Mommy Britney

Britney is having a baby - scary... Kevin calls her 'my lady-in-waiting'. Ick. She will be the trashiest pregnant lady ever, I guarantee it.

Where are they now?

I'm going to use my blog today to scramble for "where are they now?" answers. I'm realizing that pretty much everyone I know from college ties to AKPsi. In fact, I'm struggling to "wonder where they are now" about any non-AKPsi people. I wish I had a thing of our headshots so I could remember more people I don't know about anymore... But it's all packed up, so it goes...

Cory Wendt - living in Chicago? Does he still own the Alaska lodge?

Marni Heinz - living in the Cities?

Erika Johnson - living in Connecticut?

Kelli Irvan - ?

Katie Hopp - engaged?

Rebecca Kohlenberg - a counting?

Kristin Rodacker - Megan's boss?

Holler back.

Hot

Hotties - ignore the man in the middle. They're skiing in Switzerland this week on holiday, which I'm sure if quite similar to the ski trip Michael and I had last weekend.

Texas

Here's some insight into Texas politician's views on the Schiavo case - I like this blog about it...

Random calls

So far tonight, I got phone calls from Lyn, Dana, and Todd. Also known as friends I talk to on the phone approximately twice a year. The night isn't done yet - who else may randomly call me?

I'll keep you posted.

PS I'm now going to ignore my three fun Netflix movies (Closer, Being Julia, and Word Wars) in order to watch Cocktail on TBS. I feel like this is wrong but can't turn it off...

A few thoughts

How will Michael Jackson get a not guilty decision? The lawyer he needed can't handle his case.

The Onion's debate of the morning-after pill. It's funny.

The Minneapolis girls are having book club tonite. I'm excited to join up soon :)

I met a guy at one of my store visits this afternoon named Pedro Sosa. I thought it was a great baseball tribute name.

Wendy's Fix 'n Mix Frosty is yummy - comes in Butterfinger, M&M, and Oreo.

How did I miss out on Girl Scout Cookies this year? :(

Laura's Unscientific Poll

I'm not being mean, I'm just saying:

Who do you think will win - The Pope or Terri Schiavo?

Skiing in Vermont

I spent the weekend in Vermont with Michael on a ski trip. Where do I even start with recapping this story... Hmmmm.... Let me do it chronologically, my favorite way to organize things.

So Michael and I coordinated our drives to Mount Snow meeting at the Holyoke Mall which was a nice central meeting place in Western Mass. I called the mall ahead of time to see if they'd tow my car for parking overnight and I was pleasantly surprised to find out they'd tow me "if I was parked there for a week" but otherwise I'd be fine. Michael and I laughed because in most of the Northeast, parking for 48 hours would cost $60+ bucks.

The adventure began after we bought $100 of groceries in Wilmington and then began to navigate ourselves to the 4BR cabin Michael had rented for the weekend. It only ended up being the 2 of us on the trip (everybody else bailed and sucks - except Kerry) so we were looking forward to serious bonding time in our own little cabin in the VT woods.

This vision was nearly crushed when we pulled up to the cabin, double checked it was the right house number, and saw a car parked at the cabin. And there was a barking dog. And when we let ourselves in with the key, the house was full of people's stuff and looked like they'd been there for about a week. (they weren't home when we let ourselvees in - cripes, we had a key and it was supposed to be ours). That's not cool...

After a mini-moment of self-doubt that we had the wrong weekend (we didn't), we sought out a land line because, thank you very much Cingular GSM, we were had no service. 5 miles later, we called the woman who owns the cabin and rented it to Michael. When he asks what's going on, she said "Oh, I must've double booked it." (please note the absence of an apology)

Michael: "Well, my friend and I just drove up here from NY/Boston - what are we supposed to do now? It's 5:30pm on a Friday night in the middle of Vermont - what are we gonna do?"

Nancy (dumb bytch): "I'll refund your money."

Michael: (thinking, oh yeah you will, bytch) "But beyond that, what are we supposed to do? We just bought $100 worth of groceries in the car. I'm not from Vermont, I don't know where to get a room, I don't have cell phone service. We don't have a place to say. I just don't understand how this happened..."

(Pause while Nancy talks)

Michael: "OK, we'll call you back in an hour."

The plan is for us to hunt down a place but also Nancy from NY will try to find us a place. Go! So Michael get in the car and have our own version of the Amazing Race. We drive to the main lodge at Mt. Snow, where they tell us they have no rooms at the inn. Or condo or townhouse or hotel room or anything. They refer us to a central booking # that also informs us that there are no rooms. They refer us to another place, same story.

Finally, Michael tracks down Snow Resorts Realtors - they have a 3BR townhouse that's comprable (sp?) to the cabin we originally rented, we decide Nancy will pay for a similar unit for us to stay in for the weekend (price not a huge issue at this point considered we are currently homeless), but that Snow Resorts Realtors close at 7pm so we better hurry. It is 6:30. Go!

