Used

I tried googling this answer, but can't figure it out. Am I being gramatically correct with the word used in this way:

I used to go to the bar the Library once a week.

I can't decide if this is perfectly correct, the wrong word, or spelled incorrectly... can you help?

UPDATE: Nothing? Nada? No one can advise? Where's Mrs. Haberman when you need her - probably dying of lung cancer from her 2 pack a day habit.

I like

the Red Hot Shop at Target.com. It shows trends (and the product that Target sells). It's fun marketing will make people buy stuff they don't need but I think it's fun.

Mickey

These are two different people:

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rourke

Thank you Biography channel for clearing this up.

How do you spell procrastinator?

I just got a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction from going to my storage room downstairs, pulling out my skis and suitcase, and bringing them up to my apt. I rewarded myself with more blogging time.

Estimated bedtime tonight: 2:15am (don't worry Alicia - it doesn't take me 3 hours to pack, I have an hour of work to finish, plus some killing time and setting up my new DVR box since it just got replaced -- plus the packing)

Tee of the day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Donkeys invade JCC gym

Here's a reason I don't miss high school... My local paper had an announcement regarding the upcoming jr/sr prom:

-Post-prom fundraiser to kick off this Sunday

What has six legs, two arms and can shoot free throws? The answer: a person playing donkey basketball. There is a reason for the alternative basketball game; it is the sole and primary fundraiser of the post-prom committee.

The tournament will commence at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 19, in the Jackson County Central gymnasium. Tickets to the event are $5.

The concept of donkey basketball is similar to the regular sport of basketball except that players are required to sit astride donkeys for the duration of the game. Only mounted riders are permitted to pass or throw the ball or attempt shots.

Four teams will take to the court on their noble steeds: a junior team, senior team, staff/faculty team and local business team.

“We hope people come out and support the event. It should be a lot of fun.”

Meals will be served beforehand and an activity will also be offered. For more information, contact Jodi at 847-3531.

This year’s prom is scheduled for the evening of Saturday, April 29. Grand March, which is open to the public, will be held in the high school gym at 6:15 p.m.

Dinner at poolside is courtesy of the Econo Lodge and will begin at 7:30. Entertainment begins at 9 p.m. with hypnotist Jason Mystic.

The dance at Econo Lodge will start at 10 p.m. and lasts until 1 a.m., with music being provided by the Bandit Music Machine. Post prom at the high school begins at 1:30 a.m. and lasts until 4.

I can spot 4 things to make fun of in this article - how many can YOU find?

PS I stole the prom pix from some girl's site - I'll give credit and you can check out other pix there...

I didn't realize there were pix from the event on the local RADIO station website (ironicly) - the guy pictured above words at the (only) clothing store in Jackson and graduated a year behind me. Insert you own jackass joke here.

Singing on Craigslist

If I run into these peeps singing in a coffee shop, $1 says I'll be annoyed.

singing
Date: 2006-03-24, 7:46PM CST

I like to sing ,and have a very strong and beautiful voice , i sing in various languages namely arabic and english . I write songs too. Wanna get together with some like-minded poeple and get out and make some buz. wanna meet at a coffee shop and do some solo or what ever the case maybe. Drop me an email

Which would you rather?

Be stuck on a desert island with:

The women of The Real Housewives of Orange County

OR

All the kids from My Super Sweet Sixteen

Holy shit these people are shallow and sad. More than I knew was possible.

In case you're wondering, being stuck w/ Jonathan from Blow Out would be annoying, but at least I'd have pretty hair.

PS Mom - more shows you need to get satellite to get...

Heads up

I'm trying to get packed for my trip to SF/Tahoe and let's just say it's going slowly. I was smart enough to do laundry last night but packing for a city where it might be raining or nice, and skiing where it might be warmish or real warmish isn't easy.

In order to procrastinate more, I'll tell the story of the best airline ticket deal ever...

In January, prior to my voucher expiring, I booked a trip to visit Missy for $350. A bit spendy, but with a $300 voucher not so bad. Then, a month ago I checked on seat selections and saw that my return flight had changed and I was landing almost 3 hours later in Mpls. Not ok since I'm headed to work after the red eye.

I go on Orbitz to look for what other return flight I'll ask American to switch me to and realized that if I took the red eye landing Tues AM instead of Mon AM the ticket was currently only $200. Wowsers.

I called American and asked if they could switch me to the evening flight (technically the same day just 23 hours later) and then if they'd refund the difference in price. They couldn't do that, however since they changed the flight and the landing time was so different, they could cancel that flight for no charge if I'd like.

