. She won this title at age 21. When I was 21 I was in college and still in denial about not being able to realize my dream of becoming a veterinarian. This girl, she's already a pro. Some links to Ga-Young (aka "Little Devil Girl" - really!):

1. WPBA Tour bio


2. Ga-Young Kim Women's Professional Billiards site


3. A to Z Billiards tournament profile

This perhaps isn't a very fascinating topic, but I'm just curious if all people think similarly, or if I'm the weirdo. I love women's billiards, women's tennis, women's volleyball, women's gymnastics but try to get me to watch the men's versions and I'll take a strong pass. I love men's basketball, baseball, wrestling (the fake kind), and strong man contest but just don't care for the women's versions of these sports. Is it normal to like just the women's OR just the men's version of a sport?

American Idol Season 4, Week 14: Results

America, shame on you. Anwar out? Sigh. I guess only one person can win. Very glad that Vonzell is still around, I think she's the best, consistently, every week.

Off to sleep this cold away...

American Idol Season 4, Week 14: Disco

Oh, my. This girl loves her Disco. It wouldn't have mattered if I had watched last night, I would have voted for every single person. Now I don't feel so bad for taking a night off due to illness.

No Poppy AI

Poppy is sick. *achoo* so, instead of watching Idol and voting for our favorites, we are watching Meet the Fockers. And, yah, Ben Stiller says "Focker out" before falling over backward which is similar to watching Ryan Seacrest get a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and ending AI with "Seacrest out". That's funny. Anyway, I'll be watching Idol tomorrow before the vote-off. I am exercising my democratic right not to vote. But, the rest of you should be sure to vote. Please and thank you.

It's way too funny that Dustin Hoffman just said "hardcore shit"...but, I'm too sick to laugh anywhere but on the inside.

Good night!

My Japanese name!

I have a Chinese name, but I've never had a Japanese name before!

Your Japanese Name Is...

Hiroko Suzuki

What's your Japanese Name?

Just call me "Hiro".

Y'all

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

25% Yankee

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I started saying y'all because I met wonderful people from southern states who say it and thought it was cute enough to start saying. NO ONE in the northeast says y'all unless they made the conscious decision to do so or were born in the south and moved up north. So, that 10% Dixie is by choice. :)

Um. I need a warning next time.

I followed one of Jenna's links and ended up unintentionally watching a slideshow of a baby being born, full-on vaginal. I can handle Moxie's new site because at least she warns you, but I think it might be against the law to not warn people that a link brings you to a photo album of a vagina, a baby sticking out of it, and the afterbirth. Feeling a little green now, sorry. (That's what I get for only having cat kids.)

So, WARNING: seriously, here's a slideshow of a baby being born.

lion + tiger =

GeekDreams has posted a spoof of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger called Liger:


(click to view full size)

The real thing looks like this but a week ago (before Apple overhauled their site) the preview of Tiger looked exactly like the image above.

not a good sign

I try not to pay attention to the people who say that Kevin is just using Britney for money. But, every time I see ANOTHER picture of Kevin smoking around Britney while she's pregnant (thanks, Trent) I get really pissed at him. Dude, cut that shit out! Treat your lady like a goddess while she nurtures your semen, or suffer the wrath of a messed up kid!

shut UP part deux

Okay, remember that time when I got all excited (no no, not THAT time) because Kim linked me to Zach Braff's blogspace? Well, cityrag has just linked me to the one, the only, hotsexypapa Dave Navarro!



Oh, yummy. Carmen, you are the luckiest girl in the universe.

i heart parker

Apparently it's not healthy for me to try to go a whole weekend without blogging.