The nice lady at the Realtor office fixes us up, cuts Nancy a deal - then Nancy attempts to tell Michael she's only paying for the amount that he originally negotiated for the weekend rental, he corrects her and informs her she will be paying the whole amount for the replacement cabin for us since she messed (which she agrees to) and we get the keys to our newly rented condo. Yipee - by 7:30pm we're moved in with beer in hand.

This is all a huge hassle but it made me think that if there's anyone I'd like to go with (other than a boyfriend) on a 2 person skiing trip originally planned for 10 people, that person would be Michael. We didn't freak out, we just put our planning skills to work. I won't say we didn't have our doubts about finding a room, but everything worked out even better than originally planned because we made a plan and made it happen. Yeah improvisation!

From there, I got drunk on Friday night after made a fabulous dinner and we watched Napoleon Dynamite (of course - Michael's first time though!). Saturday skiing was beautiful - not too busy, not a cloud in the sky, about 37 degrees. It was awesome. I definately exceeded expectations in the skiing department, I did quite well I must say so until Michael tricked me into going down a black diamond with him (Michael I hate you) and I fell. A lot. But virtually unharmed, I kept going until Michael lured me to another hard hill (only a blue but it was a hard blue) and I really toppled down it. This made me hate skiing and be done for the day.

Sat night was lower key but still fun - sketty and garlic bread and The Notebook. We liked it, but would like to request that US Weekly/Star/People put hottie Ryan Gosling in their quality publications more often, we would like more pictures of him (shirtless), please.

Side note: Can you believe Demi and Ashton are having a baby? I thought it was a false rumor but no. Crazy.

Sunday was awesome skiing - Michael and I split up, I did easy hills, he did hard hills. After "the perfect run" (kinda like the perfect cheer from SNL) I decided to call it quits and be done before I fell and left hating skiing. Turns out Michael had gotten hot (warm hot not handsome hot) and also headed in early so we ended up meeting at the base 1 1/2 before our appointed meeting time and we scurried outta there. I was home by 2:30 and missed all the Easter traffic. Yeah.

The lesbian-mobile Michael rented for the weekend. 

Please note the lack of clouds in the sky. 

Tech support closed for Good Friday

I'm not a happy girl after being unable to reach tech support today. I got a recorded message saying they're closed for Good Friday and will reopen on Monday. The company is based in Tennessee but are you kidding me? Get those IT geeks working, I don't care what day it is.

Go Big Blue!

I'm going off of Bejota's blog entry regarding how much major corporations give to Dems vs. the GOP. The idea is to buy Blue since you voted Blue and I like the idea. I like this list of companies that not only give a large percentage Blue, but also give a lot. Note that News Corp is on this list - they give lots to Blue except News America and a division of Fox that I'm guessing give MUCHO red. Nice.

Hirsch update

Bejota wins by having more info on the Hirsch situation than anyone else. Here's his input:

From my former mentee, who hangs out with the hockey team on a regular basis...

"They are not saying much about Hirsh, all that I know is that he had somthing of a breakdown after the CC game. He apparently asked for a puck from the ref after shaking hands and proceded to take a penalty shot. But he did not just shoot, he ended up skating full speed into the net and pushing it out of the rink. After his episode Lucia mentioned that he was doing allright "at least physically" Hirsch went home with his parents and did not play against UND. He also didn't skate at the optional practice on Monday. Other than that, they aren't telling us much and most of what I'm hearing is all rumor and speculation."

Note to Bejota - I want to be friends with your mentee and hang out with the hockey team. Help me make it happen. And, considering you still keep in touch with your "former mentee" in regards to hockey team news within 2 days of the incident, I think you should either upgrade him to "mentee" or "friend" because "former mentee" indicates you no longer keep in touch much. Not the case.

Honorable mention goes to my mom, who added:

The news tonight is that he's back at practice after a weekend + at home. Some sort of "emotional distress," says Ch. 11 in Mpls. He may be ready to play against Maine this weekend.

Cartridge World

I saw a new store being built while out on the road - it was a Cartridge World. I'd never heard of it - after researching I found out that it's a store where you can bring your empty printer ink cartridges and wait while they're refilled (they can be refilled up to 7 times safely) or you can buy new ones or paper, etc.

Apparently there are 700 stores nationally but I saw my first today. What do we think about refilling our printer cartridges? I like the idea, but wonder if it's a pain. Kinda reminds me of the infomercial showing the Universal Refill Kit - sketchy.

I like ordering my new printer cartridges online and avoiding searching for the right ones in stores...

Fake news?

Which of the following are fake news:

EPA To Drop 'E,' 'P' From Name
WASHINGTON, DC—Days after unveiling new power-plant pollution regulations that rely on an industry-favored market-trading approach to cutting mercury emissions, EPA Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that the agency will remove the "E" and "P" from its name. "We're not really 'environmental' anymore, and we certainly aren't 'protecting' anything," Johnson said. "'The Agency' is a name that reflects our current agenda and encapsulates our new function as a government-funded body devoted to handling documents, scheduling meetings, and fielding phone calls." The change comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services' January decision to shorten its name to the Department of Services.