I had them to cancel my original flight, refund me with a voucher, and then I purchased the $200 flight and took an extra day off of work. Within about 2 hours I made this all happen and saved $150. I was quite proud of myself :)

Lesson from this: If they change your flight time by over an hour, see if buying a different flight and asking for a refund makes sense!

Name that pig...

The name the pig contest for the Saint's mascot is open for submissions through April 14. My submission: Kirby.

New shows!

TLC is rolling out new shows this year, including:

• Family Trip, a series that sends families out on the road to relive vacations they took a generation ago (premiering in fourth quarter or early ’07)
• The Messengers, a one-hour series about “spirituality, charity and hope” set to debut in mid- to late summer
• Take Home Chef, a cooking show hosted by Australian chef Curtis Stone, who helps strangers plan elaborate surprise meals for their friends and families
• The Monastery, an unscripted entry that places two groups of people in a pair of secluded monasteries for 40 days. (The latter two shows are expected to bow some time before the end of the year.)

Good times - I'll have to set the DVR.

Coral???

I was surprised to learn that (via a message from Crate and Barrel) that Coral is the new red. I believe it's been stated in my blog that...

Pink is the new black

and

Green is the new pink

But I do not believe Red is the new green ever happened. Can you help clear up my confusion?

PS I know what color coral is - I just didn't get the memo that Red is the new green which would've needed to happen before Coral is the new red. Get me?

Word of the day

Efficacy.

Fabulous

Renee and Steve's restaurant review website rocks!!! They're a MN couple that visit a randomly selected restaurant weekly and then post their review and have lots of top 10 and categorized lists which are fun. They've visited loads of places, and aren't typical critics that hate everything.

I can't believe I just found this website - granted they may be nutso or have awful taste, but I'm comparing their "top" lists and don't think they're too crazy. So check it out!

It's like I'm from Tennessee

I've been very volunteer-y lately - as evidenced from my query for a volunteer buddy for the Mpls library grand opening. Now, volunteer opportunity at a library #2 - I noticed a request for volunteers at the Roseville Library and checked into it - the volunteer coordinator indicated this:

I am looking for volunteers to sign up for 2-hour shifts at any of our 7 libraries in order to distribute surveys regarding cell phones and pencils, and then be around the box in which the completed surveys are collected. You could choose which library to help in, if your preference is day, evening, or weekend, or if you were interested in doing more than one shift or more than one library. The surveys will be distributed any time during April, 2006.

I'm signed up for one two-hour session on an April Wednesday after work - I'll bet $1 the night I'm scheduled will turn out to be super busy and I won't feel like doing it but I will. Plus, the volunteer coordinator asked for my address so they can properly thank me! I like that! I bet it's a bookmark.

I didn't find info on the website of the Ramsey Co Library, but I can forward you the contact info if you also want to help the library.

Trivia of the day

What rockstar had polio as a child?

Word of the day

Incendiary.

What movie that I own uses this word notably in an important conversation?

Tee of the day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Word of the day

Verdant.

I'd like to incorporate this word into my regular vocab but using def #3...

Out for vaca

I'm headed to SF next week to visit Missy/Tim/Marc/Natalie #1/Allegra after booking this trip in January. What's crazy is that there are literally 4-5 events going on while I'm out of town that I'm missing because I'm going on vacation. I go on vacation a lot but I can't remember the last time so much was going on while I was gone? Things include:

A beer launch at Summit
Casino night at CSOM
Bob Schneider at the Fine Line
Chipotle night at the Swarm game
Others I can't remember

In related Ticketmaster news, Larry the Cable Guy is coming to Mpls on tour. I don't especially like him (but I do like his, "I know I will, I've seen me do it" joke Alicia repeats) but was amazed to see that tix to his NOVEMBER show go on sale today. Really - 8 months in advance? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

Freak

I live in Mpls. But get the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry e-newsletter. I am weird.

But this alerted me to a fun exhibit that's all about da Vinci. Mark your calendar - April 14 through September...

Let the letters begin

I'm back from St. Louis - it was actually a good week of training on our selling system - complete with videos of me making my sales pitch. I won't lie - I was good at selling, yipee! But the tape is still being destroyed - no need to watch myself on tape.

In reference to my title, I've been pondering a few companies/entities against which I'm about to lodge complaints. Once I have some time, I'll put them all out there - I'm complain-y and am going to throw them out there...

