please don't shoot into the air on NYE

Police are asking the public to refrain from shooting guns into the air tonight, according to this article in the Sun-Sentinel:

"Other warnings from authorities this New Year's include a plea for revelers to
refrain from firing bullets into the sky because those bullets eventually fall
back to the ground. Pets and people standing outdoors can be traumatized by the
noise or find themselves shot.One such falling bullet last year claimed the life
of Audley Ebanks, 69, of Fort Lauderdale. He was at a New Year's party in
Plantation when he suddenly collapsed. Doctors didn't realize until days later
that a bullet had entered his shoulder, leaving only a small mark, and pierced
his heart, killing him."

Huh? Why are people firing guns into the air in the first place? Where are we, the wild west? Come on, you can have fireworks in Florida, which I don't think is a super idea considering the idiots who blow off their fingers, but that seems much safer than these goons who are firing guns into the air. Watch out tonight! You might get hit by a stray bullet while waiting for your tow truck to come bring you home!

too much to drink? get a free tow home

This article in today's Sun-Sentinel is great. If you live in Florida and find yourself too drunk too drive tonight, according to the article:

"You and your car can get a free lift home on a tow truck by calling
800-AAA-HELP (222-4357). When the automated machine answers, dial 1, wait for an
operator and say "Tow to Go."

How cool is that? I knew that this program existed, but I had no idea how it actually worked. And even cooler, the tow truck drivers are aware that some folks might upchuck in the tow truck, so they'll give you a barf bag if you need one.

Party on South Florida! But, be safe!

boston cabbies are pissed

I read an article in Boston Magazine about how the Boston cabbies are lobbying for a bill of rights to protect them. And the people of Boston are lobbying for a stronger bill of rights to protect them. What's going on?

The Boston cabbies claim that they can't make any money. With Boston cab fares being the third most expensive in the nation, what gives? One major problem is the cost of the medallions. The going rate for a Boston cab medallion is $335,000, about the price of a studio apartment in Roxbury. Who can afford that? One cabbie recently worked 90 hours in a week and made $900. After paying the medallion owner, gas costs, and costs for the cab car, he was left with $90. That's $3 an hour. Is it worth it?

I have a strong hatred for Boston cabbies. Having taken too many cab rides in my time in Boston, I have been taken the long way home, the wrong way home, and one jerky cabbie once claimed he had no change for the twenty dollar bill I gave him on a twelve dollar cab ride. When I reported him to the Boston Cab complaint line, they told me I would have to come to their office for a hearing. Come on, I'm not going to do that over $8 that the cabbie stiffed me. Where's the incentive? And then there is the time that Steven and I were in a cab and the guy had no idea where he was going, yet decided to take the most congested roads to get us to where we were needed to be. When we yelled at him and got out of the cab (in the middle of the street) he chased us. We had to call the police.

I feel for the cabbies who aren't making money and the ones who get robbed and beat up. That's not cool at all. But I think there is a definite flaw in the Boston cab system. For example, cabbies should know the city better than anyone. And they should be able to understand English. Pretty simple, right? But nothing in Boston is ever that simple. And that's why I love that quirky city.

priceless

New flapper thingie for toilet: $40
New roll of toilet paper: 50 cents
Being able to use the toilet after you fixed it yourself without the use of a plumber...

PRICELESS!

poltergeist

There is a scene in Poltergeist where the creepy little girl sits on the kitchen floor and is moved across the room. There is a spot on my desk at work that is similar, sort of.

Every night I leave the plastic water bottles that I have drank (drunk?) during the day on the corner of my desk. Somehow, during the night they disappear. I have never asked any questions as I assumed the cleaning folks took them.

Yesterday I left a banana in that spot. It wasn't quite ripe and I wanted to give it a day to do its magic so I could eat it today. When I arrived to my office this morning IT WAS GONE. I should say that the mysterious spot on my desk is kind of right next to where my mouse is. It's not the exact corner of my desk, so whomever took my fruit did it deliberately. I wonder why? It was a perfectly good banana, although a tad unripe. Perhaps that's why.

I should leave something else there and see if it disappears.

blond ambition

I was lucky/unlucky enough to see Jessica Simpson's new movie, Blond Ambition. I will preface this post with the fact that I did NOT go to the movies to see it. That would just be silly.