OR

First neutrino captured in Iron Range trap
Excerpt from article: The project, which aims to catch neutrinos fired through the earth from Fermilab to the former iron mine in northern Minnesota, has been ratcheting up the intensity of the beam. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search project is expected to help researchers understand more about the universe and about smaller subatomic particles. Neutrinos are sometimes called the ghosts of the universe because they have little or no mass, no electrical charge and tend not to interact with other matter. They stream from the sun and other stars.The steel and plas tic strips making up the planes of the detector here are set to pick up the rare neutrinos that actually collide with them instead of passing through undetected.

Fake news answer

So it wasn't that hard to figure out since I linked to the real news article - but I feel like The Onion's EPA article could be true. Almost.

But the real news article is just crazy - items without matter? I don't know science but that sounds wrong. From the headline "First neutrino captured in Iron Range trap" I thought a neutrino was some kind of rodent - maybe similar to a mole. I was wrong.

Regis, again

On Live this morning, Kelly's telling a story about the airline once upon a time losing her baby's car seat (why it was checked and the baby wasn't seated in it I'm not sure) when Regis asks why that's a big deal. She say, "Well, we had to get in the cab without the car seat, just hold the baby, it's a pain...".

SIDE NOTE- the idea of carrying your car seat down from your Manhattan apartment in order to strap it in a cab (do cabs have seatbelts???) is so unimaginable I can't even describe it. Manhattanites (or San Franciscans, I feel like it could be a similar situation) - have you ever seen this happen? Plus, once you get to where you're going, do you carry the car seat with you the whole time? I'm confused.

Here's the point when Regis asks, "Why do you need a car seat? Just hold the baby in your arms."

"Are you kidding Regis? Number one it's illegal, plus it's not exactly safe," Kelly replies.

Regis is blown away by the fact that car seats are required. He alludes to the fact that car seats are unnecessary and silly. Good one Regis. As Kelly asks if he's crazy, he backs up his statement that they're silly by saying "Well, I could fall off my chair and die right now."

Right, Reg, that's the same thing. He is old and rich and seriously out of touch with reality.

The Left

I've started watching Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and really like it - his show makes a lot of sense on HBO as opposed to the little sense it made to run on one of the networks a few years ago - ABC perhaps? It works on HBO.

2 things from the show:

• Today the author of What's the Matter with Kansas? was a guest tonite and gave a great quote. Went something like this:

"We know there's something wrong with this country when people that work at Wal-Mart are the people that favor repealing the estate tax."

I couldn't have said it better myself. The religious right is using the "Gays erode family value" speech to get everything they want voted for. So frustrating but until the Democrats figure out a way to expose and take advantage of this fact it's going to continue.

• This poll question was on Bill Maher's website:

Is it politically incorrect to point out that alleged rapist Brian Nichols' (the guy that shot up GA) guard, a five-foot-one-inch 51-year-old grandmother named Cynthia Hall, should perhaps not have been guarding the 33-year-old former college linebacker who stands 6'1" and weighs 210 pounds?

What's up with those Gophs?

I would like the DL on what happened with Tyler Hirsch, the Gopher hockey team's leading scorer, who did not play in Saturday night's game. Allegedly, he freaked out after Friday night's loss and was not allowed to play in Saturday's game as a result.

What's the word, my hockey peeps?

PS Fun Tyler facts - he was President of his class in HS. And he was born on 1/4/84. Are you kidding me???

PPS John Pohl's little brother.

Red Lake

So the Red Lake shooting is tragic and awful. Obviously.

My 2 cents on the story:

• This story was on the news and they said those injured were flown the 150 miles to the Fargo, ND hospital. A girl from my physical therapy office exclaimed "That's weird - being 150 miles from a hospital". Again, leading me to believe that East Coast and West Coast people are dumb and that Mass people just might believe that California is West (right next to West) of MA.

• Why is it that the shooter, Jeff Weise, is 16 but the picture they post of him everywhere is from when he was 9? Did he really miss school the last 7 years the day of school pictures? It's weird to look at a 9 year old's picture and think of him shooting a gun but actually the 16 year old who killed tons of people could be a teen who looks like the kinda kid who actually is angry and might do something like that. Do you know what I mean?

Car sharing

I like the idea of Zipcar - it's been in Boston since I moved here. You pay a membership fee to below to this group, then you have access to cars to use at an hourly rate - a better deal at $5-15 / hour instead of having to rent a rental car for 24 hours. The idea works well in Boston - you don't need a car to get most places, but it's nice to have one to go on daytrips, Target, the grocery store. You get the idea.

The concept is now coming to Minneapolis in the form of Hourcar. I think it's a great idea but question the viability in a market like the Twin Cities. Aside from U of M students that live, go to school and work all on campus - who else do you know that doesn't have a car? Please list specific examples b/c I literally don't know anyone. I'm worried no one will Hourcar and then Hourcar will go away. Which would be sad even though I don't know anyone who would benefit from this service.

You know its true

Q: What is the best thing about wireless internet in your house?

A: Being able to use the www while going to the bathroom.