Word of the day

Epicurean.

The way I learned this word? It was used to describe dog food, that's right - fancy dog food.

How much steak do you eat?

I'm a member of ZoomPanel and get surveys occasionally online regarding new products or other market research. I think they're fun to take because I like market research and I get points that I can redeem for random things but that's the secondary reason I play the survey game - it's mostly the nerdy research part.

Yesterday, I got a survey regarding my dining habits, and it queried:

How often do you eat steak?

• Every day
• A few times a week
• Once a week
• Once every two weeks
• Once every three weeks
• Once a month
• Less than once a month

Even though I actually like steak, this seemed a little ridiculous - are there people that eat steak EVERY day? Really? I can't imagine there are even that many people that eat steak weekly...

Word of the day

Erythrophobia. Enjoy, Della!

Tee of the day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Too much SNL

I know that I've watched too many SNL spoofs and not enough "real news" when I flip to MSNBC and see Chris Matthews' show. I'm thinking - wow, he looks funny, when I realize he doesn't look like the comic that plays him in skits.

The Real One.

The SNL one.

Ooh, and in regards to other pix - my work computer won't let me download Flickr's picture tool that lets you load multiples, so until I get that and my pix on my personal laptop, there'll be no pix... lo siento.

Capote!

How excited am I that after mailing a Netflix back on Saturday, I have Capote (releasing on DVD tomorrow) that is shipping to me today! I heart Netflix. Unfortunately, I'm in St. Louis through Thursday so I won't see it till then but it's nice to know it'll be there waiting for me.

And, after 4 weekends in a row of having big plans and following through with them both Friday and Saturday nights, I have virtually no plans for this weekend - yippee!

UPDATE: Also received In the Mix - Ursher's hot new movie. I'll let you know if it's as bad as I think it might be - or it may end up being Save the Last Dance-ish which would be fun.

Happy St. Pats!

In honor of St. Pats, we drank beer on Friday night. Then, in honor of the Irish, I thought I'd post this fact related to that country. It's strange and disturbing, but interesting at the same time...

In 1729, Jonathan Swift (best known for writing Gulliver's Travels) wrote A Modest Proposal supposedly written by an intelligent & objective "political arithmetician" who had carefully studied Ireland before making his proposal. The author calmly suggests one solution for both the problem of overpopulation & the growing numbers of undernourished people: breed those children who would otherwise go hungry or be mistreated in order to feed the general public. In A MODEST PROPOSAL (1729) the narrator with grotesque logic recommends, that Irish poverty can solved by the breeding up their infants as food for the rich.

More from Craigslist...

This one doesn't make sense to me:

Single dad
Date: 2006-03-15, 2:47PM CST
Hi, I am a youthful single father of a one year old looking for others-men or woman-to do things with during the day or evenings. I lean more toward kid friendly cultural events, music, arts, museums, outdoors, etc. I am an avid sailer, rock climber and photographer and enjoy introducing my son (Liam) to other kids in a relaxed, healthy atmosphere. Hey, its challenging being a single father. Lets get together and share ideas and interests. Feel free to contact me. Peace, Jeffrey

And this one scares me:

free tooth filling
Date: 2006-03-16, 6:43PM CST
i am going to have a dental exam in university of minnesota in minneapolis ideal cavity and fillings will be done with perfection also cleaning is required the exam time will be friday 31 march and saturday april 1 st if you are interested contact me there might be a compensation

Missour-a

I'm enjoying my first visit to Springfield, MO, home of:

• Missouri State (formerly SW Missouri) - where they're pissed about their team not making the tourney
• Bass Pro Shops -Cabela-ish
• Grizzly.com - website that sells big saws and has big ass warehouses
• People that shop/work in grocery stores that look BROKEN. 25 yr olds that look 45. Imaging how the 45 yr olds look...
• People that pronounce "44" farty-far
• A billboard stating that "Camping without Natural Light is like camping without a tent." I messed it up - it's actually "Camping without Natural Light is just sleeping outside." I got the jist, but screwed up the quote (and didn't take a pic cause my boss would've thought I was crazy...) How true it is...
• And best of all - only 30 short miles to Branson!!!

I'll be home tomorrow.

UPDATE: How could I, a loyal Star Magazine reader, forget that this is the home of BRAD PITT (his parents have a big development on the edge of town and his brother was pictured on a billboard advertisement I saw) as well as the golfer that died in a plane crash - Peyton something? Too lazy to google for it right now.