I had no expectations when I watched this movie. I had 90 free minutes and what better way to spend that time than watching a bad movie. Although the plot is totally predictable and not very believable, it is a cute movie. Willy Nelson makes a few appearances (as "Paw-Paw"), and Luke Wilson is in the movie also. I do think Jessica Simpson is great looking, although a little too "clean". I bet she is a dud in the sack.

Anyway, the movie is cute. If you have 90 minutes that you want to wast, then check out this movie, otherwise, go clean the bathroom or something.

broken wine glasses

When we got married we received 12 wine glasses from our registry. For some reason we thought it would be cool to have giant wine glasses. This was a bad idea for two reasons: giant wine glasses hold...a lot of wine...and they break easily. First off, the giant wine glasses are so big that we have a tendency to pour too much wine into them. No one needs a quart of wine in their glass. We didn't think of that when we picked them out.

Second, these glasses, although really pretty, are quite thin. This leads to broken glasses, especially after having one or two filled with wine. I admit that *most* of the broken glasses have been a result of my clumsiness. Either I walk by one on a table on our patio or knock one over with my big meat paws. Last night I just plain knocked one into the sink. A sink full of dishes.

As our supply of giant wine glasses began to dwindle we realized that it was time for new, smaller, more durable glasses. Oh, and ones that can go into the dishwasher. That was another pain in the butt thing about the big glasses - they had to be hand washed.

We have the BEST liquor store in our town, Total Wine and Spirits. It is like Toys-R-Us for adults. It is huge and they have every wine/liquor/beer product imaginable. Steven was even able to find the vodka he liked that is widely available in Russia, but hard to come by in the US.

Anyway, they also have wine glasses. Cheap wine glasses. We bought 12 for our recent book club and none were broken. They aren't as nice as the giant wine glasses, but they are a better size, thicker glass, and can go in the dishwasher.

We have one giant wine glass left. I wonder how long it will last. Maybe I should just break it now and put it out of its misery.

* The image of the wine glass is not mine, although it looks a lot like our giant wine glasses. I didn't take a picture of the broken wine glass in the sink because we went to bed with the glass broken all over our dirty dishes. It's not an image I want to share with anyone :) I did clean up the mess this morning before work and all is now right in the world.

leddy's bakery

My mother travels for work. She always has. One of the things that was cool about her travelling was that she would often bring home dinner from whichever town she was working in. One of my favorite towns she worked in was Fall River because she would bring home chicken pies from Leddy's Bakery. Leddy's is a bakery that has been around for a million years. Sadly, Fall River has had years of hard times and many businesses have left that area, but Leddy's has proudly marched on and is still going strong. I have never personally been to Leddy's, but my mother describes it as a place that is full of old ladies making delicious treats. Their premier treat, chicken pies, are available two days a week. My mother would bring home a bunch of these and we would eat them for days.

What I really love about these chicken pies are that they are full of white meat chicken, potatoes, carrots, and the best crust I have ever tasted. Oh, and they cost $4 each (they are big, they will serve 2-3 people). When I was a kid they were priced at $2, which none of us could believe, because that was the bargain of the century. While inflation has hit Fall River and he rest of the country, the price of the pies is still fair.

My mother brought home a load of pies for us to eat for dinner while we were visiting. It has been 10 years, but these pies are still the same and still are my favorite. I ate almost an entire pie for dinner, and although I felt a little sick from all the food, the smile on my face brought back happy memories of my childhood and Leddy's chicken pies.

If you're ever in Fall River, stop by Leddy's and pick up a pie or two You won't be disappointed!

my mother wants a hippopotamus for christmas

Recently my mother told me about a Christmas song about a little girl who wants a hippo for Christmas. She even sang some of it to me over the phone. I had never heard of the song, but we agreed that we would try and find it while I was at their house over Christmas on their new computer. Well, we did find the song and it is very catchy. I find myself singing it quite a lot.

Steven received a thing that plays this sing when you push the button, so I am going to crown this year "The Year of the Hippopotamus Christmas"!

dulles airport blows

I hate Dulles airport. Usually I hate it because flights never seem to leave there on time. But today it was for a different reason.

On our way from Fort Lauderdale to Dulles for our changeover to our Boston flight, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a proper breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausage, and maybe a biscuit. Since we had almost two hours between flights, I was confident we would be able to accomplish our breakfast mission. Steven agreed that this plan sounded good.

