Top Chef season 2: The finale

I know there's no chance that Marcel reads my blog, and I know that there's no chance he's winning tonight (based on comments by Gail Simmons and the magazine leak), but I'd just like to say: Marcel, I am rooting for you. You can do no wrong in my eyes, particularly after I saw all that everyone else did to you. And, seriously, you make the better food.

Okay, I've said what I needed to say. May the best man win. (Not Ilan.)

Update: I know who wins, but don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. :) Can't promise that someone won't give it away in the comment section, though. If you want to ruin it for yourself, click here. Also, here's Slashfood's review of the final episode.

Tastes like chicken bacon onions cheese brownies french fries!

Mickie D's has finally selected their trans-fat-free oil which has already been released to select markets. You may be eating a trans-fat-free fry right now! Lucky you!

“Huh, that's weird...”

I got tagged by Pat to write a list of six things that are weird about me. Here are my six things:

1. No matter how clean you tell me your bare feet are they are DIRTY. Keep them away from me, or I might throw up on them and then you'll definitely agree that they are DIRTY.

2. If a complete stranger annoys me in any way I will mumble (quietly, obviously) about them in their presence. I'll even call them names. Yesterday I called a woman the c word* in the bathroom for not waiting until I had completely left the stall before she charged me to get into it AND for coughing on me (without covering her fucking mouth) while she charged by. She didn't hear me. I later went back into that bathroom when it was empty and I said the c word quite loudly "at" her. Deserved, à mon avis.

3. I would rather talk to animals than people.

4. I am a moral sociopath. This means that I do consider morals when weighing my decision to keep people at a safe distance or to get what I want. For example: I will offer you the smaller piece of cake rather than eating both pieces myself; I won't take your phone calls but I'll email you a reply that makes it clear you shouldn't bother calling me.

5. I love Amy Sedaris and consider her a personal role model.

6. Whenever I am out in public alone I am constantly thinking through strategies for fending off attackers. I am secretly looking forward to the day when I am attacked just so that I can practice some of these strategies, because I am a moral sociopath so I can't just attack people unprovoked! Hay and I agree that we wouldn't want to meet me in a dark alley.


I'm tagging everyone and no one. Enjoy delving into your weird side. Let me know if you do this because I want to know all the weird things about you. (Yes, I'm talking to you.)

*Censored for P'nut, who doesn't care for that word.

Quickies

If I didn't feel green from all the vegetables I've eaten this week I'm certainly feeling green after eating 3.5 servings of Andy Capp's Hot Fries, so I will be in the bathroom while you read these stories and/or watch these videos:

• How to eulogize the dad no one likes?
  
• Cooking Under Pressure, That’s Reality - a Top Chef article
  
• HollywoodPressTV talks with Creed Bratton of The Office - click on CREED BRATTON PT.1 in the right pane;NSFW due to language
  
• Don't get in the way of the 'Idol' 'death star
  
• “Vista’s pretty, but it’s a shameless Mac OS X imitator” (they just can't leave that Mac vs. Windows war alone even though they're in bed together...)
  
• Where are they now? Interview with “Switcher Girl” Ellen Feiss

Me-OW

I never thought I'd say this, ever ever ever, but Harry is hot.

Image borrowed from Perez who borrowed it from ??? Minus, of course, the gd cum Perez always sticks all over everyone's faces. I'll find a better picture later. I found a photo directly from the EQUUS site.

Hero

B, I bet you get the same one!

Thanks to Molly. :)

A movie I am looking so forward to seeing that I might possibly not be able to stand it: The Last King of Scotland

Forest Whitaker stars in an Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning role as brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in this drama. During an African medical mission in the 1970s, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) impresses Amin by acting swiftly in a crisis. Installed as the dictator's personal physician soon thereafter, Garrigan enjoys the perks of his new position, until he begins to become aware of Amin's inhumanity -- and his own complicity. (Netflix)

I love Forest Whitaker. He has played some pretty interesting characters so far, including my all-time favorites of Jody in The Crying Game and Ghost Dog in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, but that is nothing compared to his portrayal of Idi Amin Dada.

All Star Alphabet - Z is for Zrevenge!

<30

On this exact day 30 years ago my very bestest friend in the whole wide world (the universe, even!) was born. Words I use to describe this friend: gorgeous, considerate, intelligent, witty, hilarious, serious, generous, kind, sweet, salty, ingenius, brave, loving, trustworthy, accepting, hot mama.

(Okay, so that last one was two words. Couldn't resist. ;)

Please go wish Ms. Bdogg Mcgee a very happy 30th birthday.

Je ne suis pas amusée

Blogger forced me to upgrade. I reset Safari to correct a problem, and when I logged back into Blogger it forced me to the migration page and wouldn't let me proceed without upgrading to new sk00l blogger. Curses. Everything seems to be here, I think. I guess I'll see tomorrow when I take a better look. Going to bed so I can post a very important announcement bright and early tomorrow.

Question: Can everyone who could leave me comments before still leave me comments? If not please view my profile to email me (remove the dashes).

Is that legal?

I know, I know, I won't shut up today. I apologize to everyone who's viewing me through Bloglines and my link keeps getting bold for you, but I'm bored and chatty today. Everyone else seems to be working hard, so I'm sitting here just waiting for something exciting to happen in life and every little thing seems more exciting than just sitting here staring at the wall. (Yes, I'm working. But, I'm a multi-tasker. Task task task. See?)

To the point: I thought merchants were not permitted to store the security code of credit cards. Why, then, is Apple making me enter one for the credit card I have on file for iTunes? I'm not purchasing anything, just updating my account information.

All the cool kids eat Sunday Dinner

Do you spend all day (or more time than other days) preparing a meal for Sunday dinner? We're hit and miss. Last night it was 8pm by the time we discussed dinner so I cooked and consumed pan-fried spicy noodles and a veggie egg roll (they were not take-out) while Hay had a peanut butter sammie. Other Sundays we'll crockpot a chicken or cook up other meat dishes that take a long time to prepare. Sometimes we just do pierogies. Basically, sometimes we think Sunday is like any other day and sometimes we think it's extra special. I think it depends if we've gone grocery shopping lately and if we've had a relatively eventful or uneventful weekend.

Speaking of veggie egg roll, my favorite dipping sauces for egg or spring rolls: duck sauce mixed with hot mustard if it's take-out, teriyaki sauce mixed with maple syrup if I make it myself. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

pretty boy

Congratulations to the cast of The Office for winning naked man statues at last night's SAG awards. I'm sure that winning Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series would have been just as good as winning Creative Use of Email While Filming a Television Show, as long as they all got one of those naked men to take home with them.