Really?

Thank you Courtyard Marriott for the nice email regarding my stay in Springfield, MO tomorrow night. However, I really think the info on taxi fares from St. Louis, Tulsa, and Kansas City are entirely unnecessary.

The only value that holds is telling me I'm in the middle of BFE if I'm that large a cab fare from those large but not huge cities. Welcome to Missour-a.

Word of the day

Crapulous.

I couldn't have invented a better definition if I tried. Totally makes sense.

Deal or no deal

I predicted this was on it's way and NWA has finally announced that it will start charging for aisle seat and exit row options in a test program. It was no surprise that the morning news where I first heard this announced dramatized the change - in the Trib it more rationally announced that "On domestic flights there will be no extra fee attached to about 95 percent of the seats in coach." The morning news anchors started making statements about everything costing you - even made a joke about having to pay to be issued a boarding pass.

I expect for other airlines to follow, as they all piggyback on each other's policies. I think if I'm on a 4 hour flight and for $15 can get an exit row that's worth it. I'm rarely assigned middle seats because I book early and since I'm not so wide I'm not usually bothered by it - but again, a 3-4-5-6 hour flight makes all the difference.

I'm trying to decide how much I'd pay for the exit row seat on a international flight - $50? Sooo worth it.

Wright Plus

I'm not going to the Wright Plus event this year, but am happy to be on their mailing list so I'll get notified to buy tix next year. The event is a unique opportunity to tour the interiors of eight private residences and two landmark buildings in Oak Park, IL that FLW designed. At each home, there are "expert interpreters" that will give you all the nerdy facts that make seeing the houses fun...

It's spendy but I think it'd be super fun. It's always held in May so maybe May 2007 will be when it happens...

Woo HOO!

I'm going to work on spelling woo hoo that way as opposed to woo who which is usually what I do without really thinking about it. After having this pointed out to me, I decided it really is the right way and I need to focus on this.

This reminded me of my tonite/tonight debate which, coincidentally, occured exactly one year ago. Random. Even prior to realizing this, I've been getting into the habit of looking at my blog entry from one year ago - I highly recommend the practice (even though it sometimes make me feel like time really f-ing flies...)

Sierra Mist is the common factor

Just realized that Laura and Alicia's upcoming comedy tour includes 2/3 stars of the Sierra Mist SB commercial. Now if only Michael Ian Black would come to town...

Word of the day

Mutiny.

I sort of knew the meaning, but had no idea it related to seamen.

Yipee! Mine is Aidan!

Who is your best match from those sexy men on Sex and the City?

So happy to find out from the quiz that mine was Aidan - he's my favorite and it turns out he's my match... Love you Aidan.

PS For how many more years will I obsess with SATC? Natalie #1 - I predict you will say 10 years more of obsessing over the show is appropriate :) Or more?

Museum dates

Let's be serious, I could just email Alicia about this because I'll put $1 on her going with me to both. But in the spirit of sharing, I'll see if anyone aside from my go-to friend is interested in the following:

Some Assembly Required: Contemporary Prefabricated Houses at the Walker through March 26
Today’s prefab movement has captured the spirit and imagination of a new generation of architects and home buyers, who together have championed a variety of modern modular dwellings that challenge preconceptions about “prefab” homes as cheap, cookie-cutter structures of last resort. This exhibition presents a variety of approaches to prefab—from houses owners can build from a kit of parts, such as Rocio Romero’s LVL House, to those that arrive fully assembled like the diminutive one-room version of weeHouse by St. Paul-based Alchemy Architects.

HOME House Project:The Future of Affordable Housing at the Weisman through April 30
Centered on the critical issue of affordable housing, the HOME House Project features award-winning architectural designs for affordable single-family homes from a competition organized by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The exhibition showcases one hundred innovative design approaches that use sustainable materials, technologies, and methods. Local affordable housing efforts are highlighted in drawings, scale models, and building sections.

Tee of the day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Lost n Found

There's a new nightclub that opened in DT Mpls a few weeks ago called Level. It looks like it's next to (or below?) Spin. I'm wondering if anyone has been or has an opinion?

I think it looks fun, and like that they stated "we aren't like other clubs, we'll keep a $5 cover, if you email us we'll put you on the list so if you're here by 10:30 there's no cover, and we promise to keep drink prices reasonable". While that could be bull, I like that they're making the statement.

I also LOVE that their opening night pictures includes the picture of the lost and found from the end of the night. Hehe.

