Scram-ton

Allie says hi to everyone in her purriest voice.

Scramton is the word my brain came up with for Stamford, CT when I was trying to remember the town where Jim went. Hehe.

I'm out of blogland till Sunday night or Monday, so I leave you with this:

After two episodes what do you think of this season's writing on The Office?

I'm not happy with it yet, but that's because I'm focused on one story line.

I appreciate that they leave things to our imagination about Dwight and Angela.

Bye. :)

Report Card

Comes up with new ideas: A
Communicates ideas to others: B
Follows through with ideas: F

The magnets are all in my bag, waiting to be photographed. It's sad, really. They're crying to me... and I'm just leaving them there. In my defense: life is crazy busy right now. I have too much to do in a very small window of time and it's not even possible for me to finish it. Somehow I'll get it all done. Except the fridge post. Which will likely need to wait until next week. Sorry.

Magnet round-up postponed

I realized just how many of our magnets give away our exact location in the world, and even who we are. Sooooooooo, I'll be doing an entirely new photo shoot of my magnet collection. I'll at least give you the blurred out version of the refrigerator for now.



There are a few magnets missing from this photo, which are on the front of the refrigerator. Those will be showcased in the full write-up.

Refrigerator maybe-meme

I'm calling this a meme because B has convinced me it is one. This one time when I was browsing Stefanie Says I came across a photo of Stef's refrigerator, on which there were magnets:



I made this really clever comment of,

“I'd like to see a picture of your fridge magnets in full. You seem to have a very interesting collection. That should be the next "thing" to sweep the blogosphere: photos of fridge magnets!”

and then didn't visit Stef's site for several days (only because my life has been too hectic to keep up with the blogses, not because I don't adore the new template, the great photos, the wonderful content, or Stef herself). I guess you can draw the conclusion that I forgot about this until I visited again and saw Stef's über-planned-out post about her fridge magnets. Then I remember what I had started, what I didn't follow through with.

Last night I took the photos of my refrigerator, but then promptly set the camera batteries to charge. I left the camera next to the batteries so that I wouldn't forget about them. I of course forgot both the camera and its batteries today. But, I assure you, I shall be posting photos of my magnets along with any explanation there is to give about them. Some of them will be altered to protect the innocent (mainly myself and Hay).

I challenge you to do the same. If you were fishing for new posting ideas then you've found one! Post photos of the magnets on your fridge and a synopsis of the meaning of the magnets and/or where you got them and/or whatever else you have to say about them. I can't wait to tell you about my single-eared vache magnet. A bientôt, mes petis choux.

Sunday Monday garden party (miniature)

I haven't posted a garden party set in so long. I miss them. Here's a teeny tiny set:




Click on any image to be brought to the full set, which describes the photos a little better.

I'm just saying.

Maybe an IT discussion list isn't the appropriate place for posting information about getting healthy. Cuz we eat Twinkies and drink Coke. And stuff.

“*pssst* Do you sell K Y gel?”

Everyone will be happy to know that the ban of liquids and gels on commercial airline flights has been indefinitely altered:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is partially lifting its ban against carrying liquids and gels onto airliners, instituted after a plot to bomb jets flying into the United States was foiled, officials said Monday.

"We now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view," said Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, at a news conference at Reagan National Airport.

He said that most liquids and gels that air travelers purchase in secure areas of airports will now be allowed on planes. He called the new procedures a "common sense" approach that would maintain a high level of security at airports but ease conditions for passengers.

That means that after passengers go through airport security checkpoints, they can purchase liquids at airport stores and take them onto their planes. The new procedures go into effect on Tuesday, Hawley said.

The new security regimen is for an indefinite period and will take effect Tuesday morning, officials said.

Tougher airport screening procedures were put in place in August after British police broke up a terrorist plot to assemble and detonate bombs using liquid explosives on airliners crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Britain to the U.S.

At the time, the Homeland Security Department briefly raised the threat level to "red," the highest level, for flights bound to the United States from Britain. All other flights were at "orange" and will remain at orange, the second-highest level, for now.