(Who is the naked man supposed to be? I googled, wiki'd, and SAGed, but I couldn't figure it out.) Thanks to supah smaht Avi who camps out on my site and waits for me to not know something so that he can tell me the answer. The award is called “The Actor”.

Perhaps next time Oracle could also offer a cash prize

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy came true when he won a free trip to outer space.

But the 31-year-old was crushed when he had to cancel his reservation because of Uncle Sam.

Emmett won his ticket to the stars in a 2005 sweepstakes by Oracle Corp., in which he answered a series of online questions on Java computer code.

He became an instant celebrity, giving media interviews and appearing on stage at Oracle's trade show.

For the self-described space buff who has attended space camp and watched shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center, it seemed like a chance to become an astronaut on a dime.

Then reality hit. After some number-crunching, Emmett realized he would have to report the $138,000 galactic joy ride as income and owe $25,000 in taxes.

Unwilling to sink into debt, the software consultant from the San Francisco Bay area gave up his seat.

"There was definitely a period of mourning. I was totally crestfallen," Emmett said. "Everything you had hoped for as a kid sort of evaporates in front of you." (continued)

An incomplete thought on the part of the team that offered this trip as a prize. I've been on a prize committee in my lifetime and understand it's hard to balance the cool factor with the tax factor. If Oracle offers this prize again they either need to offer a cash prize that, after taxes, equals the amount of taxes for the trip or they need to convince the government to make trips to space tax exempt.

Bucky boy

Have you ever seen a bunny wearing a barrette? Now you have! So adorable!

Perpetuating the stereotype...

...that there's an x in espresso* (oh yah, and that scantily clad women should be used to sell products to consumers):

Sex sells. Usually, it sells things like beer, various liquors and - of course - fatty fast food hamburger, but some Seattle area businesses are using it to sell something else entirely: coffee. Espresso joints with names like Natté Latté, Moka Girls Espresso, Cowgirls Espresso, The Sweet Spot and Bikini Espresso have decided to spice up their images with sexy outfits and flirtatious female baristas to try and attract business away from competitors.

At Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila, WA, for example, barista Candice Law (pictured) says that she and the other baristas dress to different themes for different days. "Everybody's excited to see you," she said, as evidenced by the look on this customer's face on seeing his coffee served by a girl in a corset and thigh-high boots. At other establishments, "hot-pink hot pants and tight white tank tops," lingerie and "fetish" outfits are just part of the dress code.

Dubbed "sexpresso," the combination of sexy outfits and coffee is a relatively new concept and seems to be gaining in popularity as commutes get longer and consumers are more likely to take factors other than simple convenience into account when looking for coffee in the morning. As one (satisfied) customer said "If I'm going to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, I'm not going to get served by a guy." The employees - just about all women - seem to like it, too, citing the friendly customers and huge tips as great incentives. (Slashfood)

I've become a lot more prudish in my older age and am quite confident that if I saw a lingerie-clad barista at the drive-thru I'd leave without completing my transaction. Of buying coffee. Pervs.


*I do know that's not a stereotype, but sometimes the joke is more important than accuracy.

A few of my favorite things

I enjoy the classics.

Arcade

Donkey Kong – I enjoy getting hit by barrels and having to reclimb tons of stairs when I get knocked off. Also, who doesn’t like watching a princess be rescued?

Pole Position – I like to drive. Fast. Super fast. Around corners. Wheeeee!

Space Ace – I more prefer to watch others play this game. When I was a kid it was a common weekend occurrence for an entire arcade full of kids and 20-somethings to watch the best player in town finish the entire game in record time. Also, who doesn’t like watching a princess be rescued?

Galaga – Shooting things in space, watching ships spin in circles, getting an extra ship after being absorbed by the waspy thing. Yup. I’m easy to please.

Game console

Space Invaders – It makes me squeal to watch things advancing at me while I’m trying to shoot them.

Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon – I enjoy kicking things with my claw while I screech in bird noises. :)

Super Mario Brothers – Giant mushrooms and coins falling out of the sky. A more perfect world does not exist. (Let us ignore the fact that I hate the taste and smell of mushrooms. I still think they’re beautiful.)

Computer

Below the Root – There’s something comforting to me about being underground. Aside from the chlostrophobia it induces. I also enjoy picking up objects and putting them back down, which is something you can do a lot of in this game. (I’m a klepto who returns things.)

Duke Nukem – My favorite is shooting the turkey to make it fatter then grabbing it. Oh, and shooting the soda cans then jumping up to catch them. Okay, okay, my real favorite thing is shooting through the transformer gizmo thingamajigs. (I also enjoy Commander Keen, but it's exactly like DN. My favorite thing to do is jump the clamshells and kill the wolf.)

Impossible Mission – Stay a while. Stay FOREVER! MUAHAHAHA! *bzzt!*

Gecko, are you amused by the fact that I used Wikipedia links exclusively? :) I knew you would be.

Okay, now, really, what are everyone's own favorites?

Poppy is pooped.

Breakfast? Check.
Car test drive? Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.
Friend's birthday party? Check.
Skee ball? Check.
TIRED? CHECK.

I will post about my favorite video games tomorrow when I've had a good night's sleep.

[insert clever title]

We're off to eat a hearty breakfast so that we can test drive cars all day then attend a friend's 35th birthday celebration playing ... um, laser tag. I will not be playing that, I will instead hide out in the arcade playing skee ball.

Have I ever mentioned I love arcades? I could play skee ball for hours, and actually have! I even played it in a huge oceanside arcade on my honeymoon.

My favorite video game is another matter. I can't choose just one. More on that later.

What's your favorite arcade game, video or otherwise?

It's a free country

Do you live in India, Pakistan, China, or Iran? Then you must have arrived via inblogs.net* which permits access to the content of blogspot addresses. Through the magic of tubes and wires...

poppycede.blogspot.com

becomes...

inblogs.net/poppycede

Thanks to the person who visited my blog via this method! :)

*If inblogs.net doesn't work for you then perhaps pkblogs.com will instead.

A smidge of democracy

Vote for your favorite blogs via the 7th annual weblog awards. I hardly know any of those blogs, but I did vote for the ones I know and love. No, I was not nominated. Can you believe that? (Yah, so can I. ;)

So not.