I love parker posey. I just do. She's button-bitchy cute. Yay. :)



She is so adorable, whether she's having a latte or a Blizzard or a falafel or her biological brother.

ignorant reflections

Yesterday I watched the first episode of Sheer Dallas, which takes the place of Town Haul (hi, Gen!) in my Dish DVR recordings. I have to get this out of the way, because I feel some pretty heightened guilt for this. When there were 4 minutes left in the recording my husband decided to wander over to the couch and proceed to mock the show's characters. I eventually stopped the recording and used my most bitter of tones and face to blurt out "shut the fuck up!" Yah, I said it. To my own husband. Some days I'm honestly not sure why he puts up with me. How rude is that? IT's really rude! If he ever did that to me I'd cry spousal abuse! So, yah, turnabout is fair play, and I'm a meanie. Sigh.

Back to Sheer Dallas. I don't know much about Dallas. I've never been there, have only flown to El Paso to be picked up by my friend from New Mexico who then took me to Phoenix. I don't know anybody from Texas except a friend from Chinese class who I haven't seen in 8 years. While in Washington state for a wedding I met a sweet old couple who happen to be the grandparents of my husband's best friend, but they're from Houston. They were really nice.

I religiously watched the show "Dallas" growing up. I hear it's smoggy there. Hmm. I love the fact that TLC tied Dallas and Sheer Dallas together with Mr. JR himself, Larry Hagman. His voice is so cute in his holder age... did he stop smoking?

So, how come I became so engrossed in the lives of Dee Simmons and daughter D'Andra Simmons-Manges, as well as Deanna DiPizio and her (oops, spoiler) fiance Jarrod Johnson? I really enjoyed this show, the lavish expense, the sickening luxury around every corner, the funny moment when Deanna reset every circuit breaker to get the hot water working (teehee) and brought down all the computers, the GORGEOUS hall, flowers, cake, and gown of D'Andra's wedding. (You know your mom was right about the veil, sweetie.)

This takes me back to the time I got sucked into the life of Kimberly Walker-Roop... Ahh, good times.

Always the last to know...

Raise your hand if you knew you could make church signs for free? *all of blogland raising hand except moi* Dammit, I told you I was the last to know. Was trying to log into blogger and instead got a redirect link, ended up at a site that recommended another site that led me to the church sign generator. So, to comment on my own existence, I present you with this lovely sign:



(And, of course by "DOG" I mean the one, the only: Dog Chapman. Yah, bra! Thanks, Dog, for the Dogism: "To be a winner you have to know what losing feels like." Amen, daddy!)

Please, make your own sign and pass it along to your loved ones.

The down side of up

I swear I must be manic-depressive. On Saturday I was so high on life, psyched about every little nuance, absorbing and enjoying all of my surroundings. Then, Sunday arrived. I crashed hard. I cried for no good reason. I almost killed my cat twice in a macabre dance of attempting to get up from the couch to answer the phone while she was underfoot (wrong place, wrong time), twisted my knee, "lost it", and everything just kept speeding downhill from there. Not even the musings of Richard Dawson could bring me back from the bad dark place.

I know I have given the advice to others that we have to ride the wave of life, the good and the bad (how would we know what good is if we didn't experience bad?), but, um...I want the good back, please. Thanks.

Humor on Fridays is always appreciated.

I love reading Jenna Is Annoyed because anyone who admits they're perpetually annoyed is cool in my book, and she's so witty about being annoyed. Today Jenna has a new look (as she often does) and a new list of people who are most likely to give her a coronary. So, thanks, again, Jenna, . , .

Brit's publicist slipped

Yesterday I posted a congrats message about Brit expecting a little girl. Apparently Leslie Sloan let a kitty out of the bag that wasn't supposed to go outside. Daily Dish reports:

IS IT A GIRL FOR SPEARS?
Britney Spears' publicist has accidentally revealed the sex of the singer's baby is a girl, after responding to reports of the pregnant star's alleged weekend hospitalization.

The pop star, 23, and husband Kevin Federline, 27, announced they were expecting their first child together on Spears' official Web site on Tuesday, but they did not reveal the gender.

When journalists phoned Spears' spokespeople to find out if the star was OK following an alleged health scare in Florida over the weekend, they inadvertently revealed the couple were expecting a girl.