When our flight landed at Dulles, we set off in search of our yummy meal. Sadly, there were only a couple of places that sounded like they would serve what we wanted. It's pretty easy to eliminate Sabarro's and Peking China from the list. We were left with one place, a pub.

When we arrived at the pub, the sign told us to wait for the host for a seat. Ten minutes later, we were seated. When the waiter came over, he told us that he wouldn't be able to deliver our order for 35 minutes. We said that was OK and asked him if we could place our order (to be delivered in 35 minutes). He told us that the kitchen was out of "supplies" and they couldn't make most menu items for a while. At this point, after waiting so long to be seated and then being told that we couldn't have any food (by this point I was practically salivating at the prospect of this breakfast), I stormed out of the restaurant, a scowl on my face with Steven in tow.

By this point I was crabby. Dulles has struck again. We settled on the only other place that served some form of eggs. It was a Mexican-esqe restaurant and I was able to have my egg breakfast, albeit with chorizo and a tortilla, but it did the trick. Sort of.

Damn you, Dulles!

the nastiest bagel...

...is a salt bagel. Why do they make them?

Happy Holidays y'all! I hope Santa is good to you.

really hard holiday quiz

I failed this quiz miserably. I got a 60%.

Who the fuck knows "A special Christmas meal is salted cod-fish with boiled potatoes eaten at midnight on Christmas eve in ..." You'll have to take the quiz to find out.

what I so wouldn't do for Jamie-Lynn Spears

From Pink is the New Blog:

"She's a young girl, so I would want to keep [her look] innocent. I think little cute dresses and jeans with tight-fitting tee shirts. ... She's 16, and I'd like to see her look her age." -- maternity designer Liz Lange on how Jamie-Lynn Spears should handle her unplanned pregnancy.

Um, yeah, that's a good look. A little girl all preggers.

this made me laugh

I was looking at What Would Tyler Durden Do, a snarky blog, and I came across this picture. I didn't think anythnig of it until I noticed the caption at the bottom. Classic!But, in all seriousness, there is a lot of scuttlebut about the picture below. How old is Hillary? My 80 year-old Grandmother looked like this in the face. I guess it's true that running for president adds 20 years to you.

martha stewart disses the donald

I love Martha Stewart. As only she can do, she disses the Donald with her subtle attitude. I wouldn't want to piss off Martha and meet her in a dark alley. No sir. Click to watch Ms. Stewart and Joan Rivers dish the girl talk over buttered skillets.


Martha disses the Donald (From Defamer.com)

gizoogle.com

Gizoogle.com has been around for a while, but I thought of it today and it made me laugh. Gizoogle will take a web page and ch-ch-change it to look like Snoop Dogg wrote it. It's really funny.


Here is a post straight from here:

And here is the same post "Gizoogled":

Yeah dogg.

wait, this one might be better

man turns up the heat, wife shoots TV

If someone has a gun and you want to turn up the heat and they protest, PUT ON A SWEATER.

From The Cape Cod Times:

A woman who was angry because her husband wanted her to turn up the heat pulled out a gun and shot their flat-screen TV while he cowered behind a pillow, Macomb County authorities say.
The 65-year-old man called 911 Sunday night from the basement of their Washington Township home, about 25 miles north of Detroit.

"My wife's got a gun. She's shooting at me," Joseph Grucz said in the recorded call.
He told the operator that Cheryl Grucz, 61, was angry because he wanted the heat turned up. She fired a round while he hid his head in a pillow, striking the plasma TV, then went upstairs, the Detroit Free Press said.

"She's all excited about it because she's so cheap," the husband said.
His wife, who had picked up another extension, told the operator she wanted to tell her side.
"I'm not going to hurt him. He has pushed me over the edge, that was all," Cheryl Grucz said, according to a recording obtained by WXYZ-TV. "He has had a stroke, and he's taking it all out on me."

"No I'm not," her husband said.

"Yes, he is," she told the dispatcher.

Cheryl Grucz was arraigned Monday in Romeo District Court on a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, a charge with a top penalty of 10 years in prison. She also faces a felony firearms charge. Grucz was freed on $50,000 bond until a preliminary examination Jan. 15.
The judge also ordered her to enroll in a domestic violence program, WDIV-TV said.

britney's sister is preggers

It's all over the news, so it won't be news here, but this picture really cracked me up. Her expression is perfect.

From TMZ

sometimes I feel like I win

I can't say enough about the drivers in Florida. Your first thought is probably that I am talking about all the old people down here. Well, I'm not. I'm talking about the younger people who apparently took their driving lessons from Mister Magoo. But this is a story of some goodness that recently happened to me in a roundabout way...