Volunteer!

The new library DT opens May 20 - fun! I'm thinking about volunteering to help with the grand opening b/c you get 1) a preview of the library during training May 6 and 2) a free tee and 3) a feel good feeling. Since lately I've been a wimp about doing things alone, I'm wondering if anybody else wants to volunteer - you can have a volunteer buddy and they'll coordinate your shifts together.

Franklin Stewart Montgomery Carlson

In Nov I blogged about the man who was paying for baby name suggestions. He has posted a pix of his new baby named Franklin. I like the name - unusual, but not strange, and easy to spell. I'm not sure it was suggested via the web...

UPDATE: I thought about this and realized the nickname Frank could be bestowed on this baby (which is bad). However, I don't think anybody called FDR Frank so it's not a huge X against this name.

Wow South Park Wow

I never realized the depth and breadth of South Park characters - most if not all are described with a very high level of detail... Impressive.

What if it's a Scottish accent?

A Republican legistlator from the St. Cloud/Alex area is heading up a bill that would require that all teachers use "clear English pronunciation" before being allowed to teach undergraduate students at the Minnesota State Colleges (it's a recommendation for the U but they can't make it a law there).

Is it just me, or is this clearly an issue with those that have accents and are teaching not being white? Think of Trey's cousin that Samantha hooks up with at Charlotte's first wedding - literally, could barely understand a single word he said. I feel like this bill is certainly to some degree racist - though I might not say 100% because I'll admit it can be hard to understand some teachers.

However, I liked that the article got quotes from students that were like, yeah, after a few classes you get used to it. And how about Bucky from American Idol's accent? His hillbilly Appalacia (sp?) accent is way worse than any accents of teachers at the U. What surprises me is that similar legislation has gone through in 3 other states. Crazy.

SNOW DAY!

Damn there's a lot of snow out there this AM. Props (sp?) to my dad for being Mr. Predictor yesterdaywhen I disagreed with him that any measurable amount of snow was actually going to show up. Dad is always right.

After attempting to drive to work this morning and seeing a bus and a lightpole realclose together on the hill by Rudolph's, I turned around and came back to work from home. Hell no is my car getting in an accident before it's one month birthday...

Performance reviews

I'm not sure how it works at your company, but at mine, it's time to write up your 2006 goals for your performance review. My work friend Natalie and I (Natalie #3 for your reference) decided that we should include goals regarding more "hell yeahs!" that pair with high fives. It's a fun thing we started doing at work last week and we're thinking it'll catch on with everyone soon.

I miss college

I came across this guy's blog and have been reading it for probably 30 minutes now. He's a Hoosier (as in goes it IU, not that he's WT) and blogs very funny things. I'm excited for his spring break summary which should be posted soon...

My biggest takeaway from his blog was the "Golf Pros and Tennis Hos" party that he attended last month. I didn't realize you could view people's evites, but here's the evite for the college party. He has lots of pix from the party, and the idea of this being a theme for a party piques my interest. I feel like this theme could be effectively implemented for a HS spirit week and looks like it worked quite well for a keg party.

If I ever live in a home with more than one room maybe this could be a party I could have.

St. Paul bar crawl

Thanks to Nate for inviting me to the St. Paul bar crawl last night. I brought these losers with me, and just to give you an idea of the tone of the night, not long after taking these SoCo/lime shots, we started playing which would you rather at our table. Awesome.

Let it be noted that prior to this drink, we drank beers in the parking lot of Nate's building - Nate who I'm pretty sure lives right next door to lil miss K. Farder.

Ooh, and apparently we were all handing out $5 bills because I don't know what happened to all my money and I think the boys feel the same way.

Q & A of the day

From "The Wedding Guys":

Q: Hi, I was just wondering what the proper way to say that young children will not be invited to the reception without offending anyone? Thanks!

A: You know the formal way is to not include their names on the invitation and people should know if they know etiquette. Otherwise it's called word of mouth and I just heard that someone wrote on he bottom of the invitation "adult wedding" not proper but ok I guess and not too offensive. The Wedding Guys!

Why wasn't Nemo a girl?

I came across two related, insightful articles regarding the fact that girls often read books and watch movies "starring" boys and about boys, but boys aren't expected to read books or watch shows about and starring girls. While I'd consider myself pro-female, I've never really considered this.