New procedures also were announced for toiletries and products like lip gloss and hand lotion that passengers bring to the airport. Previously, those liquids have been confiscated at security checkpoints. Now, these products will be limited to 3-ounce sizes and must fit in a clear, 1-quart size plastic bag. The bags will be screened and returned if they are cleared.

"Obviously, there's been a lot of unhappiness," said Richard Marchi, senior adviser to the Airports Council International, an airport trade group. "They're right to find a way to ease the burden and maintain a reasonable level of security." (CNN)

Your thoughts on the matter?


Update: Maman informs me that you always could bring your lube onboard. Go, TSA!

Confessions of a one-track mind

Yes, I am obsessed with The Office US. Yes, I rewatched season 3's premiere episode over the weekend. Yes, I read the entire Give Me My Remote exclusive interview with Jenna and John. Yes, I added LolliLove to the top of my Netflix queue. And yes, I added Pam Beesley as a MySpace friend. Jam 4evah!

The Office season premiere

Sooooooo, thoughts? I think I've waited long enough for everyone to watch it, right? No? Okay, then ******* SPOILER ALERT ********

1. I hate Angela. I cannot tolerate her intolerance.
   
2. Things without Jim just aren't the same.
   
3. I'm sad about Jim and Pam (but *not* about Roy and Pam). Jim and Pam's status follows the UK version so it wasn't a surprise. ... More of a disappointment, really. The part about Roy does not follow the UK version, so I'm confused why Jim and Pam aren't together now. Jim can't be gone for long.
   
4. If I had fish or chicken to choose from every day I'd tell Roy to eat it all.
   
5. I think it's funny that Jim's new office had to do diversity training because of “what happened in the Scranton office”. :)
   
6. I don't appreciate that Brian doesn't find the office supplies in Jell-o funny. He seriously needs to lighten up. Actually, everyone at that branch does. And, really actually, they need to get out of our perfect Scranton story line. We don't care about anyone there but Jan.

And, in case you're coming at this from the bottom of the page, this serves as a ******* SPOILER ALERT ******** of the season premiere of The Office. Thank you and good night.

Wife swapping with pirattitude

Just recently I started watching reruns of Wife Swap and started getting into the show, so I set up my dish to record the two new episodes that aired on Monday night. Last night I was watching the second episode, when who else was on the screen but JOHN BAUR, THE GUY WHO INVENTED INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY! His family lives under the Pirattitude philosophy, embracing the chaos of life and not controlling behavior, speech, or attire to conform with today's society. I kept staring at him and quietly shrieking, he's a legend, like Santa Claus, you can't be mean to him!” How ironic (although, let's face it, TV means for everything to be intentional) that the episode aired on the day before ITLaP day. I didn't get to finish watching the episode last night, but I sure hope the Baur family didn't change anything about their lives after the swap! I can't wait until the newest pirate book is published, since there shall be a chapter entitled Why Pirates and Ninjas Should Be Friends But Can't Be, because I'd really like to know! :)

I was touched when Hay told me that he recited my favorite pirate joke at his work's lunch table yesterday, and that people laughed at it. So, I'll spread the wealth.

What's a pirate's favorite letter?
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Verbal scores

I'm not feeling like an effective communicator at this moment, so the bit about seekmo is going to need to remain vague. I've put things back to the way they were before. If you were involved in the seekmo testing, continue to communicate with me about your experience visiting my site. There should not be any ads when you visit my blog, ever, period, cuz dat aint wut Poppy iz @b0wt, yo.

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

SAAARSGAAAAAAAAAARD! :)

Hit me with your best Piratese.

P'nut, you are not insane.

Hay saw the s-e-e-k-m-o ad, too.

Everyone: If you see an advertisement over top of my blog I'd appreciate it if you'd say something. My Mac is not helpful in those matters. Now, back to redoing my template.

Update: I know stuff is still all whack and that the color is 990033, but that's what you get when Poppy is tired. It's kinda like when Mom was too tired to cook you a steak and mashed potatoes so she gave you spam in the can with a side of Saltines instead. The spice of life! Speaking of spice, let me at least throw you this photo I took of some yummy sugar cookies. It's my myspace icon, and a tasty dessert to go with your spam!

That green stuff can kill you.