I have a very short commute to and from work. 8 minutes to be exact. I take a right, 2 lefts, 2 rights, and 3 lefts to get to my driveway. Easy. Well, the second left is at a crazy intersection where you can't see the oncoming traffic. I don't know who engineered this intersection, but it is dangerous to say the least. I haven't seen or been in an accident here (knock on wood), but you have to be really careful when making a left turn. This particular day was like any other and I crossed my fingers and made the left turn. To do this you really have to give the car some gas and go. As I did this I noticed a police car was coming down the road. He got behind me and followed me down the road. I had nothing to be nervous about but for some reason I always get nervous when the police are behind me. Do I have a tail light out? Am I driving too fast? Is he in a bad mood and going to pull me over just to be a jerk?

Mr. Police followed me down the road and when I made a right turn, so did he. I made sure to follow the speed limit (I'm not a speeder, but we all drive a little too fast down these roads) and maintain the 10 and 2 grip on the steering wheel. It was all good. When we got to a stop sign I came to a complete stop and looked for oncoming traffic. There was a car a ways down the road so I made my turn. As soon as I finished the turn I looked in my rear view mirror and the car that had just been way down the road was barreling towards me, horn blaring. This guy was obviously flying down the road and he was pissed because he thought I pulled out right in front of him. Had he been going the proper speed he would have been fine. I just laughed because I knew that if I had seen what just happened, then Mr. Police did too, but the honking jerk behind me didn't see the cop.

I prayed real quick that the cop would pull him over and sure enough he did! It was music to my ears (and eyes) to hear his siren and see his lights flash as he pulled over the speeding jerk. I sang a little happy song on the rest of my ride home, which was about 30 seconds. Sometimes good things happen to good people. And that day it was me!

if the Family Guy characters were real

My favorite show!

If the Family Guy Characters were Real

from Ebaum's World

man loses glasses in car wash, goes apeshit

From BoingBoing:

Man goes crazy in Car Wash

This is really something. What a douchebag.

CNN/Money 101 dumbest business moments 2007

These are great. I had forgotten about some and others I didn't know about.

Check out the list.

Here are some of my favs:

44. Bank of America
Another subprime stunt
A Bank of America branch in Ashland, Mass., is evacuated after it receives a fax with the image of a lit match being held to a bomb's fuse. The fax, sent by the company to alert employees to an upcoming promotion, somehow comes through without its text, which should read "The Countdown Begins ... Small Business Commitment Week June 4--8."


66. Rhode Island Hospital
It's not as if they're doing brain surgery or anything
The state Department of Health fines Rhode Island Hospital $50,000 when, for the third time in less than a year, one of its doctors operates on the wrong side of a patient's head.


70. Circuit City
Good job. You're all fired.
In a cost-cutting move, Circuit City lays off all sales associates paid 51 cents or more per hour above an "established pay range" - essentially firing 3,400 of its top performers in one fell swoop. Over the next eight months Circuit City's share price drops by almost 70%.


90. Southwest Airlines, Part 2
Fly the didn't-you-learn-anything-from-the-Kyla-Ebbert-fiasco skies
A man boarding a Southwest Airlines flight in Ohio is ordered to change his T-shirt, which depicts a fictional fishing shop with the words MASTER BAITER. The airline is again forced to apologize.

93. British Airways Part 2
Fly the oh-gross-oh-gross-ohgross-get-it-away-from-me skies
On a British Airways flight from New Delhi to London, first-class passenger Paul Trinder wakes up from a nap to find the corpse of a woman who had died in the economy cabin being placed in the seat next to him. Upon complaining about the incident, Trinder - a gold-level frequent flier who logs 200,000 miles a year with the airline - says he is told he will not be compensated and should just "get over it."

from CNN/Money.com

the rice

Here is "the rice"!

