Thoughts for the last day in June

A few random, random thoughts for this last day of June:

1. I just realized I missed my brother's birthday. Dammit.

2. I'm seriously the clumsiest person alive. I wish i had a nickel for every time I smacked my car door on my forehead. Today, leaving PetSmart, i did it yet again. My skull probably has bizarro grooves in it as a result being whacked so many times. I once did it close to my eye, mymother insisted I had a boyfriend who was beating me. No, no, I really am just THAT clumsy.

3. Okay, NOW i think the cost of gas is starting to bug me. I held up a good fight, and tried to think that it was worse in the 1970s. But now i'm much more aware of how many times I"m gassing up, and this Excessive California Driving situation is killing my wallet's mojo.

4. Pizza Dude's pizza tastes nowhere near as good at the Z Pizza in Ladera Ranch.

5. A ton of people I know got laid off today, and layoffs = anxiety for me. Bad bad memories of going through it myself. I seriously think we've been gypped that there's been two recessions this decade. Ugh, i think I'm going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonight as a result of the layoff news.

6. Carrie's going to kill me, but I haven't really been watering the flowers she's got in my backyard.

7. Why hasn't anyone invented any of the following:
a) teleportation
b) cure for cellulite (or really, MY cellulite)
c) kitty litter that requires me to never clean...EVER. The Littermaid doesn't count.
d) a better frickin' TSA system at the airport?
What are we, Amish?!

8. Humans have evolved a ton over the past few years, centuries, whatever...why does it still take 9 months to createa baby? Haven't we refined the process so its more efficient and the whole thing can be whittled down to say, 3 weeks?

9. I went to a charity even on Sunday, and I've noticed that charity dinner/brunches/meals always involve some sort of prayer. The intonation or whatever the f*ck its called. This makes my blood boil so much, it makes me NOT want to give to whatever charity i'm there for. If you think its not a big deal, imagine if you were at some charity event and Osama Bin Laden gave the little prayer. You'd be kind of freaked out and worried a lightening bolt would come down on you if you even acknowledged what he said. Sorta how i feel. Can't we separate Church and Charity?!

It's 11pm. Time to get my sleep on.

Oh hell no! Not you Cookie Monster!

It has come to my attention (thank you Mr. Colbert) that Cookie Monster has been stuck promoting fruits instead of carbs.

WHAT
THE
FUUUUUUUUUUUHhhhhhh....

I get that we have an obesity epidemic. I get that kids weigh more now than ever before. But you do NOT eff around with my homeboy CM and his cookie agenda.

There's just some traditions that should not be broken. I dig how he never actually "ate" the cookie, but rather it just crumbled in front of Cookie Monster. I don't know about you, but cookies make me pretty nutty too. I had 2 chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and I was so giddy, it prompted other people nearby to get cookies. Damn right that kind of propaganda wouldn't have worked if I were hopping around with a frickin' apple.

Letter to the Editor

Hey where you at a place called Islands?

No, the picture post was when we were at Yard House for dinner, then Chronic Cantina to get our partayyy on. Which everyone did...Janet went home to vomit up a lung, and at 3am I was still cleaning the vomit from behind the toilet because Kraig missed.

He said that someone handed him a drink, he has no idea who, and that put him over the edge. This week I ran into an ex-coworker of mine who happened to have been at Chronic that night, and SHE was the temptress with the shot! Thanks Jill :P

In other news, yeah i know the video below is effed up on the page, i'm too lazy to resize it. Suck it.

Im also vowing to blog at LEAST once or twice a week. Speaking of vows, I suck at my NY Monthly Resolution List. I don't think I completed a single thing. And we're JUne. I think this month's goal was to read all my French books while vegging out at Lake MV. So much for that.

In case anyone needs an entertainment fix, here's the abridged version:

Get Smart: I would lick Steve Carrell's balls, so I'm a little biased towards anything he does. That being said, this movie was pretty bad. Once you week out the pratfalls and wisecracks, you're stuck wondering wtf is going on with the plot. They're going to Russia to check what now? And why are they in that dude's house? Oh it's an excuse to do that laser alarm scene. Gotcha.