$40,000 a year will do it

Here's an interesting article that basically says that with a $40,000 salary, you'll be able to fulfill basic needs and that will bring you happiness. I think it's a decent theory - though I would question this amount without including the cost of living differential... $40K in J-town would make you the richest man in town whereas in Boston it's barely enough to make it.

I've discussed this theory prior to it being published with several people - basically that if I can just make a bit more $ it'd be enough... Let's call this amount $50K in Minneapolis (I think me and friends like to spend more on clothes, travel, and drinks than the average guy). With that amount of money, you can get a decent place to live, eat out regularly, buy things you want (within reason) and still be able to maintain a savings account. However, let's say you get a raise to $75K - I theorize (is that a word?) that the percentage of my salary I'd be able to save would skyrocket - because I won't upgrade to an apartment that costs 1.5 times as much, I won't eat out 1.5 times more often, my utilities won't cost 1.5 times more than they did previously.

Some say that I'd certainly blow that extra $25K if I made it, I tend to disagree. What do you think?

iDine Updates

So iDine / Rewards Network is changing their style as of July 1 of this year - it's moving to a tiered system. It's definately a bad move... Based on your activity, you'll be placed in a tier (1, 2, or 3) and if you're in the top tier, you'll earn 5 miles/$1 spent, tier 2 is 3 miles/$1, and tier 3 is 1 mile/$1 spent. Definately a downward turn to the program because right now you mostly earn 10 miles/$1 spent :(

For now, to console you, there's a little offer going on:

Register, then dine three times (paying with your card registered with the program, of course) by March 31, 2005 and earn an extra 250 miles. Also make three purchases using the Teleflora’s Flower Club with delivery dates between registration and March 31, 2005, and earn an extra 250 miles. Use registration code 8749.

NCAA Update

After the second round, I'm still sitting ok in my West Coast and Midwest pools. Again, I may not continue to do well in the future so I'm going to write about it right now. I'm tied for first in my 15 person West Coast pool, and tied for second in my 39 person Midwest pool. I was stoked that Wake Forest got bumped, not so happy about Kansas and Georgia Tech's exits. I'll keep you updated.

Top 5 Airports

My favorite airports:

1) Denver
2) Minneapolis
3) John Wayne (Orange County CA)
4) Heathrow
5) San Jose

I've heard v. good things about Philadelphia but have never been there. Maybe someday.

Virginity pledges don't work - Shocker

In spite of the "True Love Waits" program which began in 1993 and urged 12% of US teens to vow to abstain from sex until marriage, a study now finds that upwards of 3/4 of those who took this pledge had sex before marriage anyway. Their rates for sexual activity and STDs are about the same rates as those who did not pledge, and their rates of oral and anal sex are even higher than those who did not pledge. This activity is believed to be higher because these types of sex are "loopholes" in the I-won't-have-sex-till-I'm-married pledge.

I don't find any of this to be especially surprising - I could've guessed all of these things. You?

The thing I didn't like was this statement from a Detroit Free Press article on the subject:

Researchers had expected those who took a virginity pledge to have a lower incidence of sexually transmitted diseases because pledgers tend to have fewer sex partners than those who don't make the promise, lose their virginity later and marry earlier.

Oh good - just what we need - a pledge that in the end encourages people to marry earlier. That's a great idea - people going back to getting married when they're 18/19/20 again. Good plan - that'll make everything better, right?

Um, no. Let's also look at divorce rates of people getting married younger - I don't have the stats on hand but I'll bet $1 they're substantially higher than divorce rates of those marrying when they're closer to 30 than to 20.

New Gopher Stadium - TCF Stadium?

I was disappointed to read this article that talks about TCF being a contender to secure the proposed Gopher football stadium naming rights. Here's a quote from the article: "The benefits for a lead sponsor, in addition to public goodwill, typically include..."

There will be no "public goodwill" from me for this company. I'll say it - I don't like TCF. To put things in perspective, here's my top 5 list of most hated companies:

1) Wal-Mart
2) TCF
3) Mr & Mrs. Chan's Realty Company
4) Applebee's
5) Best Buy

So, naming the stadium after Wal-Mart would be worse, but that's about it. Hopefully, the stadium goes through but somebody else ends up with naming rights. Hell, I'd even go for Best Buy Gopher Stadium (per the list above).

Good idea once again, Target

I just came across this gift card machine in a train station in Boston and think it's a fabulous idea. I'm sure it was left over from a Christmas shopping initiative, but even outside of the holiday shopping season it makes sense. How much does it suck when you have to drive around to all the stores to buy gift cards for holiday gifts? Almost as much of a pain in the ass as buying actual gifts for people in stores.

While I anticipate that Alicia will counter that all shopping should be done online (which I agree with) I have to say that at least being able to buy a giftcard easily during your normal daily activities. I like idea and hope Target expands the program.

I actually saw in some convenience stations around the holidays they had a wide variety of gift cards available for purchase - for Best Buy, Target, Home Depot, etc. Pretty convenient, eh?

Target gift card kiosk at Boston South Station (train station). 