Hazzard county

We went to Cracker Barrel yesterday for breakfast with Steven's family. There was a couple sitting at the next table and they guy was wearing the most obnoxious shirt I have ever seen:

His shirt reads:

Rebel Born,
Rebel Bred.
When I die, I'll be a
REBEL DEAD!
Southern by the grace of God

WTF? First of all, that is really offensive to a lot of people. Second, its just a really ugly shirt. Halfway through his meal he left for a moment and came back with this on:

MUCH better, Redneck Man. His jacket read 'Keep it Country'. That's nice. I'd even wear that. I don't know the real reason he put on his jacket, but I hope it was because his wife told him that everyone was staring at him (and someone was taking pictures of him). I doubt it. He was probably just cold.

dreaming of water

Steven and I ordered Chinese take-out last night for dinner. We spent the weekend with his family and the last thing we wanted to do when we got home was to cook dinner. You don't have to twist my arm very hard to get me to agree to take-out.

Our favorite Chinese take-out place is closed on Sunday for some reason. I can understand Mondays, but Sunday? We ordered from somewhere else - I don't know the name because Steven was in charge of the ordering last night. If we're going to be real bad, we get this:

House-fried rice, no color (soy sauce)
Crab rangoons
General Tso chicken (aka General Gao chicken)
2 egg rolls

Well, we were bad last night. I heard Steven ordering the items and he yelled to me that they had multiple sizes on the rice rice: small, med, large and jumbo. Oh, what the hell, I wanted to see what the jumbo was all about. HOLY SHIT! I will post pics of this monstrosity. I can't describe it accurately. You'll just have to see the picture. Picture a bucket of KFC chicken. All we could do was laugh when we saw it. It was enough for 10.

I know what I'll be eating for lunch all this week.

Last night I kept dreaming about water. I was drinking glass after glass but I wasn't getting satisfied. I even thought in my dream that I should stop drinking all this water because I was going to make myself sick. When I woke up, I practically ran to the refrigerator to get some water. Steven reported the same thing happened to him. Damn Chinese food. It happens every time!

this is why celebs hate everyone

I wonder how often this kid gets his ass kicked? I bet its a lot.

#1 Fan (from TMZ)

tech support for our toilet

One of the things I love about our house are the toilets. I know it sounds funny, but our toilets are the kind that you might see in a store or at work. They are the ones with a giant flush that is really noisy and powerful. I have no idea who picked these out for our house, but they are fantastic.

Lately we have been having problems with one of them. Most of the time it flushes fine, but sometimes it malfunctions and requires a second flush. We've been ignoring the problem for a few days and yesterday I finally decided to investigate the problem. I opened up the toilet and saw this:

WTF? I've never seen a toilet like this in my life. Where is the water? I noticed there was a valve that was leaking when the toilet flushed. I also noticed that there was a technical support number written on the "flusher" unit! How cool, tech support for the toilet. I immediately dialed the tech support number and was put into the toilet troubleshooting queue. I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally I hung up. Apparently a lot of people were having problems with their toilets last night because no one ever came on the line to help me troubleshoot my john.

I am going to call them again next week when we return from Steven's mother's house. I hope they don't have to send a tech out to our house to work on it!

NE slated to get first big snowfall of the season

New England is bracing for their first significant snowstorm of the season this afternoon. I love snowy days where you can sit inside and watch all the action from near the fireplace. But, I hate the next day when everything is messy and wet. I remember last year we were constantly scraping the ice from our driveway. Armed with salt, we were always out there it seemed.

Have fun today New Englanders. Make a snowman for me! Or a snow angel, those are fun to make.

santa's baby

This is a hilarious video 'Santa's Baby' by Jackie Beat. Soooo NSFW.

i'm a terrible wrapper

Steven had to work late last night, so after I got home and took Millie for a walk, I poured a glass of wine, put on Christmas music and set out to wrap presents. I enjoy wrapping presents for about 30 minutes, after that not so much. My problem is that I am a terrible present wrapper. The fundamental issue is that after 30 minutes I don't take the time needed to correctly wrap a present. For example, it is widely known that you really should spend the time to make sure the piece of paper that you're going to use is the right size. I often err on the side of too much paper, and rather than trim the paper down to the size I need, I fold the paper and continue on. Some people can make this work, but I am not one of them. What happens is that when I get to the ends of the present I can't make the nice fold needed to seal it up. Inevitably, I end up with a lopsided fold and some of the underside of the paper showing. Having been this way forever, I do have some tricks to hide the underbelly, but it still sometimes looks a little funny. Last night was no exception.

Another challenge I have are odd-sized packages. One present I was wrapping had something sticking out of the front of the box, so three sides were smooth and the front was bulging. There really is no nice way to wrap a present like this. In the last few years I have become a big fan of gift bags, but you really need to be careful with these. You can overdo gift bags. The key is to mix the bags with wrapped presents for a cohesive look under the tree. Too many bags and it looks like a food drive under there. I usually go for a 30/70 mix of bags and presents. I can make a mean gift bag, so I leave those for the end. It's a good finish to my wrapping frenzy.