It's probably a good idea if you don't eat bagged any fresh spinach right now until the E. coli outbreak has been contained.

Thankfully, I don't care for spinach in any form. Doesn't mean I won't buy a food product whose ingredients contain said spinach, but I'll take my chances on that part.

Highlights of my weekend

Hi, everyone!

I don't remember yesterday morning. I think I studied for my certification (I don't take my test until mid-October). Oh!!! I watched Friends with Money! Five stars for this chick flick...until the very end when everything is so conveniently sewn up into a pretty little package. Why do movie makers do that?!

In the afternoon Hay and I went to my dad's house. At dinner my dad mentioned that our next door neighbor told my dad that she has a plate in her head with a screw loose. She tried to get my dad to touch the loose screw but he wouldn't do it. She also showed him her tracheotomy scar, which we all assume was from when she hit her head and needed a metal plate inserted. ... It's all so confusing. When the heck did my next door neighbor hit her head so hard that she needed a metal plate? She did mention that she was in 4 car accidents recently, but she told my dad that someting fell onto her head, and things don't usually fall onto your head in a car accident. ... Resuming with other oddities: Hay talked with my dad about clocks while my stepmom cornered me into a room by pretending to show me something (I am so gullible) and forced me into an extremely uncomfortable conversation about having children. *eek*

I woke up before 8:00am today, jumped into the shower, and suddenly wondered if Britney and K-Fed named their children Sean Preson Federline and Sutton Pierce Federline, because their initials are SPF. I then started singing the “FDS woman, so very confident” song, except (as always) I sang it as “SPF woman”. And, I chuckled to myself because that's funny.

Then, I woke up Hay so that I could ask him to breakfast a little after 8:00am. Breakfast: Good coffee. Smelly person at the table behind us. I think it was concentrated liquid manure. Or ... rotting clemican flesh? I dunno. It was weird. I left a $2 tip on a $15 check, then after I paid my bill I came back to leave another $1, but the table was already cleared. I felt really bad, so I tracked down our server and let her know that I wasn't done leaving a tip yet and gave her another dollar. Hopefully she was the one who cleared the table or else she now thinks I only gave her $1. Hmm.

I finally got through book 5 of 7 for my certification in between [listening to my new Justin and Kelis, and new-to-me Manfred Mann (yup, Avi!) albums] and... [*sigh* ... causing my beautiful riding lawn mower to completely die when it ran out of oil which caused the engine to seize]. A moment of silence for my mower, please. She was a good girl for the 3 whole years I had her. Hay plans to call around for prices to repair her. We'll see. The most ironic part is that the mower died just as I was doing my final pass over a small patch of grass that wasn't mowed. The rest of the land was already mowed.

I made General Tso/Tao's tofu for dinner. I cheated on the veggies, only using fresh onion and green pepper then using Bird's eye Szechuan veggies to supplement. Oh. Man. GREAT combo. I stuffed myself silly with the tofu over Jasmati rice. Food coma! *snoz ....snort snort snoz snoz*

We're capping off the evening with old MythBusters episodes and House Detective. It's been a productive weekend. I hope yours was, too. :)

~P

Music exchange

This is not a meme. Repeat, not a meme. But, I do want your ideas for good albums and/or artists. They don't need to be new artists. Tell me who your top five (or however many you care to give) favorites are.

Right now mine are:
1. Death Cab for Cutie - I can't get enough of them. It's like their music is a snuggly fireside cuddle which makes me so content that I forget if I even had any problems or worries. I only have their Plans album, but have the rest of their albums on my Amazon wish list. Alternative

2. Justin Timberlake - *blush* I just, ... love him. :) I still don't have his new album, but expect it to be on my doorstep this evening. His first album Justified is a frequent flyer in my iTunes list. Pop/Electric Pop

3. Jack Johnson - Another cuddly experience, but with a lot of humor thrown in. I'm still waiting for my Banana Pancakes, Jack! I own In Between Dreams and can't get enough of it. Acoustic "Pop"

4. Kelis - I have to throw up her Bossy song because I love it! I ordered Kelis Was Here, which is the album containing Bossy, but it's in the box with Justin. Rap/Hip Hop

5. Lady Sovereign (SOV!) - Vertically Challenged will arrive next week, but I love her song Love Me or Hate Me even though a clean version of her lyrics plays over and over in the Verizon chocolate commercial. She's spunky, hard core, sailor-potty-mouthed, and raw. Punk punk punk/Rap/Hip Hop


Wow, it's hard to do only five. It's even harder to convey exactly why you should listen to them.