My dad is more famous than your dad

In February, my dad spoke at a farmer meeting in Sioux Falls. Here's an excerpt from the story that was written about it:

Less Seat Time
No-till for Dennis means fewer hours on his tractors, which translates to lower fuel costs. He estimates he uses only 2.2 gal. of fuel/acre/year on his entire 1,600-acre corn and soybean farm. Whisney farms with his brother in Jackson County, MN, near Alpha. He says they went “cold turkey” when they switched to no-till in 1992. The switch has paid off in cost savings from using less equipment, less labor and less fuel. Yet corn yields are competitive, producing 200+ bu./acre in 2004, he says.

Just wanted to let you know my dad is famous :)

Only in Texas

I just found another picture from my trip to Texas last week - for dinner on Sunday night before our Monday meetings, I went with a bunch of guys to grab steak (we're in Texas, ya know) across the street from the Bahama Breeze. One of my work guys' HS girl friends now lives in Dallas so she met up with us at dinner. She was interesting.

After dinner, she offered to drive us back to our hotel. We get to the parking lot to find a big black big pickup that was her ride. Remember, its Texas. She had a number of these fancy bumper stickers / custom paint on the rear window of her pickup. My favorite is posted in the picture below. C-l-a-s-s-y - that's how the ladies are in Texas.

This literally was plastered on the back window of a pickup truck I rode in while in Texas. 

I'm winning (as of now)

Right now, I have 7 points (I'm 7/8 - goddamn Utah) in my W. Coast bracket (I'm also in a Midwest bracket, in case I reference that later) and am leading the pack. I know this is a little premature to be bragging, but just in case I end the tournament with 7 points I want to be able to truthfully post that I am winning. And as of right now I am.

I'll keep you updated, don't worry.

Brackets

I hope you've got your bracket completed - I'm going to try to post mine on my blog once the games begin tomorrow. I have a date set-up to watch the Gophers game with on Friday (not a real date, but a Boston based GMI employee UofM alumni) and am hoping my bracket stands up over the next few weeks. I found this About.com Basketball site helpful in planning my bracket - check it.

I found out / realized the New Mexico team is call the Lobos. As in "Minnesota? Prince y los lobos." Gotta love the back calles of Sevilla where Missy pukes and we make Alicia makes friends with children. Go Lobos is my 2nd favorite saying (not team) after Go Gophers I've decided.

AKPsi Gossip

Marc continually asks me about AKPsi gossip and I rarely have any good stuff. Here's some, though - Brian Durmaskin, AKPsi member, profile. OK, so I admit it isn't exactly gossip but it's Heather's little brother and relates to AKPsi. That's all folks.

Did you watch Letterman last night?

I'm sure you didn't, unless you're my mom reading this. Anyway, I tuned into the end of Letterman because I've gotten into the habit of watching Craig Ferguson's Show and I saw the musical performance of The Four Tops. Don't worry - I couldn't identify them but at the end of the show they were thanked so I figured out which group it was. The reason I cared was because one of the (original) members of the group, Obie (pictured below) is crazy. He couldn't keep up with the choreographed dancing, he couldn't remember to sign into his mike, etc. It was quite comical to watch.

I feel bad for making fun of a Hall of Famer that's as old as my grandpa but it was comical. You'd laugh if you saw it, too.

Obie, circa now. 

St. Pats

The fun will be mine this weekend - check out the photo show...

A tribute to Boston's Irish

Be jealous.

Irish Bagpipes?

In light of the Irish Holiday coming up on Thursday, I'd like to include you on some info I just found out about. There are two types of bagpipes - Scottish (which I already knew of) and Irish. Irish Bagpipes? Who knew. Apparently they're quite different, as the linked article details.

It's like getting a present

I drove to Back Bay to meet Zippy for dinner at the Parish Cafe tonite and luckily snagged a parking spot with only 1 loop around the block. Then, when I got out to fill the meter with my quarters, I found that it had 1:19 left on it, and since it was 6:45pm I only needed 1:15 on the meter until 8pm when meters don't need $ anymore.

Clearly, this was the highlight of my day.

Am I the dumb one?

I think "tonite" is a word. I interchange it with "tonight". Am I dumb? I started to think I might be dumb when I noticed "tonite" doesn't make it through a Microsoft spellcheck. Nor is it included in the dictionary of my predictive text on my phones. Then I checked with Dictionary.com and this is the definition for the word I thought mean "this evening":

tonite
\Ton"ite\, n. [Cf.L. tonare to thunder.] An explosive compound; a preparation of gun cotton.

I have a bad feeling this might be Minnesota-speak - like hotdish or pop. But I feel like others (from coast to coast) use the word in the context I do. Please help. Confirm or deny if I'm dumb -- ooh and maybe Heidi's Steve can do the research on this one to give me a definate answer :)

Otherwise, I'm going to need to find a "Word Talk" show (related to NPR's Car Talk) to try to call into - this one is really bugging me.

"Shorty"

Nokia partners with Virgin Mobile for new cell phone
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Nokia Corp. said Monday that it will launch its first handset for Virgin Mobile USA this summer. The new cell phone, called the "Shorty," will be aimed at younger mobile phone users.

I'm glad that Nokia isn't kidding themselves as to who uses prepaid Virgin phones - hence the code name "Shorty" for the phone.