I work in IT. I am female. I don't enjoy listening to anyone, but particularly men, call anything about technology “sexy” in the workplace. If you wanna go to the pub and discuss how sexy [insert product here] is that's fine because then I can either agree with you or call you out on it. But, I'm never ever going to agree with you that anything at all is sexy while we're standing on any property owned or operated by our employer, and definitely not anything IT related. Please stop using that word. It's not sexy to call technology sexy. It is, in fact, unsexy.

Proud parent

Not to brag or anything, but Georgie is getting super good with her typing skills.

Expiration notice

Today is Avi's 30th old man birthday. Go visit him and show him some birthday spirit!

Candy shop

So, yesterday Avi posted his “free pass list” which entitles him to have sex with 5 celebrities of his choosing without consequence from his wife. I informed him that Hay and I didn't have a list, which Avi didn't seem to fully believe since Hay and I have been together for [forever + 1]. I then thought super hard and finally came up with one whole celebrity I might possibly add to my free pass list. I present Dr. Luka Kovac, total hottie:


...and then I visited GMMR today to read about the reruns of The Office that will be airing tonight and I found myself in a little bit of a pickle. Because I realized I love Roy.


There. I said it. Roy. Me-OW. Kitty calling commences. Nummy nummy. :)

Really, though, those are the only two I can think of. Do you have a list? Who's on this list?


Photo credits: Goran, David

Keyword search: top chef ruined endings 2007

*** NOT A SPOILER, UNLESS YOU MAKE IT ONE YOURSELF ***

How ironic since, for the first time in two seasons, I started my 11:15pm recording of Top Chef only to unintentionally catch the ending of its 10:00pm run which instantly showed the chefs who were eliminated in Hawaii. My jaw dropped. Dropped. Not only was I traumatized by the ruined ending, but I was traumatized by who was cut. Que la freakando f, man?! And stupid Gail Simmons gave a spoiler away about who doesn't win when she was doing an interview with Cliff via Andy Cohen's blog. So now I know who wins. THANKS, GAIL. THANKS, DISHTVDVRSTUPIDITY.

*** NOT A SPOILER, UNLESS YOU MAKE IT ONE YOURSELF ***

In case you really do want to spoil the episode for yourself, visit Slashfood.

almost lucky

                    Our Powerball numbers: 08 19 28 45 52 Powerball: 16
The $240 million winning numbers: 09 19 29 42 53 Powerball: 17

I think we deserve a million or two for being so close yet so very far off.

Otherwise known as Fruit* Froot Loops

Mr. Breakfast reviews Fruity Cheerios. I doubt I'll be trying these. Anyone else?

*Thank you for the correction, Avi.

Who knew?!

I had no idea there was a site called Wikiquote!! I'm probably the last person to know. At least I'm not the last person to know about Google. Although, I might be the last person to know about Goggle (that link does not go to Goggle), which is a BAD SITE so don't go there.


ANYway, Wikiquote has (dur, quotes) in the following categories: Films | Literary works | Occupations | Proverbs | Television shows | Themes | Electronic games | Mnemonics


Neat!

Stress reliever foods

Brought to you by Ladies' Home Journal:

• asaparagus, 7 pieces
  
• beef, 1 cup
  
• milk, 1⁄2 cup
  
• cottage cheese, 1⁄2 cup
  
• oranges, 1 serving
  
• almonds, 1⁄3 cup
  
• blueberries, 2⁄3 cup
  
• tuna, 3.5 oz
  
• dried cereals (specifically corn flakes and rice krispies), 2 cups

This post is dedicated to Avi, who really likes beef but not much of that other stuff...

Ordinarily

Things that make this day slightly out of the ordinary:

When I looked out the window of the bathroom with Ripley I saw one single snowflake. When I got out of the shower and looked out the window with Ripley there was a proverbial blizzard. When I came downstairs I heard this horrible buzzing noise. Turns out my pager was going off (on vibrate mode) and the cats got annoyed with it so knocked my purse over to get it out of the purse. When we were driving around the bend right before the railroad tracks the crazy dog who chases cars was staring us down. Today must have been (not?) our day because he chose not to run in front of our car or chase it. When I was walking past a tree between where Hay drops me off and my office building a squirrel lost his shit and started angry-chittering at me. I stopped walking and looked up in anticipation of a potential attack. When nothing more than his chittering happened I said, “cool down, little guy, I'll move!” then stepped two feet to the right and walked away while he continued to chitter at me. When I got to my office the heat was not on. It is still not on. My feet are freezing, my hands are cold, and my brain is murky.

That's what I've got. What has happened to you today to make it not ordinary?

Il faut quitter

Near-miss for ABC News anchor [and a bunch of soldiers] in Iraq

NEW YORK - ABC news anchor Chris Cuomo was unhurt Tuesday after the convoy of military police he was riding with in Iraq was struck by a roadside bomb.

Some of the soldiers suffered minor injuries in the attack, ABC said. The convoy of four heavily armored Humvees was going to check a report of a burning vehicle in northwest Baghdad when booby-trapped bodies left by the side of the road exploded.

The vehicles returned to safety following a small arms battle, and Cuomo reported on the attack on "Good Morning America," where he is the news anchor. (continued)

Gross, nasty, disrespectful. Who does that?! NOT people fighting for their deity. People without souls. I'm all done with this. It's time to leave.

Classics

Centipede, Frogger, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, GAME OVER:



I think the candy corn tail on the Asteroids ship is the most creative. I hate candy corn but I can appreciate an excellent concept.

Doggie beer

I read the headline and thought this would be about the weather. I was wrong.

A cold one for man's best friend

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- After a long day hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer.

So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.

"Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the veranda and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it," she said.

Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised as "a beer for your best friend."

"Kwispel" is the Dutch word for wagging a tail.

The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at $2.14 (or 1.65 euro) a bottle, it's about four times more expensive than a Heineken. (CNN)

Looking forward to SNL?!

Next week: Host is Drew Barrymore, musical guest is Lily Allen. I am sooooooooo looking forward to that. :) :) :)

My vote for the next Idol

Gladys makes Ellen ROFL

This whole segment is hilarious, but at 3 minutes, 55 seconds Gladys says something so surprising that Ellen just loses it. Then, a little bit later (5 minutes, 55 seconds) she loses it again. I love this lady. :)

big'y lil'y

Someone gave me this Easter lily hybrid at the start of December, at which time its stalk was barely poking through the soil. The stalk is now three feet tall and the flower has bloomed more than two months early. Oh well. Enjoy a few more photos of it at flickr.

Label maker

My Bloginality is ISFP!!!