Spears' publicist Leslie Sloan says, "She's OK. Mother and daughter are doing fine."

Le OOPS. I didn't catch that part in the first article that I read and posted. That explains why when I googled and visited my favorite celeblogs I couldn't find another story to confirm/deny this info...

life happens.

cityrag posted this neat link that shows the last 40 photos uploaded to LiveJournal. Reload the page over and over to continuously see more pics! It's really fun to try to guess what the uploader's purpose was for uploading the image. If you click on any individual image you end up at the image's LiveJournal blog. Fun!!

And, apparently, also yummy!

love will find a way?

I'm a big fan of trashy reality TV, but I'm not happy to see that it ends up causing so many fall-outs. Today I am particularly bothered that rumors have turned to "fact" now that CNN is announcing that Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are no longer pals. Here's my theory: no one likes to travel around to different places to do WORK with their best friend, confined to small quarters of a bus, with no time away from the cameras. The crew of the show is trying to make things spicy, so if there is any tension between the stars of a show the producer will make sure that this tension is captured and perhaps even heightened so that it makes for good television. But, now I'm just sad that Paris and Nicole aren't friends, after an entire LIFETIME of being best friends. TV is ruining people's relationships, and since I choose to watch the show, I am enabling the TV show crews to continue to ruin more relationships. So, I will make a resolution to watch less reality television in the hopes that this reality TV fad will be over with and no more friendships, marriages, or families will be torn apart.



I am confident that Paris and Nicole will mend their friendship, but only after they stop doing reality TV together.

BTW, loved Pumpkin and Peanut, the twin girl orangutans on The Simple Life this week. So adorable!

Pumpkin	Peanut

Update from Access Hollywood:

Paris Hilton says she wants to freshen "The Simple Life" by bringing in a new sidekick.

:( :( :( More details.

it's a girl!

My husband just IM'd me that Britney Spears is having a girl. Congrats, Brit! :)

American Idol Season 4, Week 13: Results

Bottom 3: Scott, Bo, and Nadia.

Out: Nadia. Dude, that's wrong.

She looks so beautiful tonight, and we just think she's going on to greatness.

American Idol ... ... ... ...

AI is screwing with us again. Tonight's results show is an hour long. Sooooo, results at 10ish Eastern.

See what you get for thieving?!

Today I was feeling stealthy in the waiting room, and casually stole one of the magazines while no one was looking. I pretended like nothing happened through my appointment and on the trip home, then greedily burst my bag open and pulled out the fruit of my crime labor. I searched feverishly through it for the article I so covetted during my 4/6 visit, only to find that I stole the wrong edition. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty psyched to have it, but in my cocky pinching debacle I didn't even bother to check if I stole the right thing. Sad. Oh well.

One thing I stole and succeeded at stealing was an ad for Pepsi One which had little perforated cut-out characters with the slogan ONEIFY. My favorite is Chewie. I'd post a picture of Chewie, but Flickr is having a massage (hardware failure). So, later I'll post him. So cute!

I want to thank B and R from my childhood, and of course my big brother for teaching me the finest art of pinching.

Update: Flickr's fixed! Yay! Chewie!



Update #2: Thanks to Flickr's raydawg88 for telling me that Chewie's artist is Geoff McFetridge.

baby animals are just way cute

Who can resist??

nataliedeedotcom

How many more ways will I need to come up with to say thank you to my girl Tiger Lilly for introducing me to new things? Yay! This time it's natalie dee: huffing it up, every weekday. This girl has mad talent, yo. (Hehe. Sorry, my mind took me to Randy Jackson for a second.)

I can totally relate to this drawing:



I once worked in a doctor's office where they would "forget" to give me breaks pretty much every day, so I never dared to drink water. I was getting really sick and dehydrated so I started drinking my 8 glasses of water a day, but didn't get any more pee breaks. Definitely not a good combo... I finally decided that I didn't appreciate being controlled so I left to return to my IT world. Oh well. So much for trying to help people who are in actual dire need rather than pretend dire need! ("Oh, wah, I broke my computer and it's your fault you horrible little computer person!" F-effity-eff-eff-fff-ef!)