Why do I like this so much?

I'm SOOOO enthralled with this blog - it's a mom's blog about her daughter. Sounds annoying, except for the number of charts and graphs she's associated with her daughter's life. Impressive. I like it. The rest of the blog is fine - stories, pictures, etc. but it's the graphs that I like the mostest.

If I look this bad at 45...

Seriously, if I look this bad at 45, please shoot me and put me out of my misery. Good lord.

While the article quotes that "This just goes to show you winning the Powerball doesn't guarantee you happiness" but I would like to think a Powerball Winner could afford a series of facials and maybe one of those chemical peels. And a long overdue trip to see Charlie.

Victoria Zell, age 45. 

I like the big chill

I'm watching The Big Chill for probably the third or fourth time and I really like it. I know it's a little cheesy but classic acting and a good story. Plus, I just like the idea of all of my college friends getting together in 10 years for a long weekend holed up in a big house in the South hanging out, drinking, and doing drugs. Except without the funeral to initiate the whole thing.

The Dose

Thanks to Natalie for suggesting I add The Dose website to my blog. So far, my favorite part are the Hom Chronicles telling of the author's encounters with his landlord's mother who lives in the same building. Not quite the tales of Mrs. Chan (you have poor circulation) but still funny. Also featured on the site are stories of leaving disposible cameras in public places and seeing if they get returned and letters written to various companies.

Bookmark The Dose for when you're bored at work. Not that that ever happens to anyone...

The Newseum

One of my favorite museums (yes, I do like some museums) in DC was the Newseum, chronicling the history of news. It closed in Arlington but is reopening on the Mall in DC in 2007. However, right now their website shows the front pages of hundreds of newspapers from around the world. It's super fun - check it out. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you can enlarge them too much but you can at least read the headlines. They used to post these up in the museum daily but the online version is fun, too.

I am scared/surprised/weirded out by the fact that the Sacramento, Fresno, and Modesto papers are all called the Bee. I knew Sac's was the Bee - but why do they all have the same name? I will ask Bejota to please explain. I'm guessing they all used to be one paper but then broke off into their own???

J-town

A quick follow-up to Alicia's post on a Famous Jacksonite - my hometown paper now has an article on the death of Walter Halloran - who participated in the exorcism that inspired The Exorcist. Here's their wrap up.

ICQ

ICQ has come up twice in the past 2 days after I haven't thought about it in probably 5 years. On Friday, I was on a conference call discussing the differing IM programs that work on our Nokia phones - they will NOT be supporting ICQ. No shit - who uses it anymore???

However, Blackberrys will be equipped with "AOL's ICQ" moving forward - so AOL bought ICQ?

Then today, I was searching blogs and found a girl who had her ICQ address posted on her blog. Are you kidding me? Maybe people are still using it?

PS If you don't know why ICQ is, don't feel bad. It's so 1998.

Netflix Complaint?

I am a huge fan of Netflix overall. However, I have one thing about the system that is really starting to annoy me. I have a ton of movies in my queue, and while I realize that I can sort them any way I please, I wish I could have some help sorting. For example, I'd like to be able to hit a button in order to sort movies by year, or genre, or alphabetically. That's right, I mean re-sort the entire list based on one of these variables. I'd like to mix up my list a bit, and then figure out what I really want at the top.

Does anyone else think this would be a good idea?

Crazy QVC lady

Some of you, especially if you've visited my apartment in Southie, have heard of Crazy QVC lady who lives next door to me. I couldn't help but capture the essence of her craziness this last week. I couldn't fake this - one day she had 6 packages from QVC, the very next day she got no less than 5 boxes from QVC (see pictures below). These aren't packages that piled up for a week - each were one day totals.

I can only imagine what her apartment looks like...

QVC boxes. 

QVC packages. 

A Caribbean Themed Applebees

I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with Bahama Breeze - I've now eaten there twice for team dinners with my current job. You may know how I feel about chain restaurants (you should never choose to eat at a chain restaurant, only use them as a last resort) with some/several exceptions (Chipotle, Panara, Don Pablo's). I feel like my bias against chain restaurants is justified, even though I do not boycott them all together.

A boycott just may be in place against Bahama Breeze. Don't get me wrong - the food isn't bad but the corporate park locations are sad and the theme makes me depressed. I want to stand on my chair and announce that even though it's a "Caribbean theme" restaurant, it's Applebees food with jerk seasoning thrown on top. Don't rave about the food people - you're lame.

Two images from the restaurant I had to capture and share with you (shown below):

1) The "Hey Mon" sign informing patrons not to crowd the bar while waiting for a table. Please lay off the theme, people.

2) The mouthwash provided in the ladies bathroom. It just made me think of young girl interns/employees and dirty old men. Left a bad taste in my mouth (get the pun hehehe).

Near the Bahama Breeze bar. 

Bahama Breeze bathroom. 

The Airport Barbershop

I really think the airport nail salon is a superior idea, but Dallas' airport has the airport barbershop already in place - I saw it on Tuesday as I was headed back to Boston.