Geena Davis did, as she released report findings showing that G-rated movies favor boys. "75 percent of all characters were male, 72 percent of the speaking roles were male, and 83 percent of the characters in crowd scenes were male." Maybe 55% would be by chance, but 72% upwards is just silly. The article about the study gives good examples, outlines why this is happening (men create movies and didn't realize they were doing this) and why it should change.

A Slate article talks about why boys might lag in reading skills (because most librarians are female?) and why boys might not like girls books... V. interesting.

Midwest + Northwest = Love

It was probably 4 years ago when Midwest and Northwest ended their practice of letting their FF members earn/redeem on the other's flights. NWA decided to "attack" the MSP-MKE travel and to do this, they couldn't play nice with Midwest. Apparently, this strategy has fallen by the wayside and I'm glad to announce that it's back:

Starting May 1, members of Midwest Miles will be able to earn miles on any Northwest-operated flight, and can redeem program miles for flights on Northwest and KLM. Members of Northwest's WorldPerks program will also be able to earn and spend miles when they travel on Midwest Airlines.

They fly more places than I thought but you've got to go through MKE to get there. But, guess what girl will at the very least enjoy Midwest Airlines Signature Service* on her work flights from MSP-MKE in the future? This girl.

* Midwest Airlines Signature Service, featuring extra-wide, two-across leather seating in every row, plus baked-onboard chocolate chip cookies on many flights.

I miss Waitrose

The U.K.'s Food Standards Agency is recommending a food labeling system that resembles a traffic light to help busy consumers identify which packaged goods are high in fat, sugar and salt. Grocers Sainsbury's and Waitrose have adopted the system, and Asda is expected to institute it soon, said the FSA. But most food manufacturers have opted for a label listing GDAs, or guideline daily amounts, of fats, sugar and nutrients.

I like this idea :)

I don't have a strong opinion?

I read this girl KC's blog and last week she asked on her blog if she should share her blog with a man she started to date. He's aware of the blog, but she hasn't invited him to visit it yet. People vote on the topic and results are pretty mixed. What do you think?

PS How CUTE is her blog template? It's specially created for her by a web designer you can hire to customize your template for a small fee.

British pronunciation of the day

The word is schedule.

We say it sked-jull but those across the pond say probably my FAVORITE of all words with a British accent:

shed-jewel is the best way for me to spell it out for you.

My my Miss Hermione...

Look at Hermione hanging out drinking her Corona. Thank you to the Superficial for sharing this, along with another cute pix w/ Hermione and her cute (but young I know) friends to answer calls that this was Photoshopped.

Avocado

I like avocados but rarely buy them because I buy them when I want to use them, and then they aren't ready and when they're ready I forget. But tonight's purchase I will use as a test to see if I'm responsible enough now to buy avocados. I'll keep you updated.

PS I found a note online about growing your own avocado. I hate plants but a plant that gave me an avocado is a whole different. Has anybody ever attempted washing their avocado's pit, putting it in water, and seeing what happens?

Laura and Alicia's upcoming comedy tour:

Jim Gaffigan - March 18

Kathy Griffin - April 26

How I Met Your Mother

I'm was excited to learn that How I Met Your Mother will return next season - CBS ordered a whole year of it! The show I watch as a lead in, King of Queens, is still debatable - basically if Elaine from Seinfeld can't pull off a sitcom where she's a single mother, King of Queens is in. She's screwed up all the shows she's tried since Seinfeld ended, so my hopes are high.

Since I'm looking back at my blog and not finding that I've raved for How I Met Your Mother before, let this be it: I LOVE this show! Barney, played by NPH, makes it a must watch - if you saw him in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle you know what I'm talking about.

The whole show is just funny, has a good plot, and (similar to the Four Kings show on NBC's Th night lineup) they say things people actually say in real life. Monday nights at 7:30 CT - make it a priority to watch - you haven't missed so much that you'll be clueless and if you're confused, I can fill you in - I've seen all but one episode this season.

PS Did you know the actor that plays Ted started in the Graduate on Broadway with Kathleen Turner? I wonder if he also was in the London show we saw since Kathleen Turner was in that show... Hmmm, lucky I save ALL my programs from shows :)

If Tom is on this show I swear...

OK, I know he's more of a entrepreneur than an inventor but I feel like the two overlap to some degree. Apparently this was heavily promoted during the Oscars last night but I watched it via DVR so I didn't notice. The website describing the American Inventor makes it sound at least worth one watch - plus a reviewer said it's much more Project Runway than American Idol... Premieres THURSDAY, MARCH 16, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., CT, and then move to 8:00 p.m., CT on Thursdays thereafter.