... which is actually almost accurate. On the extended test given to me by my employer I'm a borderline INFP/ISFP, with a slight nod to the INFP.

This explains why I zone out before I get down to business. I think. ... ... ... Oops, sorry, I was daydreaming.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Daydreaming seems to be the default setting of the human mind and certain brain regions are devoted to it, U.S. researchers reported Friday.

When people are given a specific task to do, they focus on that task but then other brain regions get busy during down time, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

"There is this network of regions that always seems to be active when you don't give people something to do," psychologist Malia Mason of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital said in a telephone interview.

When Mason asked people what was happening during this down time, the answer was clear.

"It's daydreaming," she said. "But I find that the vast majority of time, people aren't having fanciful thoughts. People are thinking about what they have to do later today."

[...]

"In the absence of a task that requires deliberative processing, the mind generally tends to wander, flitting from one thought to the next with fluidity and ease," the researchers wrote. (even more article goodness)

When I have something I absolutely need to get done I personally have an easier time focusing on said task if I give my brain a little wandering time first.

I think that was at least the longest title I've ever used.

Looks like Avi wins the bet

According to Daily Dish, the song I posted earlier in the week is not by Britney Spears. I bet a dollar that it was her and Avi took the bet. I shall now be mailing a George Washington to him, just in time for his old man 30th birthday! He's such a lucky guy!

In case you care

Lonelygirl15 has jumped the shark. Not only did she have sex with* kiss Daniel after her dad died, but now Katharine McPhemmebot is co-starring on today's webisode:



Barf. Oh, and Daniel's pissed (as in drunk, not as in mad, cuz Daniel's always mad).


*Daniel said they hooked up. In my book, at my age, hooked up means SEX. Not kissing. But, just kissing makes a lot more sense. I stopped watching LG15 a bit ago because it became very dull to me. I even unsubscribed! But, I read on one of my freuquent blogs about the Idol link and had to check it out.

Producers cut it better

Watch the producer's cut of last night's totally freakin' awesome episode of The Office at NBC. Thanks to Molly for reminding me there was one to watch! Woohoo!

omgomgomgomgomgOMG

Soooooooooooo CUTE! I realize this is not CheezyCatz. I don't care. Thomas deserves to be recognized! Such a little kitty-pimp... *pinching cheeks*

(I think I just overdosed on Cute. Help.)

(I'm fine, really.)

New arrival: Employee of the Month ...and cheffery

Yup, really, The Illusionist never arrived. We have now received a third movie in the time it has taken for The Illusionist to (never) arrive.

Okay, and I am literally watching Top Chef right now and absolutely sick to my stomach that Cliff is holding Marcel down to try to get someone else to shave his hair off. I know what the intention is, but ... if I had just been woken up and there was suddenly anyone pinning me down on the ground I would think I was about to be assaulted (physically, sexually, both). Ugh. I can guess the ending on this. Bybye, Cliff. Good riddance!

What's on your ballot?

If you had the choice (which you almost do) of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards for your 2008 Dem candidate who would you want to see printed on your ballot? My vote: I'm torn.

If you had the choice (which you almost do) of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and George Pataki for your 2008 R candidate who would you want to see printed on your ballot? My vote: Rudy.

101 impressions in under 4 minutes

View more of Brock's work at YouTube. I quite enjoy the celebrity Christmas hits as announced by "Don Pardo". Christopher Walken is my favorite. :)

Thanks to city.

New music by Britney Spears ~ Fed-Up

That's her, yes? Sounds just like her to me. Found at PopSugar who isn't 100% certain it's Britney, but I'd bet a dollar it is. Sounds like a hit to me. (And by hit I mean I think the young'uns will pick it for their #1 top 40 song. I'm not saying I personally love the song.)

Update: Not her, according to Daily Dish. I'm making good on my bet with the first and only person who took me up on it. :)

Uninspiring

AI may have run its course. We'll see with the top 12, but right now it's not looking too promising. Even the DJs on our local radio station said the judges must have picked a few of the contestants because they had to choose somebody. Seventeen people from 10,000 auditions were chosen in Minneapolis. Seattle doesn't look like it's going to be any better.

I'll still watch the show, cuz what do I have better going on in the evening?, but I doubt I'll enjoy it. I think the talented have other ways of getting famous now. Maybe they should just have YouTube Idol and let the world decide who even rates well enough to be a contestant.

Meh. Over it.

America Ferrera wins Golden Globe best performance by an actress in a TV series award for Ugly Betty

I wish she had been my role model growing up. I hope she is my kids' role model while they grow up.



Here's a link to her press interview after winning the award.

How the Netflix throttling story ends

Following up Saturday's story, we've been permanently throttled. We are now receiving our movies from a distribution center that will never get us movies by the next day rather than the distribution center that is “down the street” from us. It may be time to move to Blockbuster. And, just so ya know, this doesn't appease us:

LOS GATOS, California (AP) -- Netflix Inc. will start showing movies and TV episodes over the Internet this week, providing its subscribers with more instant gratification as the DVD-by-mail service prepares for a looming technology shift threatening its survival.

The Los Gatos-based company plans to unveil the new "Watch Now" feature Tuesday, but only a small number of its more than 6 million subscribers will get immediate access to the service, which is being offered at no additional charge.

Netflix expects to introduce the instant viewing system to about 250,000 more subscribers each week through June to ensure its computers can cope with the increased demand.

After accepting a computer applet that takes less than a minute to install, subscribers will be able to watch anywhere from six hours to 48 hours of material per month on an Internet streaming service that is supposed to prevent piracy.

The allotted viewing time will be tied to how much customers already pay for their DVD rentals. Under Netflix's most popular $17.99 monthly package, subscribers will receive 18 hours of Internet viewing time. (continued)

We like to watch our movies on the big screen, and I'm not hooking my laptop up to the big screen every time we wanna watch a movie. Oh wait, I can't because this only works on “Window's OS”:


We were supposed to receive The Illusionist on Thursday. It's now Tuesday. We still didn't receive it yet. This is supposed to be the replacement movie for Miami Vice, which we shipped back on January 3. We have since now sent back and received two other movies in the time it has taken for Netflix to receive Miami Vice, for us to report it missing, for them to send The Illusionist, and for us to report that film missing. I'm pissed off. If someone offered to send me a good present for switching to Blockbuster I'd probably do it. Anyone wanna offer me a good present?

And, this just in: Hay's parents, who live a few hours away from us, received four movies from Netflix last week. Effing a, b, c, and d.