It got cut off - but it's D/FW Barber Shop 

The future of the N-Gage

Nokia's N-Gage (the original and QD version) have struggled both in the US and abroad. Since this used to be my #1 focus for work, it was nice to hear that "Nokia Sees N-Gage Redesigns, Considering CDMA" in the device's future. It's good they're looking to the third generation of the device.

Finally "reconsidering" the N-Gage - which is a good thing. Better late than never.

Happy

Happy Birthday, Heather!

Also, Happy International Women's Day to Heather and the rest of the Ladies out there.

Help, I need a pool

Unfortunately, Blaine is too busy a counting this busy season so he's not hosting a NCAA tourney pool :( Fortunately, I'm sure somebody has a work/friends/somebody pool that I can jump in on in the next few weeks?

I'm hoping to find one hosted online at CBS or Yahoo or whatever where I can paypal you or send you (or your friend who is hosting it) a check to get in on it. I'm willing to put up to a big $20 bill in on the pool - let me know if you know of one I can join.

DO NOT BE ALARMED

It's still my blog. I just decided I needed a new template that's pinker. Now it is. Hope you like!

Who are you kidding?

An article about John Bolton being appointed ambassador to the UN included the picture seen below. Serious, I've never seen more superimposing in my life. Condi is obviously slipped in there - plus his lapel is overlapping her red jacket? His mustache? His hair? Her blinging earring?

Very strange.

Seriously, who are they kidding? Muy superimposing. 

Everything is bigger in Texas

I'm in Dallas for work today and got a new phone - I'm now using the hot new Nokia 6682 - not available in stores, people. Good times with Nokia.

Prior to boarding my flight yesterday, I saw this man wandering around by the gate and started to get a bad feeling about him being my seatmate. Call me Miss Cleo - who did I sit next to but strange, 30ish man who was horribly socially retarded - I expected him to yell out for no reason at some point mid-flight in a terretsish outburst (it never happened). He was just a weirdo.

Oh, and lucky for me, the salad he picked up from Au Bon Pain prior to boarding turned out to be a tuna salad salad. I like tuna - seared, in casserole, in a melt. But never NEVER on a plane. Tuna on board during a commerical flight is never ok. Make a mental note, everyone. Icky icky icky.

We'll see who I get to sit next to on my flight home tomorrow. Yipee.

The 6682. It's hot (and feature filled). Don't worry though - it doesn't flip.

Who needs California?

I'm happy to say I experienced my first earthquake this morning at about 1:15am. In Boston. I immediately Googled "Boston Earthquake" but nothing came up - after 20 minutes of no articles posting I gave up and went to bed. This morning, I told John I felt an earthquake last night and he said I'm going crazy. Au contraire (sp?).

A 5.4 earthquake hit Quebec this morning. Which is good because otherwise I'm going crazy and imagining the earth is quaking.

Calling all history majors (not that I know any)

I was reading an article with the adjective Byzantine in it and decided to do some research into the word. My guess as to the definition was "long standing, unnecessarily complex". I looked it up and it turns out I'm fairly close - the Dictionary.com definition for the type of usage I'm thinking of is below:

Byz·an·tine
a. Of, relating to, or characterized by intrigue; scheming or devious: “a fine hand for Byzantine deals and cozy arrangements” (New York).
b. Highly complicated; intricate and involved: a bill to simplify the byzantine tax structure.

While I am pleased that my vocabulary includes this word, my wondering was more focused on why this usage is named after an ancient empire. Conveniently, Dictionary.com also includes a history recap giving a little background into this:

The city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and then Istanbul, and the Byzantine Empire were vitiated by a bureaucratic overelaboration bordering on lunacy: quadruple banked agencies, dozens or even scores of superfluous levels and officials with high flown titles unrelated to their actual function, if any. Access to the Emperor and his council was controlled by powerful and inscrutable eunuchs and by rival sports factions.

I feel smarter but still would like more information of said empire. Sounds like some sort of bizarro world they had going on...

PS I think we should start renaming cities as in the case of Istanbul. I know St. Paul's done it one with Pig's Eye, but let's try to make this happen. How fun would it be to say "The city of Boston, later renamed Kennedytown and then Soxville". Think about it. You like it.

2 Shot in N. Minneapolis

The top news story in Minneapolis today is that 2 people were shot in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon. A few things stood out to me regarding the story:

#1 The headline is "2 killed 'gangland style' in North Minneapolis". I'm troubled by the fact that I have absolutely no idea what "gangland style" is, and the article doesn't really explain it. Do they just mean it could be a gang related incident? I was confused.

#2 The shooting happened at the Best Steak House in N Minneapolis, cousin to the Best Steak House in not-as-sketchy NE Minneapolis which Heather hearts.

#3 The Best Steak House where the shooting occured is mere blocks from the sketchy place where I rented my truck for my move from 425 12th to 509 3rd. I joked about shootings up there but didn't think daytime shooting happened in Minneapolis so I felt safe. I guess I shouldn't have.