Unicorns and rainbows gone terribly wrong

I was hanging out over at .:[ packetstorm ]:. and found this random tip of the day:

Know The Law
It is still legal to kill one's servant in Mississippi.

Moral of the story: Make sure you're not a servant if you work in Mississippi.

I just cannot fathom the époque during which this was an okay law to make. It's sick. Sick, sick sick.

Meme-alicious

So, this friend of Avi's? She posted a meme. And.......well, it's not mandatory that I do it, but it looks like so much fun, so I really need to do it.

Word association meme:

1. Squirrel : bite
2. Cow’s Tongue : nasty
3. Frog’s Legs : French
4. Nutria Rat : huh?
5. Hog’s Head Cheese : (it sounded) gross(, but I just read the recipe, so:) yum!


So, now I want you to EITHER answer Jolie's above OR/(and) do my lame one below. :D Thanks. :) (Let me know which one you're doing, because I'm easily confused.)

1. Capitalism :
2. Socialism :
3. Patriotism :
4. Nationalism :
5. Prism :

Life without shuffle is hardly worth living.

I updated my Mac to iTunes 7 yesterday. Shuffle worked yesterday. Today it stopped working. I am not pleased. I am now forced to either listen to everything in my library in order or to do Party Shuffle (ewwwwww). Why can't things just work? Maybe I should just put Crooked Teeth on repeat.

Pee, drugs, and talk'n'roll*

I drank 20 oz of water in 10 minutes, now I'm drinking 20 oz of coffee. I wonder what's going to happen later... Hmmmm.

Congratulations to Jason Wahler, ex-boyfriend of Lauren/LC from The Hills and Laguna Beach for trying to bribe a police officer who caught him with cocaine! Very classy! I can't imagine why Lauren isn't still with you!

Today is a busy work day, but I really like it when you leave me comments so that I can banter back and forth with you. If you have anything to say to me, please leave me a message at the beep. (*beep!*)



*I was trying to be creative-funny. I'm not sure I pulled it off.

Choose your own adventure

Would you like the breaking news behind door number 1, or door number 2? Both stories broke within minutes of each other, but it's door number 2 that made it to the breaking news bar on CNN.

This society knows what's important, y'all!

Oh, and: Britney had another boy; Anna Nicole's son Daniel died under suspicious circumstances.

Shammy

In case you didn't already know, Lonelygirl15 isn't real:

The three creators declined to identify the name of the actress Tuesday. But amateur Internet sleuths discovered she is Jessica Rose, a 19-year-old actress from New Zealand who recently moved to Los Angeles."

Everyone was right, I was wrong. Typical. I'm not sure if I'll unsubscribe from her/their videos or not. Probably not.

Something big is on its way

CNN says Apple is about to offer movie downloads.

The iTunes music store page is currently blank when it's normally hopping with music, trailer, and TV show goodness (speculation: because it will now be rebranded to include movies!!).

Currently there are no software updates for iTunes, but ...

I can feel that big announcement coming any moment!


(I could be wrong. I don't mind.)

Update:

*happy clappy hands*




And a bazillion organizations are saying that this is happening. The Apple store is even down. So exciting!



Final update:

Sorry, I was in a meeting when Apple finally finished updating their sites, so this is old news, but TADA!

Dinner and a movie with reflection on the side

Last night I suggested that we have roast beef sandwiches with Jarlsberg cheese (with red onion and horseradish on mine; with tomato from our garden and mayo on his) for dinner.