Update: Thanks to Avi who recommended PlanetFeedback.com for filing a complaint with Netflix about this issue. We have decided to hold off sending the complaint via this site until the end of the week when we've had more of a chance to cool off. Netflix is now shipping Employee of the Month to replace The Illusionist. Since I am totally into watching stuff about store life right now this is a better movie choice for me anyway. (That sounds vague and weird, so I'll explain that 10 Items or Less and Illeana Douglas's celebrity grocery store webisodes are encouraging me to quit my job and work for a grocery store.)

Hmm...

MK has posted Ordinary Love by Paris Bennett. Does anyone else think it isn't well mixed? Too much background noise and her voice sounds live while the background vocalists (which might actually be her as well) sound recorded. Not meshing quite right. I love my girl Paris, but this needs to be remastered. Or, something... I'll still buy Princess P when it comes out, though. :)

Update: Wow, what a difference a mastered version makes. MunaiM_NET points out that the album release version of Ordinary Love is on Paris's myspace page. MUCH better!!!

Vista surgery

I've been waiting for this to appear on YouTube...

Enjoy the silence

American Idol season 6 starts tonight! Hay and I love to watch the auditions with protective headgear. We can't take the painful screeching unless we have a helmet on our heads.

Crying consumer column

Why is it that when I have time off I end up buying things? Today's purchases, none of which are new, but all of which are dear to me:

1. The soundtrack to Until the End of the World. The saddest soundtrack to one of the saddest movies of all time. If you need a cry this is the soundtrack for you. The playlist:

1. Opening Titles - David Darling
   
2. Sax And Violins - Talking Heads
   
3. Summer Kisses, Winter Tears - Julee Cruise
   
4. Move With Me (Dub) - Neneh Cherry
   
5. The Adversary - Crime & The City Solution
   
6. What's Good - Lou Reed
   
7. Last Night Sleep - CAN
   
8. Fretless - R.E.M.
   
9. Days - Elvis Costello
   
10. Claire's Theme - David Darling
    
11. (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
    
12. It Takes Time - Patti Smith & Fred Smith
    
13. Death's Door - Depeche Mode
    
14. Love Theme - David Darling
    
15. Calling All Angels - Jane Siberry with k.d. lang
    
16. Humans From Earth - T-Bone Burnett
    
17. Sleeping In The Devil's Bed - Daniel Lanois
    
18. Until The End Of The World - U2
    
19. Finale - David Darling

My favorites are 2, 3, 4, 11, 13, 15, and 18. The movie is one of the best William Hurt films of his career, à mon avis. He's been in a lot of amazing films, so please consider adding this to your WH belt. I've only ever seen it on VHS, so you might have trouble finding it in the states.

2. Underwater People by The Samples. An old boyfriend introduced me to The Samples. This album in particular is my favorite. The songs Feel Us Shaking and Giants (Without Hearts) both make me cry.

1. Underwater People (live)
2. My Town (Meltdown)
3. Braidwood (acoustic)
4. Giants (live)
5. After the Rain (live)
6. Moonlit Treese
7. Overthrow (live)
8. Feel Us Shaking (acoustic)

3. And, finally, something that makes me laugh so hard I cry, the first season of The Office (US). Although the first season only contains six episodes it's still worth owning. I challenge anyone to intelligently (without attacking me, because that's not intelligent) defy the goodness of this show without comparing it to the UK version.

To Russia with love

Molly of MollyGood has left her own blog to join the PopSugar team. How odd. MollyGood continues on with its new editor, Cord. I think in a few days it won't phase me, but it really confuses me when a single blogger turns their blog over to someone else to continue on. Since I don't blog for money I guess I'll never understand.

Cord's first few posts seem okay, but I might be removing MollyGood from the celeblogroll and filing it to the M section. Dunno yet.

Update: Okay, Cord wins. His SNL weekend update-style take on Isaiah Washington's asshattery is hilarious. I shall continue reading MollyGood. But, it should really be renamed. To Cordurolly. Or, something else silly.

Camper rescued 5 weeks into her disappearance

A very lucky ending:

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- A faint sound made Albert and Peter Kottke stop and look around as they hiked out of the Gila Wilderness at the end of backpacking trip.

A figure moved on the other side of the Gila River.

As it drew closer, the two university students saw a woman, hunched over and moving slowly.

The Kottkes crossed the river to find Carolyn Dorn, 52, who had been alone in the Gila National Forest for five weeks after becoming trapped on the wrong side of the rain- and snow-swollen river. The search for her had been called off two weeks ago.

The brothers said they realized Dorn was too weak to go with them. They gave her food -- Tang, almonds, dried apples, an energy bar, some hot soup and a little cheese -- scavenged firewood for her from the other side of the river, filled her water bottles and left her a book -- suspense author Michael Connelly's "Chasing the Dime."

They hiked 20 miles over the next day and a half, and on Saturday hitchhiked into Silver City, where they contacted authorities.

"We got her prepared to spend another couple of nights while we went upstream to get help," Albert Kottke, 25, a doctoral student in civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, said from his parents' home in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A New Mexico National Guard helicopter crew, using night vision goggles and a U.S. Geological Survey map the Kottke brothers marked, rescued the weak and dehydrated South Carolina woman before dawn Sunday and flew her to Silver City.

"It is a miracle she came out alive," said search and rescue coordinator Frankie Benoist.

Dorn was about six miles from the nearest road in an area where the brothers, who have hiked in the region several times over the past two years, had never seen another human being, said Peter Kottke, whose 20th birthday was Sunday.

When they left, she was "very alert, talkative," said Peter Kottke, a junior geological engineering major at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "She seemed very relieved that somebody had finally found her."

Dorn told the brothers she was warm enough at night, but her eyes lit up when they offered her the book, he said. He felt comfortable leaving her after that because "you could tell she had a positive outlook," he said.

Temperatures in the area have dropped into the low teens overnight in recent weeks, according to the National Weather Service.

Dorn was hospitalized Sunday in Silver City, Benoist said. A nursing supervisor at Gila Regional Medical Center said she could not confirm information about patients.

"I'm just happy we were able to find her in time and had the luck to change our plans at the last minute to take the longer route," said Peter Kottke.

Dorn, who left for a two-week camping trip December 6, had a tent, a sleeping bag and enough food and water for two weeks. After that, she drank from the river, kept warm by building fires and "used very little energy," Benoist said.

Her car was spotted 2-1/2 weeks after she left. Benoist said her group conducted an intensive search, "but we never considered that she traveled so far."