Poor form

I know I have links to articles all the time on my blog, but you should really read this one - it's too long for me to cut and paste into my blog or I'd have done that because I know you (Matt Flores) don't visit the links.

This newsletter talks about a email chain between a law school graduate and a lawyer about her declining a job offer she's already accepted. The exchanges are rude, inappropriate, and in bad taste - amazing that both people have advanced degrees but go on at each other like this via email. The lawyer ended up forwarding it and net-net, it ended up in the Boston Globe.

While the message is that rudeness is as unacceptable in email as it is in person, the reason I like this is reading the actual emails sent between the two people - unbelievable. I hope I never end up emailing like that and having it published in a major newspaper.

Help I need somebody

to let me in their NCAA bracket pool. Last year, I decided that I was going to manage my own pool, but now I'm not sure I have enough friends to run one. Let me know if you have one I can join, or if you'd join mine if I started it.

The only downside is that my f-ing work firewall blocks all the "gaming" sites :(

Coupons + Sarbanes-Oxley = Fun!!! Not really...

Boost your business savvy on the legal and global ramifications of coupons at the 2006 Coupon Conference held in Washington DC March 27-29. Join Carla Johnson and Kris Murphy of Ahold Financial Services, in an interactive discussion on how Sarbanes-Oxley has impacted the way you account for coupons and trade funds. In a separate session, Pam Samaniego of Catalina Marketing will explore the cultural, technical and market forces that shape coupon practices in various parts of the world.

Selling a home to an 18 year old - or their parents?

I'm surprised I haven't seen a building like this up for sale earlier - UFlats is a new building opening this fall by the Days Inn on campus that will be condos for sale. Pitching it that buying is cheaper than renting plus the unit will appreciate so much you'll be rich when you graduate and sell it.

I wonder if they're built so shoddily that they'll look like crap like the UV does now - drive by to see that all the first floor retail is closed, and it sort of looks like the projects. Not Cabrini Green projects, but nice projects.

Mickey D's fancy coffee

Tomorrow the premium line of coffee launches at McDonald's nationally. It's been planned for a while, and I'm excited to try it out. It looks like there's just one kind of beans (no flavors) and a fancy "travel" lid so it won't spit at me like Starbucks - I wonder how they'll price it. I'll give a review when I try it.

The article talking about the launch does a good job of reviewing how this move will affect other coffee retailers and why they didn't get into fancy coffee earlier.

Homebuying articles

I like this article about common mortgage myths - however I don't really think anybody thinks a 30 year mortgage is the best way to go? Maybe old people I guess...

Other related content includes:

When paying off debt is a bad idea - don't push to accelerate paying off your "good debt" if you still have bad debt or if your good debt provides tax benefits

7 creative ways to buy your first house - tenants in common (TIC) and co-housing were certainly the most interesting and "buying a house with your buddy" is the worst idea in my opinion

You've got to be shitting me...

Baby Badger™ uses officially licensed footage of Badger™ sports, mascot, marching band and campus attractions to expose children to The University of Wisconsin® in an exciting, playful and educational manner.

“Raising Tomorrow's Wisconsin™ Fan Today” features the music of The University of Wisconsin Marching Band as well as original footage of the “Badger Kids” enjoying the sights and sounds of the school you love.

We invite you to enjoy this video with your child as Team Baby Entertainment takes you on a fun-filled, colorful and stimulating visual experience with The University of Wisconsin Badgers™.

You can also try to convince your baby to be a Baby Hokie or Baby Gamecock if you'd like... No Baby Gopher yet.

Thank you Massachusetts!

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday the company will reverse its earlier policy and stock emergency contraception pills in all of its pharmacies effective March 20, saying the giant retailer could not justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not to carry the morning-after pill.

The announcement comes after Massachusetts last month ordered the world's largest retailer to stock the so-called Plan B pill, following a lawsuit by three Boston women against Wal-Mart.
Illinois also requires pharmacies to carry the prescription drug, and those are the only two states where Wal-Mart carries emergency contraception.

"We expect more states to require us to sell emergency contraceptives in the months ahead," said Ron Chomiuk, vice president of pharmacy for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.
"Because of this, and the fact that this is an FDA-approved product, we feel it is difficult to justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not selling it," Chomiuk said in a statement.

Word of the day

Remiss.

It's a short and simple word, but I wasn't exactly sure of the definition. For the record, Alicia used it perfectly in her blog.

Are you familiar?