Hay: “I don't know what made you think to have these for dinner, but it's a great idea!”
Poppy: *ponder* “I guess I just had a craving for them, so that's what I wanted!”
Hay: *stuffing face with sandwich* “numnumnumnumnum”

During dinner we watched Woody Allen's Match Point. I loved it, and distinctly remember thinking, “wow, this is the first Woody Allen movie I have ever loved...” Hay got bored during it and wandered over to the gaming computer. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is a lot like Joaquin Phoenix to me. Same lip region, same eyes, same ears, same jaw line, same chin(-ish), same longing stare into nowhere, same evil aura. If I didn't know better I'd say they were brothers, or even the same person.




Back to the movie: Lots of infidelity, lots of figuring out what to do about said infidelity. It's definitely the first movie I've seen with Scarlett Johansson where I hated her character. That was intentional on Woody's part. Oh, and I love tennis so thoroughly enjoyed the tennis scenes. (Random!)

Photo credits: Joaquin, Jonathan

I have removed yesterday's posts. I appreciate your comments, especially DLil's (she's my girl). I don't appreciate the darkness and despair I feel each year on the eleventh of September, and I certainly don't want to be reminded of it the day after.

Recognize!

Do you recognize this song?



Yah, you do! It's Lady Sovereing (SOV) doing Love Me or Hate Me, which is the song from the Verizon wireless chocolate commercial (see the commercial here). This chick is badassery bottled up! I sent her a message via her myspace page asking when this song will be available for purchase (on an album). If I get an answer I'm hoping it's filled with Cockney profanity goodness. :)

snake skin

My sister-in-law found this snake skin on the pebbles to the side of our porch.

I moved it around a bit to get good photos. Looks like the snake slithered further into the pebbles to get out of its skin, since I found the head end embedded into the pebbles.

Love triangle with extra cheeze, please.

K-Fed is back in my head. Damn you, Trent! How nice of Kevin to give Ellen some of his bling. I'm 100% confident he asked for it back the second they went to commercial.

Britney might have her baby today. Or in two weeks. Gotta love the gossip.

And, too bad that Brit broken Justin's heart, because he was ready to give her his name. I had a bit of a heartbroken moment myself when I read that post.

Cool off cool off, drop

Put your hands UP, it is B day and she truly is fierce in this song.

Thanks, Beyoncé, for getting K-fug outta my head.

Make. it. stop.

Kevin Federline music? Yah, it's stuck in my head. Particularly, “with a little bit of rock 'n roll [piano going dundundun dundun]”. *sigh* I must be receiving punishment for something in my past.

Favorite girl woman lady mom

Stacey Dash, age 40 (Clueless) robs the cradle of Marques Houston, age 25 (Sister, Sister) in this new video titled Favorite Girl:



She is biologically old enough to be his mom, although she definitely doesn't look her age. Marques, on the other hand, is growing a stache just to look legal.

Shitocratic

Hay and I saw a really bad accident this morning. We're waiting to find out if it's someone we know from Hay's work (formerly also my work), who hasn't shown up to work yet and we don't have her contact numbers. My nerves are, as they say, “shot to shit”.

Update: Yes, someone we know. Although, not the person we thought it was. How odd. She's at the hospital now. We'll see.

Update update: The doctors can't find anything wrong with her, other than bruises. They're going to do a chest x-ray then send her on her merry way. You shoulda seen the car. She's very lucky. Got plowed into by a truck. So. Yah.

Suri Cruise makes V even famous-er-er!

One of my favorite celebrity bloggers, Vera from I'm Not Obsessed, was featured on CBS News ShowBuzz for posting the first photos of Suri Cruise after they appeared on the news program this evening which also happened to be Katie Couric's first day! Congratulations, V! And Katie. And the other Katie. And Tom. ... .

Suri is the spitting image of Tom and Katie (Holmes, not Couric) put together, so I'm really doubting the alien / adoption stories.

I'm not posting a photo, but if you click on V's links above you'll get to see her.

I thought it would be fun to sign up for an * number so that you all could waste company time and resources sending me silly stuff, so here's my number: 1 .... 602 .. 916..... . . . 0885.

Dunno what you should send me, but: Enjoy! :) No nekkidness or dead/injured people, please. Oh, and if you send me something bad to do with animals I'll most likely report you to a national agency, so I don't recommend doing that. (I know, I know, I'm no fun...)