American Idol Season 4, Week 13: "Songs from the year you were born"

In case that's unclear, each performer was allowed to pick any song that came out the year that s/he was born.

Here's a full playlist:

1. Nadia - When I Dream (1977)
2. Bo - Free Bird (1979)
3. Anwar - I'll Never Love This Way Again (1979) -- looked confusingly hot with his shirt unbuttoned
4. Anthony - Everytime You Go Away (1985) -- love the new hair style, great performance!
5. Vonzell - Let's Hear It For the Boys (1984) -- terrific!
6. Scott - She's Gone (1976) -- low notes were a little weak but otherwise a great performance
7. Carrie - Love Is A Battlefield (1983) - smokey eyes and sound JUST like Pat Benetar! HOT HOT HOT! Carrie is going all the way!
8. Constantine - Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) -- AWESOME, loved the thing you did with your tongue, you make me go into heat!!!!!!!!

Okay, back to composed mode. *smoothing skirt, hair, shirt*

We voted for: Anwar, Anthony, Vonzell, Carrie, and Constantine.

Adriana Evans?

Tiger Lilly introduced me to a new-to-me artist named Adriana Evans. I was so excited to receive her CD! I ordered Trina Broussard's Same Girl album at the same time on 3/27/05. Tick tick tick tick. Received Trina's album on April 5. Tick tick tick tick. Today is April 12 and I still haven't received Adriana's album. Granted, I "paid" for budget shipping which is free, but I figured I'd eventually get the CD! Filed a "lost" claim today. Not sure where my CD went to, but I know it didn't make it to my mailbox...

In case there are any Trina fans, I really enjoyed the Same Girl album. It's definitely worth your cash and time.

Pulling for Brit

Oh my, I really need to quit my day job. While I'm spending all day working page sixsixsix confirms that Britney Spears is, in fact, pregnant! Congrats, Brit! Of course there's a catch. The only reason we know for sure that she's pregnant is because she went to the hospital this weekend with pregnancy complications. We hope everything is okay and wish you well.


UPDATE: Dang, CNN! You must have been hitting the reload button on Brit's site over and over all day long! I visited her site at ~7pm Eastern looking for an update from Brit and didn't see one, but CNN informs me that now there is! Or, maybe I'm just an idiot and can't read? Whatever! Here's Brit's update...

change of heart

This morning I received a very detailed message from the wife of my soon-to-be-deployed buddy. Basically, he's being deployed no matter what. In fact, she believes he needs to be deployed so that he can have the successful experience behind him rather than (perhaps shameful) memories a fear-filled opt-out. Does that make sense? Some details about "the whole story" are confidential, but suffice it to say that I am now doing my best to support Rog in his impending deployment. I wrote him a note this morning reminding him that life doesn't hand us more than we can handle, that if he steps back and accepts his situation he will realize he has the skills to make it through this hard time, and that his co-workers (including me) will continue to support him in Iraq. Thanks, Christina, for your perspective. It closely matches what Rog's wife told me and helped me not freak out when I got her message this morning. :)

Squirrels behaving badly

Oh, Jenna, thank you! How did you know my two favorite things are squirrels and beer?



I've had an affinity for squirrels since the age of 8 when I released a squirrel from his sandpail prison and he promptly bit me on the flesh between my thumb and index finger. Luckily there were no instances of rabies in my state at that time, so no rabies shots in the gut for me.

And, my love of beer is of course an homage to my dad who always drank Miller lite for every meal after 11:00am while I was growing up. Awwwww, sweet, isn't it?

FEIST

Went to Apple's iTunes page and found a great artist from Canada named (Leslie) Feist. Check her out as the free single of the week. Hurry, a new freebie is posted tomorrow!



Unfortunately, I have spent my self-imposed music allowance for this month so I'll have to wait until we're rolling in dough to get the full album.