Once again, the CBS Sunday Morning show caused me to google almost constantly - because it talks about fun things and my inquisitive mind wants to look things up and learn more. This time, it's a yummy drink from Turin. I didn't blog much about the Olympics since I only watched about 7 minutes of the Games, so here's my ode to Turin: Bicerin.

A bicerin is the traditional drink of Turin, Italy. It has been made there since the mid 1700s, essentially unchanged over the past nearly 250 years. It is a mixture of milk and chocolate (locally produced in Italy), coffee and whipped cream. You get three mini-pitchers of the three parts of the drinks and then make-it-yourself at your table.

I'll add this to my list of reasons why I need to go back to Italy.

Lists lists lists

Since the turn of the millennium, there's been a flood of new CDs: hundreds of thousands. Amazon.com's team of music editors has sifted through the bounty and come up with our own list of the cream of the crop.

I enjoyed browsing this, and was slightly disappointed in myself for owning less music from this list that I would have expected... Not surprised, just disappointed - I created a list to iTune. I appreciate the many categories and subcategories.

More art I like!

Thank you to my favorite show that I watch religiously now that I can DVR things - the CBS Sunday Morning show. It's on from 8-9:30am so I watched it maybe quarterly in real time. Now it's one of my favorite shows to watch on DVR (more on the joys of DVR in another posting).

Today, it shared with me the art of David Hockney. I'm sure I should've already been familiar with him but I wasn't. I've always liked portraits more than other art subjects, and his portriats incorporate comedy and aren't always flattering to the subjects (which I enjoy). I think they're super fun, example below:


Unfortunately, I no longer live in Boston and thus can't pop over to Boston's MFA for the show, but luckily, I will be in Southern California when the show comes to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Look at me - planning art trips 6 months in advance...

I also have a trip planned next time I'm in St. Louis to visit an exhibit I think looks interesting - Impressionist Camera: Pictorial Photography in Europe at the St. Louis Art Museum. Maybe I'm just a late bloomer when it comes to art and I'm in puberty right now? It's a theory.

British pronunciation of the day

Since this is my first British pronunciation of the day posting, I'm going to explain it:

Sometimes I hear a word pronounced with a British accent, and instantly I love it. Think the scene from Love, Actually in the Milwaukee bar with all the girls.

Today's word is privacy. Said by the Brits, they use a short i sound instead of the long i as we say it, and it's priv-a-cy instead of pri-va-cy. It's super fun.

If you have any favorite British words, holla. And I don't mean "flat" instead of apartment, I'm talking regular words with a fun pronunciation.

Dear Best Week Ever,

Thank you for adding Santino and Daniel V. to your Best Week Ever contributors. Perhaps this means they're the final 2 and Chloe got eliminated? Please keep them on as contributors, it makes me h-a-p-p-y.

PS Did you see that Chloe has 7 sisters? I feel like that's a Guiness Book of World Records thing.

FUN?!?!?!

I know I'm a loser and will be made fun of for the following:

I know the MOA is not the most fun place ever. I know malls on Saturdays are not great places to be. I also know that a bedmaking championship is not exciting in the scheme of life.

I also think it'd be fun to see the National Championships at 1pm on Saturday, March 18 at the MOA. I'm around and this could be sandwiched in between celebrating St. Pats on Fri and getting to see Jim Gaffigan on Saturday night.

Tell me I have a friend in this - Heidi stepped up to see S.D.O'C, what have you done for me lately?

Want my Civic???

Ooh, so fun. My Civvy is for sale from the dealership where I traded it in - and it's sitting pretty w/ loads of pix at the dealer's "auction" website. I heart the Altima but still miss the Civvy a tiny tiny bit.

They're wrong about the window tinting - I don't remember rolling up w/ tinted windows...

Insurance advice

I'm looking at changing insurance companies - the only reason I got Liberty Mutual after graduation was because I lived in Mass and literally there are 2-3 companies that offer auto insurance in the state because of the f-ed up blue laws there... With a new car, I'm wondering what's out there that's cheaper...

Unfortunately, I still have an accident in my prior 5 year history :( :( :( but it still looks like Geico is $300 cheaper! Anybody have them? Or a different insurance company recommendation or un-recommendation?

Word of the day

Mercurial.

Big word, especially for Andrae.

Video killed the photos on the blog?

Does anyone know how to post video clips on blogs? Do I need a server somewhere to post it to? I have fun video clips and would like to throw them up here but need help.

Holla.