Rescuers told them she was severely hypothermic when found because that night was cold and windy, but that she was perking up and eating breakfast and seemed to be doing well.

"It was luck that we took a longer route and went by her campsite and it was luck that she saw us and called out to us," Albert Kottke said. "If I'm in a similar position someday I hope people will be there."

white-out in Slough

Today's forecast: snow, snow, snow, snow, and snow. Oh, and freezing fog. Didn't even realize that was a possibility. I have the day off to celebrate the life of a great man (MLK, Jr. in this neck of the woods, although I hear this is a trifecta celebration for Virginia). Hay doesn't, but because of the horrible weather his business is doing a work-from-home day. My business doesn't necessarily believe in work-from-home days, so I'm especially thankful for the holiday.

I'm spending the day watching The Office UK. I'm on episode one, after waking up quite late from a very odd dream. I know a lot of people find the UK version unwatchable, but I think it's priceless. And just remember, the US version wouldn't exist without it. (Neither would all the other versions.)

Giving birth to little Leviathans*

Found this over at Laurie's blog:

You scored as Moya (Farscape). You are surrounded by muppets. But that is okay because they are your friends and have shown many times that they can be trusted. Now if only you could stop being bothered about wormholes. Moya (Farscape) 94% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 88% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 81% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 81% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 81% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 75% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 75% Serenity (Firefly) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 63% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 63% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 50% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 44% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

*I've never seen Farscape so I had to look up Moya. I'm cool with that.

Jake Gyllenhaal does Dreamgirls on SNL

I was looking for this at 8:00am this morning, but of course it was nowhere to be found. Now it's every-freakin'-where, including here:



Jake's arms are yummy. The wig is awful. The last long note is awesome.

Do you see what I see? (refrain)

I love Tom's Astronomy Blog because he introduces me to totally rad things such as baby stars. The stars themselves are captivating, but the part I can't stop staring at is the little boy's face I see in this photo. Someone on Tom's blog mentioned faces plural, and I do finally see a second face if I stare long enough, but I prefer to just see the one face.

The photo:


The photo showing what I see as the face:


The eye, nose, and mouth are to the right of my wording. The eye is closed, the nose has a nostril, and the mouth is closed (rosebud lips).

Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Questions about aging

Why are my toes no longer straight? Does that mean I have arthritis?

Have I always had all these lines on my hands?!

Why does fluorescent light need to be so cruel about showing every. single. frown line between my eyes? And, were those there last year? Because, I don't remember those...

When did my finger nails turn into my mom's finger nails?

Why do I have aches and pains every day? Could I have a break, please?

Why is it that the grey hair falling across my forehead cannot control itself and stay straight?

Is my night vision getting worse? Or, are headlights getting brighter?

When did teenagers become scary?

When did my butt get so big?!

I guess that's all I have for now. I need to hurry up and have kids so that people don't mistake me for their grandmother...

We have two winners!

Leona Lewis killed it (so to speak) with her rendition of Kelly Clarkson's winning song, A Moment Like This, but I have yet to enjoy any Idol winner's first song. What is American Idol doing about this?

Untalented singers who fail spectacularly in the early auditions are so bad they make for good television. Forcing talented finalists to perform such forgettable tunes as "Do I Make You Proud"? That's just plain awful.

To remedy this flaw in Fox's hit TV show, which begins its sixth season Tuesday and Wednesday, a song-writing competition to be decided by viewers is in the works.

"At the end of it, the country will not only have the singer they want, they'll have the song they want," said Ken Warwick, a series executive producer.

[...]

"We are very close to putting it (the song contest) in place," Martha Brass, executive vice president for series producer 19 Entertainment, said from London.

"It's just a question of not wanting to get it out there too soon so that we lose enthusiasm and momentum," Brass said. "Given there are five months left, we want to make sure that we introduce it at the right time." (continued at Yahoo!)

Thank goodness. So anticlimactic to have the winner singing a sucky song. The billionth sixth season of American Idol starts this Tuesday at 8pm on Fox. Don't forget to ruin your dinner over at MJ's AI spoiler site.

Bindi Irwin on The Ellen Degeneres Show

I hope her mom lets her know that it's okay for her to grow up to be her own person, that she doesn't actually have to be (just like) Steve. But, she's a girl after my own heart -- compassionate toward all Earth's creatures, even the ones in our bellies.

Netflix is throttling us. (Well, maybe.)

We returned a movie on January 3 and have not received its replacement. After reporting it missing we were told we were being sent another movie that was supposed to arrive on Thursday. Nope. Then we were sent another movie to replace a movie we received, watched, and returned in less time than it took for this January 3 movie to be received back to Netflix, and now that movie was promised to us for today but it was not in the mailbox.

I'm mad. I don't know if it's Netflix or if it's the post office, but now Monday is another holiday so the soonest we'll get any more movies is Tuesday.

I've threatened to kick some ass and switch to Blockbuster, but we all know I'm not gonna do either one. Just pisses me off because I love watching movies and when I don't have any to watch I get grumpy. *grumpy-mumble-grumble*

Follower.

I think that Avi is obsessed with music memes. And, I'm a follower so I'm obsessed, too.

Open iTunes. Click the column header for "Play Count". What are the first five songs listed?
Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson
Do You Remember by Jack Johnson
Situations by Jack Johnson
Stay by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
Your Heart Is An Empty Room by Death Cab for Cutie

Click the column header for Last Played. What are the first 5 songs?
Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson
Fear by Sarah McLachlan
Loose Rap by Aaliyah
All In My Heart by Shawn Mullins (Scrubs soundtrack)
Knowing Me, Knowing You by ABBA

Click Party Shuffle. What are the first 5 songs?
Yes or No by JoJo
Problems by Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Four Days by Counting Crows
Independence Day by Melanie C
Right Here Right Now by Beastie Boys

Click the column header Year. What are the first 5 albums from 1994?
Maybe You Should Drive by Barenaked Ladies
Under the Table and Dreaming by Dave Matthews Band
Monster by R.E.M.
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan
Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 by Sting

Click the column header My Rating. What are the first 5 albums?
I don't use this column, so it just presents me with an alphabetical list of songs by artist. Those five songs are:
MTV Unplugged by 10,000 Maniacs
Aaliyah by Aaliyah
Gold by ABBA
Adriana Evans by Adriana Evans
Diary of Alicia Keys by Alicia Keys


Finally, look at the bottom of your iTunes window. How many days of music do you have?
5.3 days, which is totally unreflective of my entire music collection. We have so many CDs that the two CD racks we do have are completely filled and the rest are crawling all over the living room floor, filling up multiple Rubbermaid bins, and scattered all over Hay's desk. I do try to get my albums from iTunes now so that I don't add to the problem. I have no guess at how many days' worth of music I'd have if every album I loved were in my iTunes.