...where chaw chewin' clowns belong

Thanks to popbytes for reporting on the Apprentice's chaw chewin' Chris. Apparently he partied too hard at the casinos this weekend and ended up in the pokey. Teehee.

That boy needs an anger management class, the patch, and to be fired by The Donald.


"Want some chaw, little girl?"

Trading spaces sans Paige Page

I'm currently watching the first aired episode of Trading Spaces in its new hostless format. Every second that I watch I feel guilt and betrayal. I love Paige. I miss her. I feel I should be boycotting the show now that she is absent. I am mad at all the designers and carpenters for acting so happy in her absence. Bring Mindy Paige Davis Page back!

Butterfly effect

Is it true that if you believe you can make something happen then it will happen? This morning I spent a few hours carefully crafting letters to politicians requesting that my buddy be brought home from training rather than be mobilized to his tour of duty in Iraq. I haven't mailed the letters yet because the mail had already arrived before I finished my letters, and because I am asking his family's permission to send these letters in case they don't want me to for fear that he will suffer repercussions from my efforts.
But, I am so delusional that I am convinced my letters are going to bring him home. Could that possibly happen? Could my detailed letter showing his decline over the past month really convince someone in power to release him from his hell? There is a twinge in my brain that says, "why would they release this soldier and not every soldier? what makes him so special?" My answer to that side of my brain is so complex and deeply confidential, a secret between a soldier and his trusted friend, but a secret that he has allowed me to share with these politicians who can decide the next twist and turn in his life's path. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the stars align and I am the butterfly who stirs up the gale force wind that carries him home.

What happened to Britney's site?!

Um, why? Granted, the site has been getting weird since Brit and Kev got together, but this is just total outer limits! I swear I thought my browser got hijacked or that I'd gone to a fake Britney site by mistake. Obviously someone on the design team was worried about that, too, since every page states in block letters "THE OFFICIAL SITE".

American Idol Season 4, Week 12: Results

Bottom 3: Nikko, Vonzell, and Scott. Hmm.

Out: Nikko, again!

How to screw up your kid in 5 minutes or less

Oh, I just can't wait to have kids...

Abduction of an innocent waiting room magazine

It has happened to me twice in the past few weeks that I have been in waiting rooms and wanted to steal pages or even entire magazines from the waiting room. I couldn't bring myself to do it in either case, so instead I wrote down the web addresses for the magazines. In one instance it completely didn't pan out to visit the website because it was some junky site that a monkey could have made. But, today it seems to have worked in my favor. Giant, a magazine "for men", had a great 6 1/6 year reunion of the cast of Office Space and I actually found the article on their website! Yay! They even recreated the famous printer destruction scene, but this time used some clone that was probably sitting around in a closet somewhere.

Beauty is in the eye of the touch-up brush

Thanks to Tiger Lilly for helping to make us all feel beautiful just the way we are. After looking at five or six of these "hot" babes in their natural form, I feel positively drop dead gorgeous. :)

Honk if you support our troops

My buddy in the guards sent an email around to family and friends with a link to an article about our governor being slightly less than supportive to the troops that have been mobilized from our state. A healthy debate then began amongst the members of the group who served in past wars and those who served in this "war on terror". I was the dumb civilian who dared ask the question, "is it a waste of time to send letters to my politicians?" and received a mixed response. I've decided to send a letter to Washington, D.C. and then a different one, of the guilt vein, to our governor. Keeping my fingers crossed that one of them works to bring Rog's ass back home.



*honk*

Don't have to support the "war" in order to support the troops. Be kind to your fellow (wo)man. Okay? Thanks.

American Idol Season 4, Week 12: "Classic" musical show tunes

As you know, we don't particularly care for live TV because we don't like being forced to watch commercials or horrible bits of a show. Just as we were about to press the Play button on our DVR remote, the phone rang and some seriously bad news was delivered to us. So, our heart isn't in tonight's voting. This might be why we think everyone stunk tonight. Maybe.