Swingtown This show is easily becoming my Gossip Girls for the summer. I adore the retro clothing and stuff, I love that Grant Show (from Melrose Place) has a porn star mustache....it's a delightfully tacky show. And yeah, it's about a couple that moves into a neighborhood and gets sucked into swinging courtesy of Mr. Porn 'Stache.

America's Best Dance Crew 2 Randy Jackson, I hate you...but I love you. You make me even like Mario Lopez (who, I have to admit, is at least a genius with his career...he's even more successful than Tiffany Amber Thiesson, whatever spelling). I miss my Gr8 Sk8 crew, and Jabawockees, but these teams are shaping up to "bring on yo A-game, this is Season Two y'all, but i respect what y'all ahh doin'"...

Kah-Toe-Mahh-Tayyyyy!

My niece kicks ass

Check out my niece...she's frickin' gorgeous. And it helps that she looks IDENTICAL to how i looked (and sounded) at that age.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Picture post...

Here's a link to pics from last night, for anyone who might be bored enough to go through them...my friend Janet just ran a marathon, is moving to Santa Barbara, and had a birthday all within the same 2 week period...
Shutterfly bitches!


Also fyi to anyone reading this from Facebook: just go straight to the source, Blogger link.

That's right bitches!

Yeahhhh...take a look at the bottom of the page to the HELOC paydown...three digits! The goal was to pay down $15k in 2007, and it's almost done.

Not that it makes a diff...this was the recommendation of Countrywide last year (to pay down $30k of my home equity loan before the rest of the loan is set to switch over at the end of 2009, i.e: pay down 15k per year for two years). Realistically, I think I'd need to pay down another $70k if I had to refinance tomorrow.

So seriously, please...just everyone foreclose already! Get it over with! Let's get the worst of it over with.

In other news, I switched jobs again. As usual, not going to post details here but if you want to know the scoop, email me. If you don't know my email, then GOOD...I don't want no stalkers anyway!

A few seriously random thoughts:

- hummus from Daphne's is like magic in my mouth. It's mouth porn.

- I can't WAIT for the next iteration of America's Best Dance Crew. The last round was absolutely incredible.

- Diet Pepsi trumps Diet Coke all the way

- I'm so annoyed that Barrack Obama hand bumping his wife is actually considered a news-worthy story

- I fantasize on so many levels how much things would be better if I just won a $100k lottery. That's it. That's all I need. I'd LIKE more, but beggers can't be choosers, and $100k after taxes would be wonderful.

- I think I found a grey hair today. I was FREAKING out. I'm going to play ignorant until this weekend, then I'm going to go on a rampage. Getting grey hair is a million times worse than a wrinkle...it's like finding out you're in menopause. But at least menopause isn't displayed all over your scalp for the whole world to see how old you are.

Going to take a nap now. I actually get home at a decent time now where I can nap! Justin can bring sexy back, but I'm bringing napping back!

Letter to Us Weekly

Dear writers, editors, and other staff at US Weekly:

Let me begin to say that I highly enjoy your literary piece of fluff. I prefer it over People, which to me has too many stories about "real" people (if I wanted to read about a cancer kid who raised money and helped others, I'd read Newsweek. I read gossip mags to read about all that is evil and vapid about the world). For awhile it was the highlight of my week, getting your issue in the mail and waiting to read it at the gym, going page-by-ad-laden-page.

I'm okay when you guys go directly to the source instead of running off the gossip mill. I was okay when you had numerous articles about Jessica and Nick (how the tales of marriages woes were untrue. Hey, we all knew they were denying like mad).

What I do take issue with (ha ha bad pun) is when you cover stories about reality shows like The Hills. Unless you're discussing LC's fashion line, her alleged sex tape, or when the new season will start, I don't want to read it.

Let's make something very clear: the audience, whether 12 or 112, knows its scripted. So your cover stories about "The Plot To Destroy Lauren" are as much of an insult to your readers as a cover saying "Lynette battles cancer while Bree makes muffins" or "Kate's love triange: Sawyer speaks out". There is no plot to destroy Lauren. Heidi does not have heartache. Heidi speaks out "Why I called off my wedding" is very clear: the show told me to.