Ugly office ice cream

The Office was phenomenal last night.

Did anyone else notice on Ugly Betty last night that Becki Newton, the actress who plays Amanda, is also playing Ruthie, the girl who sits across from Betty's new desk as exec assistant to Salma Hayek's character, Sofia? I love how this show can take beautiful people and make them really not.

I am glad this week is over. It was pleasant busy, but still very busy.

I could use a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Who's with me?

Spring cleaning in the winter

So, I've moved a bunch of blogs that I wasn't actually reading frequently out of the "blogs I just can't live without" section and renamed that section "... for now". It feels cleansing but fills me with some guilt. I'll live with that. If I moved you out of that section and you noticed then I'm sorry. I can't keep adding to that section forever or else it's a dishonest reflection and/or all I do 24/7 is read blogs. Yaaay, blog.

Now hear this

Justin Timberlake is officially single. (I know I'm late in reporting, but I don't like posting something untrue and have to retract it after.)

Maybe he and Drew could get together?



Speaking of single, NotCarrie emailed me to let me know that her site is doing a date bidding auction to raise money for V-Day, “a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.” I am very happily married, so I won't be bidding on a boy, but if you'd like to bid on one then please go to The Not Girls' Charity Auction. Thank you, and good night.

Ain't no Julie Andrews

I guess I've been blogging long enough for this to happen by now... Have you ever stopped loving a blog and wanted to just slowly back away from visiting and commenting on it, but didn't quite know how? How about remove it from your blogroll because it no longer represents you or your interests? How about stop conversing with said blogger because you have absolutely nothing in common anymore? Yah. Well. That's happening for me.

Q: Do I have the testicles to take the blog off my blogroll?
A: I don't have testicles.

I sound like a total bitch, don't I. *sigh* Real me, right here. Not all kittens and lollipops.

Not really a great time to be a technology editor.

First it was CNet's James Kim versus the elements. Now it's PC World's Rex Farrance versus 4 armed intruders:

PITTSBURG, California (AP) -- A senior editor for PC World Magazine was fatally shot in his home in what authorities said Wednesday was a drug-related attack.

Rex Farrance, 59, the San Francisco, California-based magazine's senior technical editor, was shot in the chest after four masked men broke into his home Tuesday evening, Pittsburg police said.

The assailants also pistol-whipped Farrance's wife, Lenore Vantosh-Farrance, 56, a registered nurse. She called 911, but the attackers fled before officers arrived. No one has been arrested, officials said.

"We have substantial reason to believe that the victim and his wife were involved in the possession and, potentially, the distribution of illegal narcotics," said Pittsburg police Inspector John Conaty, who declined to specify what type of drugs were involved.

The couple's son, Sterling Farrance, 19, blasted the police assertion that they were involved with illegal drugs, saying he grew and stored medical marijuana at the home with his parents' permission.

"I have a prescription. I'm a patient. It was medical," Sterling Farrance told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This one officer I remember at the house, he had this predisposition to think it was all illegal."

Colleagues at PC World described Farrance as a fitness buff, rock-music fan and a dedicated husband and father who excelled at his job.

"We're all in shock here," said Denny Arar, a PC World senior editor. "Rex loved his work. He really cared about covering technology in a way that was useful for readers. He cared a lot about people, period, including his co-workers." (CNN)

What?! Noooooooo..... :(

Drew Barrymore and Fabrizio Moretti have broken up. :( Phooey. Well, at least Drew knows when something isn't working. Bright side. Right? And, now everyone has a chance with her... Phooey again.

This, that, the other thing

Tom Skerritt is the face of Windows Vista. He also plays the husband of Nora (Sally Field) on precisely one episode of Brothers & Sisters before his character dies of a heart attack. Tom and Sally were the parents of Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias so throughout the first episode of Brothers & Sisters all I could think of was Tom shooting the birds, going to the bathroom and leaving his gun out, and other crazy hijinx. I'm not happy that someone died, but I am glad that the show didn't perpetuate the relationship between Tom and Sally's characters so that I didn't have to boycott the show. Don't get me wrong, I love Steel Magnolias, but you don't just throw two actors together because they worked in a movie 18 years ago. Sacred. Leave it be.

And, on a totally local level: It took us twice our normal commute time to drive into the town where I work because of a quickly passing* snow storm that caused really poor visibility, really backed up traffic, people to go off roads, and roads to be closed until the storm passed* while the roads were cleared to make them passable*. When we couldn't “get there from here” Hay turned around and brought me to his work until the storm passed* and the roads were cleared. We used to work together a very long time ago, so it was like old times. Ahh, memories...

Okay, seriously, why am I so hungry? I need to eat another burrito. I think 2007 is the year of the burrito for me.


*I like the word. What can I say...

What else does it kill?

I know, I keep stuffing news up here. It's what's on my mind, so here we go again:

How spicy foods can kill cancers

Scientists have discovered the key to the ability of spicy foods to kill cancer cells.

They found capsaicin, an ingredient of jalapeno peppers, triggers cancer cell death by attacking mitochondria - the cells' energy-generating boiler rooms.

[...]

The study showed that the family of molecules to which capsaicin belongs, the vanilloids, bind to proteins in the cancer cell mitochondria to trigger apoptosis, or cell death, without harming surrounding healthy cells.

Capsaicin was tested on cultures of human lung cancer cells and on pancreatic cancers.

Lead researcher Dr Timothy Bates said: "As these compounds attack the very heart of the tumour cells, we believe that we have in effect discovered a fundamental 'Achilles heel' for all cancers.

"The biochemistry of the mitochondria in cancer cells is very different from that in normal cells.

"This is an innate selective vulnerability of cancer cells."

He said a dose of capsaicin that could cause a cancer cell to enter apoptosis, would not have the same effect on a normal cell. (continued)

I like spicy food. I'm not awesome with hot, but mild and medium are all over the inside of my tummy. Num!!! Of course, the capsaicin is in the seeds that I remove to make the pepper less hot. Silly me. :)

La Belgique

If you want to see the progress of a guy who drinks a different beer every day for a year then go visit Dann, who has already critiqued my favorite of the non-flavored beers, Stella Artois. I don't really drink anymore, but back when I did I enjoyed her for one night of sinful delight. I still think of her fondly. My favorite flavored beer is a strawberry ale, also from Belgium. I have a thing about Belgium. It's my Eeyore. Eeyore is my favorite Pooh character. I enjoy a good melancholy session.