We voted for: Anwar and Nadia.

Our favorite performer: Hmm. *crickets* Nadia?

My favorite performance: Anwar singing If Ever I Would Leave You from Camelot. Oh, that rascally Robert Goulet!

Oh good, this day is almost done.

If you hadn't noticed from my other scary posts today, Monday and I are not friends. We don't think the same, we don't have the same hobbies, sure as hell don't hang out with the same friends, don't speak the same language or listen to the same music, and we definitely don't have the same work ethic. I now officially turn my back on Monday and look forward to any other day of the week.



Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!

*pblt*

Oh, thank you Hedonistica for making my Mon-day.

Couldn't have come up with a more appropriate name if I tried

Vincent Pastore has officially adopted his Soprano's namesake of 'Big Pussy' by beating on his tiny waif of a (hopefully FORMER) fiancée, Lisa Regina.

What, you think you're such a big man you can smack your lady around whenever you feel like? You're not worth my time, Pussy boy. SPAM ON.

I'd credit my source for this one, but I don't think she'd appreciate being associated with my angry post. This is waaaay edited from what I was originally going to post, which included vulgarities not found in any slang dictionary.

->This bitch is Pussy pissed.<-

Update: Since our source is as pissed as we are, and since VP's site took down all links to Lisa, we're supporting Lisa by permalinking to cityrag.

Update 2: cityrag has linked to Gothamist which shows the New York Post picture of Vinny being arrested. Also established is that Lisa is smart and is no longer planning to marry VP. I hope justice prevails and Vinny is locked away, otherwise we might see some vigilante justice from outraged community members!

argh! and argh...

Just a small suggestion: If you're going to send someone a web page to edit, don't save it in MS Word HTML format!!! argh argh argh. I have spent all day trying to piece together a document that has a bibliography created in EndNote, or I would have just ripped all the text and started over. *grumble*

Update: Ahhh, thank you Nvu, I love you and your cute button nose, not to mention your ability to change a POS Word document into a beautiful, glorious, bibliography-preserved HTML page. *kisses*

Got to instant message with my buddy who is in training for his tour of duty in Iraq. He is miserable, is having physical and psychological manifestations of his unhappiness. I'm writing a letter to all my politicians. What use is he going to be in Iraq if he's a complete mess while still training in the states?! argh... And, here's what I love best: Even though he is emotionally unstable from the stress he is experiencing, the military still sees fit to hand over not one, but two different loaded guns! Yay!

Disco duck

Stumbled upon Adium X at APPLEGEEKS. Adium is a multi-protocol IM client for Mac OS X that uses libgaim. Neat! Anything that reminds the world of disco duck must be good! Even if he's wearing his lederhosen... Does anyone else remember there being a disco duck cartoon on television in the 80s? Or, is my imagination messing with me again?

Spring forward!

Hello, fellow blog junkies! Did you remember to set your clocks ahead one hour? Aren't you happy that I reminded you so you don't get fired Monday morning for showing up an hour late? (If you want to be fired, I'll look away while you try your hardest to forget that I reminded you...)



Obviously(?), if you live in a place where daylight savings time is not observed, please don't change your clock time. Thanks. :)

Orgasm in a box

I can watch TV on my laptop? NO FUCKING WAY. I'm p-syched. I love TV. Yay! I knew it was out there, but I just never bothered to look for it. I'm lazy.

Musical cravings

Did I ever mention I love 80s music? I'm a freak for it. It makes me feel complete. In college I tried to explain to my mom my overwhelmed feeling for music, how sometimes I actually crave it, but she looked at me funny like she thought I was high. That might have been okay, except I've never done an illegal drug in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, I'm an occasional lush, but never done anything stronger than Vodka and clove cigarettes. But, I digress.

Savol not booted for beating

Apparently AI believes in redemption? People do change, I guess, although Scott still has that look about him that says he's an angry man. Daily Dish reports:

NO OUSTER FOR 'IDOL'


"American Idol" finalist Scott Savol was once arrested after a confrontation with his son's mother -- but it won't cost the singer his shot at stardom.