What I don't get is that the country was running out of area codes several years ago, but now we have , etc. and cell phones eating up the numbers, so I'm not sure how sustainable it is to keep handing out phone numbers like cookies and pie.



*For those one or two people who don't know about , you send me a document using your and I receive it as an attachment to my email account.

Breaking news (for real): Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has died!

I just woke up, and I think I'm gonna cry. Say it isn't so. :( :( :(

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Steve Irwin, the TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter," has died after being stung [pierced through the heart] by a stingray in a marine accident off Australia's north coast.

Media reports say Irwin was diving in waters off Port Douglas, north of Cairns, when the incident happened on Monday morning.

Irwin, 44 was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest, according to Cairns police sources. Irwin was filming an underwater documentary at the time.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality Monday morning off Port Douglas, according to Australian media.

Queensland Police Services also confirmed Irwin's death and said his family had been notified. Irwin was director of the Australian Zoo in Queensland.

He is survived by his American-born wife Terri and their two children, Bindi Sue, born 1998, and Robert (Bob), born December 2003.

Irwin became a popular figure on Australian and international television through Irwin's close handling of wildlife, most notably the capture and relocation of crocodiles.

Irwin's enthusiastic approach to nature conservation and the environment won him a global following. He was known for his exuberance and use of the catch phrase "Crikey!"

[Paragraph omitted because it's rude to include in a tribute story, fucking CNN!]

In a statement released to Australian media, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed his sorrow and said that he was fond of Irwin and was very appreciative of all the work he had done in promoting Australia overseas.

In 2003, Irwin spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Australian Story television program about how he was perceived in his home country.

"When I see what's happened all over the world, they're looking at me as this very popular, wildlife warrior Australian bloke," he said, the ABC reported.

"And yet back here in my own country, some people find me a little bit embarrassing. "You know, there's this... they kind of cringe, you know, 'cause I'm coming out with 'Crikey' and 'Look at this beauty.'" (CNN)

In Poppyland you are well respected. You will be sorely missed, my friend.

Que la freakando F?! Perez broke the story to me in a PS about Kelly Osbourne. How freakin' cruel is that? AND, Michael Douglas just got stung by a jellyfish and his kid peed on him to save his life, but a true global treasure has to die from a stingray?! Doubly cruel, world!

State (of af)fairs

Kyra Phillips

Just in case the person from Google Canada returns to find this, here's the video of CNN's Kyra Phillips doing the top 10 on Letterman. And, in case you are just passing by or a regular but don't know what the hell this is about, here's why Kyra was on Dave's show:



Shit happens. That's all I've got to say on the matter. :)

The oddest thing about the above search is that I had just been learning about this entire debacle earlier in the day when I was surfing through YouTube for stuff to watch. Coincidences evoke an emotion in me that cannot be explained by the English language.

Wishies

Have I ever mentioned that I love pigeons?

I am in love.

Hay, step aside for one moment:



That boy is FINE.

Okay, Hay - I'm back to you. :)

Pink fan*

I've actually been feverishly refreshing my blog and reading my Yahoo mail for comments on the post below this one. Somehow it makes me happy that I'm so guessable. I hope you'll continue guessing until all 10 are striked out. But, please don't just go to IMDb and start listing off all the characters for CB and SotD (PS - No, not the zombies, DLil!), or visiting the originating site for PfB, because that's cheating! Also, there is actually a tie for my favorite character for Beetlejuice, so anyone want to guess who that other character is?

Work has been really weird. I think it might have slowed down, but I'm not exactly sure. Please don't ask me to explain, as I'm not sure I understand it well enough to explain.

One of my favorite shows, The Biggest Loser, is back on Wednesday, 9/20 at 9pm on NBC. I love that show, it was so inspirational to me while I was losing weight last winter. Although, I'm sad that Jillian is not returning. :( She's my favorite.

Speaking of not returning, yesterday's news is that Carolyn from The Apprentice no longer works for The Donald, so now daughter Ivanka and son (um, Donald Jr?) will be his sidekicks on the show.

*The title has nothing to do with anything other than the pink fan my daddy gave me for my birthday a while back which sits proudly on my desk at work and cools me off when it's a billion degrees in the office.