Let's go over last week's issue: Heidi Asks For a Ring: I'm Ready to Say I Do! Are you effing kidding me?! In case you didn't notice, throughout this season outside of the realm of MTV we have seen Spencer and Heidi pose shamelessly for the paparazzi, canoodling like mad. Were we really supposed to believe they broke up? And funny how nowhere in the show while there's all this alleged drama, MTV never showed them film via handycam Heidi's ghetto video. Nay, it's pretty safe to say that nothing on The Hills is a reflection of their true life, unless you want to factor in bathing and drinking.

So in case I haven't made it clear to you US Weekly, let me spell it out: IT'S NOT REAL. It's not even ALLEGEDLY real (hey, that's why we buy your mags. For the possibility of it being real). If I want a make-believe plotline, I'll read Soap Opera Digest.

Do you need more help? Let's go through this:
Heidi and LC were friends (allegedly true)
LC and Speidi get in a fight (sure, good enough for me, it's still season 1)
Speidi is no longer a part of LC's life, so Speidi must come up with a reason to be entertaining to be a part of The Hills (now we start entering "make believe" land)
Spencer proposes to Heidi (scripted)
Heidi says yes (scripted to match the fake ring)
Spencer and Heidi have drama (scripted)
repeat above line a few times
oh no, they have no interaction with LC, how to still be a part of the hills?
Spencer's sister (aka She-Pratt) attends LC's fashion class (scripted)
Spencer is SOOOO angry against She-Pratt. (scripted)
Heidi is soooo angry against She-Pratt (scripted)
Spencer gets back together with Heidi. (scripted)
Heidi is ready to get married (scripted)

Do you notice all the SCRIPTEDs above?! THe best part was when Spencer moved in with She-Pratt...it was like an episode of Three's Company, I was ready for the landlord with the flowery neckties to show up and think Spencer was gay. ("Come and knock on our door...")

So i plead with you...stop airing articles from a scripted show if it's about the plotline (marriage? no. new fashion line? yes.) and please, PLEASE stop showing pictures from their "romantic" vacation...they're so staged they might as well have a set designer and list of all poses required for each photoshoot.

Sincerely,

A devoted US Weekly reader that doesn't want to be insulted anymore with your unreal stories. I like my tales to have "alleged" in front of the headlines.

Scariest corporate mascots

I'm copping out by just linking to another article, but if you don't have time to read the whole thing at the very least read the very first item (#7) and watch the Jolly Green Giant commercial circa 19-something-before-color-tv...scary crap man!
top 7 most terrifying corporate mascots of all time

Long time no post...

I've got ALOT of crap in my head, with no time or energy to write. Sorry. Suck it.

Just wanted to post one of the funniest convos I've had in awhile, courtesy of Carrie (while discussing the drones who work for the TSA):

me: "Don't hate the playa, hate the game"
Carrie: "I hate the player AND the game!"

Yo...help a sistah out...

My friend Janet needs to get another $400 for her marathon...donate some money and get some good karma (and a nice email from her) in return...


http://www.active.com/donate/tntors/JPudelko

Movie Review: Alpha Dog

Yeah, I watched two movies this weekend. Well actually 3, I finally saw "Airplane!" which yes, i've never seen. Suck it.

Alpha Dog, in a nutshell, is a f*cked up movie.

That's it. That's all I gotta say really. Oh it also features Ben Foster, who I noted in my previous post plays nutty/psycho guy REALLY well.

Another movie I'd recommend, if you're in the mood for gratuitous drug use, smoking, swearing, nudity, and sweaty guys freaking out with guns in their hands wiping goo off their faces. And seriously I do recommend it. I liked it.

Movie Review: 3:10 to Yuma

As usual, I need to start this movie review with a disclaimer:

I can't stand westerns. I really, really can't stand them. And it's for the most retarded of reasons: I can't tell anyone apart. Somehow the yellow cast of the filming with the brown/yellow dirty clothes and cowboy hats makes it so that I can't tell who's who unless it happens to be someone pretty famous. So if I'm watching an older Western, forget it: other than Clint Eastwood I won't know who's the bad guy vs. the good guy.