^{= =}

Thanks to Pat for the link to Dann.

Superseriously wrong

Hit man to Pittsburgh professionals: Pay up or die

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Dentists, doctors, lawyers and other professionals in the Pittsburgh area have been targeted by a "hit man" e-mail scheme, receiving messages that tell them to pay up to spare their lives, the FBI said.

The e-mail, which was sent to most recipients around Christmas, tells the reader that there is a contract out on his life, generally for $50,000.

It says that if the recipient sends the "hit man" more money than that -- generally ranging from $80,000 to $150,000 -- the hit man will leave him alone.

No one has reportedly lost money or been harmed in the scam, but some recipients were unnerved by the messages, said Special Agent Bill Shore, who supervises the computer crime squad in the Pittsburgh FBI office.

"You think, 'What did I get into? What do I gotta do to get out of this?' " Shore said.

The FBI became aware of the scam when people in Atlanta, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, received similar e-mails in early December, Shore said.

The scheme seems to have originated in Russia.

Dude, get a frickin' soul.

Ich bin mad mac

I'm hazarding a guess that the majority of Blogger/BlogSpot authors are from the United States of America. Why, then, do they schedule LONG PERIODS OF OUTAGE during our normal waking hours?! WHY?! I understand that if I had already upgraded to the beta version I would not have experienced a problem, but: BLOGGER, I CURSE THEE. It's free, so I should be grateful. But, Thanksgiving was last year. So, again I say: .... Oh, you know what I said.

Today was the MacWorld Keynote address. If you want to know what good stuff was announced then click here. If you want me to eat your brain then click here.

National Geographic informs me that my image may now identify me on the internets:

A new type of search engine using facial recognition technology could soon be able to pinpoint images of a person among the billions of photos posted online—even if their name does not appear.

A Swedish company named Polar Rose plans to launch its service for facial searches tied to the photo-sharing site Flickr within a couple weeks.

In the next few months the firm hopes to expand the service to search images across the entire Web.

The technology promises enhanced photo finding that would make it easier to find people on the Internet.

But privacy advocates are concerned that Polar Rose and similar facial-mapping search engines will violate people's rights and potentially aid criminals.

Lee Tien is an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet watchdog group that focuses on privacy and civil liberties.

"Photos [posted online] are effectively anonymous now," Tien said, unless they are labeled with some sort if identifying text. "But if Polar Rose works the way they say it will, that's all going to change."

Tien said that this kind of technology could aid stalkers in tracking down their victims, or it could allow employers, insurance companies, and the government to pry into people's lives more than some of us would like. (continued)

I'm so excited that there is yet another way to invade my privacy. I know some folks who read my blog (I'm thinking of you fondly) are going to challenge that everything about me is already known through other electronic means, and why am I being so private in the first place, blah blah blah. Too much is too much sometimes, though. This. This is too much.

Did you see up at the top, where I changed my tag line to π ρ? Do you get it? It's funny! It's a Campus Ladies joke. :)

Que la freakando smelly f?!

First it was Baltimore, and now New York has a sketchily foul odor. Are we being tested for our patriotic response to smell now?

I mention this story because it interrupted the morning training session, and I'd like to point out that you're supposed to be learning, not surfing the web. But, whatever. I get paid for showing up to work no matter.

Don't bother

I'm teaching all day tomorrow, so there won't be anything exciting published here until at least tomorrow evening. Have a great Monday!

This one time in 5th grade...

I got a 100 on a grammar test even though we hadn't learned what a conjunction was yet and five of the questions were about conjunctions. But, I'm smaht and can sound out words and know that conjunctions join things.

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

 

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Thanks, LP!

´ Accent egu ´

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Cred to Avi, who found it completely accurate. I, on the other hand, found it completely not. Well, let me clarify. I don't have a typical accent, so this quiz was not able to pinpoint my place of heritage. I'm just an enigma.

Terrible twos

I know a lot of you don't read blogs over the weekend, so I'll pretend today (Friday) is tomorrow (Saturday) so you can join in the celebration.

(: (: (: (: (: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG! :) :) :) :) :)

---

My blog is two today! It can speak and walk now, it's almost fully potty-trained, but it throws trantrums in public and bites its blogmates. I thought I was a great parent, but I guess all blogs go through this stage...

Thanks to all of you for contributing to my blog's delinquency. It takes a village. :)

Ugly Betty

The gorgeous America Ferrera graces the cover of the newest CosmoGIRL!

“Hot mami!”

A little Betty trivia from IMDb:

Based on the popular Colombian telenovela "Yo soy Betty, la fea" (1999) (I'm Betty, the Ugly), which has been dubbed and broad casted in countries such as Brasil, China or the Philippines and has been adapted in some other countries. Local versions like "Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin" (2003) (There's No One Like Jassi) in India or "Verliebt in Berlin" (2005) (Smitten in Berlin) also have been immensely successful.

How did they know I love cows?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Baroness Poppy the Bovine of Similar Ealand Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Merci, Maman!

“Please pack your knives and GO.”

Did anyone watch the supersized Top Chef this week?

I can't say Marcel is my favorite person in the world, but Betty, Sam, and Ilan were being so mean to him that I yelled at the screen that I hoped they all went home before him! And, if you haven't seen the episode I won't ruin it by telling you how judges' table played out. I think the judges chose the right reasons to send this week's person packing.

Nice job, Michael! Vicodin inspires you to cook great food! Perhaps you need to be medicated to be a great chef. Not good... The look on Debi Mazar's face when she saw Michael's effed up mouth was priceless. :) She asked for him to come out! Her own fault!

If wishes were fishes...

I wish that flickr allowed me to favorite entire sets, as in "I favorite this dog set" rather than clicking "add to faves" on the 30 photos included in the dog set. Example? Heather's set of Darren. Yes, that's Darren of Darren McLikes Himself / Look at Me. I'm So Important That I Have a Blog. Heather and Darren are dating. Isn't that fantastic?! Anyway, he's such an interesting looking guy. A super-cute version of Richard Dreyfuss mashed with Robin-Williams-Popeye, particularly in this photo.

^{+ + cute = Darren.}


All rights are reserved on images of Darren, so you hafta visit flickr to see him. :)