Airport / Airline Wonderings

Why aren't there nail boutiques in airports? I've got an hour to kill and am bored - why not get a manicure? It makes sense when you think about it. Better than a hair salon b/c I have a regular stylist. But I don't care who does my nails as long as the work is decent. I will make someone millions with this idea.

Why aren't all flight attendants gay? On 2 of my last 3 flights my flight attendant has been gay and its been a wonderful experience. As opposed to the 58 year old hags wearing way to much makeup and hairspray and being crabby when I ask them for the full can of soda.

Why have the last two flights I've been on had so much carry-on luggage that I had to have mine checked at the last minute after boarding the flight because it didn't fit? Both flights were probably 80% full but not 100% by any means. Its ridiculous - why is everyone carrying on lately? Except Alicia who is still a checker. Silly girl.

More on Martha

Martha Stewart has been released from jail and is on her way home. The big question is what's next for Martha? While this is interesting to ponder, I was most interested in the CNN poll that's published. It's looking at men's opinions of the whole Martha fiasco vs. women's opinions of it. Let's play their game!

If you're a dude, click here and take the poll.

If you're a lady, click here and take the poll.

I'll wait till y'all have had a chance to take the quiz before I post my comments on the results.

The future of VCR put to a vote

I have a VCR and approximately 20 tapes. I am considering getting rid of them because truthfully, I have lived in my apartment for 10 months and haven't watched any of them once. I have, you may wonder, used my VCR in the last 10 months. I tried taping the last episode of Friends in May because I had a work event that night. I taped the wrong thing at the wrong time or something - end result - I've never seen the last episode of Friends. That's all the work my VCR has had in the last 10 months. I think it's time.

Please vote via your comments. Help me determine the future of my VCR.

PS I'm a little scared I'm the only person I know who still has a VCR???

Rockstar. 

We went to lunch on Friday. I think we look cute :) 

Belated picture of our winnings from last week's music trivia. 

How quickly things change

YESTERDAY - Bubba, 22 lb lobster, is moving from the Pittsburgh Fish Market to the Zoo / Ripley's Museum. Hehe, that's a fun interesting "news of the weird" story. Yeah, big lobster!!!

TODAY - Bubba, 22 lb lobster, dies.

The comedy I find is the way the stories are written. Yesterday's is funny, quirky, with lots of funny examples of "if Bubba is x years old, what has he been alive for?" There's even a joke at the end of the article - "If you sat down and ate this thing, wouldn't that be a bit shellfish?"

However, today's has a somber, obituarial tone to it. And, without apologizing for the upbeat tone of yesterday's article, they list 3 examples of large lobsters moving homes and dying the next day. As if to say it makes perfect sense that he didn't live. Except they didn't mention that there's a good chance he wouldn't make it through the move when they wrote yesterday's article. Bastards for getting our hopes up.

Thank you to Natalie for suggestion this blog topic. I think you'll all find humor in this change of events for Mr. Bubba the Lobster. It's funny.

Together forever?

Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen are getting divorced. It says they've been together since 2000, so not that long but for some reason I feel like they've been together forever. I had the same feeling when Rebecca Romijn and John Stamos got divorced. Why do I feel like these couples have been together for so long? I don't know.

I am pro-toll

How would you answer this question: Are you for or against toll roads?

I didn't realize how pro-toll I am until I read this article about changing the carpool lanes on 394 to toll lanes and got really excited. I like toll roads in MA - the Mass Pike is less crowded than other roads and that is definately worth my $. Go tolls!

Free ice cream - today only

A few of you got an express email regarding this promotion - if you didn't get an email from me, I didn't know you had a Yahoo login.

For Yahoo's 10th anniversary, today only, if you go to Yahoo and click on the free ice cream banner and login, you get a coupon for free Baskin Robbins ice cream. Must print out the coupon today. Hurry. Here's the article that summarizes the promotion. Act now!

What? You pay Madison's tuition rate? That's crazy.

Since my freshman year when one of my Wisconsin friends (likely Christina) explained how reciprocity between Minnesota and Wisconsin worked, I've thought the system was bullshit. To me, reciprocity works like it does between Minnesota and South Dakota - essentially, you can go to school in SD and pay as though you were an instate student. To me, that makes sense.

But the fact that WI students are paying Madison rates to attend the U just seems crazy. I think there should be reciprocity, but they shouldn't get a better deal than a MN resident. The news of the day is that this crazy system may soon change - there's a bill in the legislature right now that would change the tuition rates WI students pay to attend the U. (And obviously, the rate MN students pay to attend Madison). I hope it happens.

Another education related article - this article gives lots of facts about how much more likely you are to go to jail if you don't get a HS education. It's specifically related to MN which I like.

Craigslist is da bomb

I heart Craigslist. I have for the past 2 years, and now love it even more. I just found "Best of Craigslist" which are super fun to read. Almost more fun than a blog to browse?

This is my favorite best of craigslist that I've found so far - It's entitled "Not one in a million - one in 3 million". A guy in San Diego went through a number of demographic statistics and essentially made the equation equal that he's the only good looking, young, unmarried, college degree bearing, house owning, guy worth dating in San Diego. So you should obviously email him. It's funny.