I wrapped the presents in order of where they were going: my stepmother (I had to also box them up and prepare them for shipping), my family in MA (ditto, shipped), and Steven's family (we're delivering these in person this weekend). I have to say it wasn't too bad this year. We have a lot of Christmas music (and a lot of wine!), and somehow I was able to get everything wrapped and in its respective packaging about 10 minutes before Steven arrived home from work. After that we ate dinner and watched Mary Poppins. I had never seen it and it was really cute! It wasn't so cute when it came on again immediately afterwards, but whatever. A spoonful of sugar makes the presents get wrapped.

creepy hands hold up your newborn in the crib

This is a really creepy invention. What I don't get is how you are suppsed to "scent it with your scent".

from BoingBoing

james franco smoked a big fatty

This is a funny video of James Franco directly after he took a giant bong hit.

Subtle.

i heart target

Steven and I are going to be away the next couple of weekends so we decided to finish our holiday shopping over the weekend. Living in Florida requires us to send my family's gifts to them, a new thing for us. But Steven's family lives on the other coast, so we can deliver those ourselves. With Christmas fast approaching we figured it wise to finish up our shopping and get whatever needs to go to Boston in the mail this week.

We made a trip to Target where we did had a massive shopping experience. Target has it all: laundry soap, wrapping paper, stocking stuffers, CDs (we bought Amy Winehouse's first album, not so good), bird houses (thanks for the gift idea, ES!), you name it, Target has it. And all at fair prices. Unlike those other stores, Target keeps their stores clean, friendly and fun. Now, I know I sound like an ad for them, but as an avid shopper, I know what I like. And I like Target.

We finished our shopping (yay!), but now it all has to be wrapped and shipped. I am going to start on that tonight and hopefully get it in the mail tomorrow. Ho ho ho!

christmas in florida

I was on the phone with my mother today and she asked me what we had done in the way of Christmas decorations. She seemed surprised when I told her that we hadn't done a thing (in our defense, we are going to be away much of December and we didn't think it was worth it to decorate). One thing that I have noticed down here is that I don't get that warm Christmas feeling, due to the weather. Up north it feels like Christmas; its cold. Down here it isn't. And we have palm trees. Our neighbor put up a bunch of Christmas lights all over his palm trees. It looks cute, but it doesn't remind me of Christmas (in my opinion, at least).

People in Florida definitely get into Christmas. In fact, I'd say that more people down here decorate their houses than in Boston. One big reason is probably that it is just easier to do it. In Boston it would be cold and many houses are multi-stories, so that requires a ladder and runs the risk of falling off said ladder.

There are a lot of ugly, tacky decorations that people choose to display. I don't know why someone would think that a 20-year old Santa with one leg would make a good yard decoration to shine a spotlight on. But what do I know, we don't even have a tree.

Speaking of trees, I don't understand the whole live tree deal down here. I have been driving by tree places that are loaded with live trees. Why would you buy a live tree in south Florida? First of all, it took forever to get it from Canada or wherever Christmas trees come from. It was probably cut down in the summer and now you're going to put it in your house? It doesn't make sense to me. If we get a tree next year I'd like to investigate the fakers. not only do I think that real Christmas trees are wasteful, but down here they are even more so. I'm not here to preach, though, so I'll move on.

I do miss those cheapo plug in candles that people put in their windows. That is definitely something that you see a lot of in Boston. Down here, not so much. I'm not sure why. Probably because they are a fire hazard around the dead Christmas tree.

bring your dog to Disney World

This article in today's Sun-Sentinel highlights a new service that is coming to Disney World where you can bring your pet and they will stay in four star quarters at the resort. The staff will provide your dog with a room with a balcony, television, lambs wool bed and even read your pet a bedtime story. The last time I checked my dog can't read, nor is she interested in bedtime stories. When Millie is ready for bed she puts herself in her crate. No kidding. In Boston she would go upstairs when she was ready to call it a night. It was pretty funny to watch.

But back to Disney. I think this is a great idea. People want to travel with their pets. We live within driving distance to Disney, so we would probably do this if we went. I'm not a fan of flying with your pets in the cargo hold, since there are risks to the animal, but since so many people now keep their dogs in small purses and the like, getting your pooch to Disney World for some R&R just became a reality.

have you ever googled yourself?