Although several past contestants have been booted for not disclosing arrests, Savol was "forthcoming to the 'American Idol' producers and the network regarding his misdemeanor" and "the situation did not warrant his disqualification," Fox said in a statement Thursday.

Ohio police documents posted on The Smoking Gun Web site said Savol, now 28, had a confrontation with Michele Martin in February 2001. According to a Shaker Heights Police Department report, the couple had decided to separate, but when Savol arrived at Martin's mother's home to collect his belongings, he called Martin "several vulgar names,""pulled an engagement ring off her finger" and "stated he was also going to take their son."

When Martin threatened to call police, Savol shoved her, pulled the phone from her hand and then threw it at her, striking her in the chest and causing the phone to break, the police report said.

Savol was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge but pleaded to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He was fined $500, ordered to complete an anger management or domestic violence program, placed on a year's probation and sentenced to a suspended 20-day jail term, according to the Web site.
(Report by AP)

As a woman, I am conflicted. Should AI allow Scott to be an *idol* when part of himself as a human being is mired with a violent past? Aren't they sending the wrong message to men? "Oh, it's okay if you beat your baby's mama, that has nothing to do with your singing ability, and you were up front about it so thanks for your honesty." I think the least they should do is require him to go to anger management counselling, or something! Acknowledge the problem rather than sweeping it under the carpet, which sweeps the battered women and future battered women under that carpet too. ... hmph.

Pink no longer the new blog!!!!!!!!

From Trent at Pink is The New Blog:

It's Over

I got a certified letter in the mail this afternoon along with this email from Getty Images, Inc. I might have to pay upwards of $150,000 in resitution! I felt that I owed you all an explanation for why I have to quit doing this blog. Here is the email that I received:

Dear T. Miguel Vanegas, owner of PinkIsTheNewBlog.com:

It has come to our attention that you have made an unauthorized use of copyrighted photographs (the "Work") belonging to Getty Images, Inc. in the preparation of a work derived therefrom ('Pink is the new Blog'). My company has reserved all rights in these photographs, first published as far back as 2001, and have registered copyright therein. Your work entitled 'Pink is the new Blog' is essentially identical to the Work and clearly used our photographs as its basis. Entries dating as far back as July of 2004 have illegally used our copyrighted photographs.

As you neither asked for nor received permission to use our photographs for 'Pink is the new Blog' nor to make or distribute copies, including electronic copies, of same, we believe you have willfully infringed our rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and will be liable for statutory damages as high as $150,000 as set forth in Section 504(c)(2) therein.

We demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from our photographs, and all copies, including electronic copies, of same, that you deliver to us, if applicable, all unused, undistributed copies of same, or destroy such copies immediately and that you desist from this or any other infringement of our rights in the future. If we have not received an affirmative response from you by April 15, 2005 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, we shall take further action against you.

Very truly yours,

James McIntosh
Getty Images, Inc.

I totally suck. I thought that I could get away with using whatever pictures I found and now I know that I was wrong. I have to pay for all the pictures that I used and therefore don't really feel like blogging anymore. I hope you all understand. I doubt that I will start blogging again. I think I've learned a valuable lesson. I'm sorry, and I'll miss you all :(

trent

...!!>!>#$#!%!#

WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT HIM?!?!?>!>>!?!?!?!?!??!?!??!

(Just kidding, April fool's. :)

American Idol's Savol has sordid past

We all do, but I'm not sure what to think about this one:

"MARCH 31--An "American Idol" finalist was once arrested for felony domestic violence after roughing up his infant son's mother during a Valentine's Day fracas, The Smoking Gun has learned. According to police, 28-year-old Scott Savol, one of the remaining nine "Idol" contestants, was busted following a February 2001 confrontation with Michele Martin at the woman's Ohio home." More

I really like Scott's voice, but I'm not sure he can be an "idol" if he's an abuser...