I once asked a friend if he had ever googled himself. He laughed and said that sometimes when he's alone he would google himself. Seriously, though, it is interesting to run a search on yourself.

A search on my name reveals some interesting results:

• Christian Preparation for the Second Coming
• a football player's bio (including "Arguably the most improved offensive lineman for the 2007 Spring"!) Yeah, that's right.
• bio of a cardiology physician
• a picture from my namesake
• a real estate company bearing my name

The list goes on and on. Mixed in with the results are entries that are mine, but since I have a name that isn't all that unique, finding me on Google is kind of hard. If you have an unusual name then you're pretty much set that searchers will be able to find you. I even found an old phone number from 5 years ago for me. Now that's some outdated information, Google! You'd better get cracking.

fort bostcod

I love those new AT&T commercials where they mash up the cities where people call. If you go to AT&T's site you can create your own cool city name.


I am from Fort Bostcod. Come on down and visit!

AFA and three men in a shower

I'm not overly into pushing my political opinions on others. We all have different views on things and that is the way it should be. What I believe isn't necassarily what you believe and vice versa. That's fine. But we all know that there are a lot of people out there who think that their way is the right way and that's that. I received the email below from the American Family Association. All I could do was laugh. They're latest thing is to boycott Ford becuase they put an advertisement in a gay magazine (not porn), OUT! Magazine, which was on the opposite page as a picture and story about some guys in a shower. WTF? Who cares? Am I seriously not going to buy a Ford-owned Volvo car becuase of something like this? No way, and neither are most people (incidently, I do drive a Volvo, but not because of the shower ad:)

Here is the email:

Dear Mark,

Sales of Ford automobiles were flat in November, rising only 0.4 percent when compared to sales during November 2006. Since AFA began a boycott of Ford in March 2006, sales have dropped in 18 of the 21 months. Ford suffered a 12.1 percent loss for the year.

Ford continued to show support for the homosexual agenda, running a full page ad in the Dec. 07 - Jan. 08 homosexual publication OUT! The ad, for Ford's Volvo brand, was adjacent to a photo of three men taking a shower together. To see the ad and the shower photo, click here. (Warning! The photo is extremely graphic and offensive.)

AFA began the boycott of Ford after the company reneged on an agreement to stop supporting homosexual efforts. Ford reneged because of pressure from homosexual activists.

AFA asked Ford to remain neutral in the culture war, but Ford refused.

Please call your local dealer and tell him you are participating in the Ford boycott. To find your dealer, click the Take Action link below.

Please forward this to your family and friends!

Take Action! More info on Ford boycott

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

And here is the "offending" ad:
/Out_Magazine_Dec07.PDF

suicide safety smock

I was reading an article in the news that referenced the "defendants are wearing suicide safety smocks'. WTF is that? Well, here it is, the Suicide Safety Smock. It's the latest in prison fashion.

our first party

We had our first party this past Friday. We've had people come over and we've hosted guests who have stayed with us, but this was our first official party. We are part of a book club and every month we meet and discuss a particular book. What is interesting about this book club is that the book is really just an excuse for us all to get together. We've read The Memory Keepers Daughter, also a book about the ocean (I missed that month) and one of the other people in the group is an author, so one month we read a manuscript that she had written. Steven and I didn't assign a book for this month since it is the holidays and we figured no one would read since we're all so busy.

I wasn't worried about the party, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a good time. Steven cooked up a great meal the night before the party so that he wouldn't have to be in the kitchen the whole time. He made grilled chicken medallions, grilled vegetables (yellow squash, zucchini, onions, red peppers, and sun dried tomatoes) and his famous orzo salad, which he borrowed from Bobby Flay on the Food channel. For dessert he made strawberries and peaches served over angel food cake with cool whip. A simple and yummy dessert that everyone loved.

We dressed Millie up in her pearls and she was very well behaved. We got a lot of compliments on her. She is the best dog, so well behaved and calm. I don't know where she gets it. Neither Steven nor I have either of those traits!

This weekend was truly great. Friday night was the party and both Saturday and Sunday I spent at the beach. Saturday I went to John Lloyd State Park and Sunday we went to Haulover Beach.

What a fun weekend. I know that we can't do this every weekend, because life and errands get in the way, but what a great way to spend the weekend!