And all that "I reckon" talk just pops a big ol' question mark over my head.

That being said, "3:10 to Yuma" has enough famous people in it for me to tell the difference. One of the true stars of the movie is Ben Foster. That dude plays crazy REALLY well. He recently was on My Name is Earl as the nutty guy who Earl's afraid of in jail. He played another nutty druggie guy in Alpha Dog. Ben Foster plays nutty so well, I fail to believe he's actually a normal dude in real life; if I saw him in the grocery store I'd run out of that Albertsons clutching my purse.

The concept is pretty good: good guy must get bad guy to a train heading to prison at 3:10...while a billion badasses are trying to kill you to get their bad guy leader back. Christian Bale is a big favorite of mine (he did American Psycho soooo well, and I had intended on hating him before I even saw the movie because I fell in love with the character from the book), but he really does do a fantastic job in the movie.

I actually would recommend this flick if you want to mix it up a little, get your violence on, and root for the good AND bad guys.

Smo fo buttah layin' to the bone, jackin' me up...tightly!

Once again I'm in one of those modes where I don't feel like anything I'm thinking about is worth typing, let alone worth it for anyone reading.

We're back to ANOTHER round of home improvement woes, today's problem: the garbage disposal is leaking. Now the problem with leaks is that they go relatively unnoticed until weeks later, you run the water for a long time, and you finally see a pile of water at your feet. By then the stuff in your cupboard, and the cupboards themselves, are slimy wet. In the case of the garbage disposal...well you can imagine the beauty that comes out of that sucker.

Typically I call Saddleback Plumbing. Why? Because they're the only ones I can think of because they spam me with so many $12 coupons (excellent marketing on their part). But today I thought of the Mike Diamond commercials ("we guarantee our plumbers will be on time and smell good"). Their customer service is fantastic, the only problem is that they couldn't get anyone in today. That means I now have to argue like crazy to have them come after 6pm during the week, or tough it out till next week (the most likely solution). Blegh. Home ownership blows for the most part.

Then again, so does renting. I just need to find a cardboard box and pimp it out.

To change topics...
Some people have a life slogan, other people have something they'd want written on their headstone...I may have found my little "quote of the day", as written to Kelly and Erica the other day (the topic: Spencer Pratt actually being correct in an argument against Heidi Montag).

I dig it. 'Cause as much as we all love to hate him...he's right. And I love it when people we hate are right. Like, if Hitler was preaching about spaying/neutering your pets, I'd be in heaven.

Maybe i'll put that on a tshirt.

Why I want to stab my eyes...

I went to a software project estimation thing today (yeah, on a Saturday...at 8am...up in Long Beach...), and driving back I was forced to see a sight that i'd like to forget, if only someone can figure out how to suck the memory out through my ear canal.

Picture it:
I'm driving along my merry way, pretty tired 'cause I woke up at 6am, driving in the right lane 'cause I'm getting on my exit...
All the cars are slowed to a crawl, which doesn't phase me much 'cause my exit somehow manages to be some bizarro traffic zone (it's the same spot where those 3 kids from Ladera Rach died in a single accident last year).
Low and behold, the reason why all the cars are driving at the speed of lard: an SUV is parked on the side of the road, and a woman is outside of it...bare assed...URINATING.

Urinating ALOT. Like a dog (except she was peeing more like my cats do). Thing is, I was so tired i wasn't really thinking and I was wondering what this woman was doing (like did she lose something on the ground...was she puking...wtf was she going) until I realize I'm staring at her bare ugly ass and the liquid coming out of her.

Bare asses when not on set (i.e. covered with makeup or airbrushed) are NASTY looking.

And since we were driving so slow, I was forced to see this scene for a second longer than I would have LIKED to (it's not like you can close your eyes while driving).

I'm terrified that my brain won't forget that image, and that this awful sight will take the spot where a wonderful memory once was.

Best of craigslist...

I rarely go through the Best of Craigslist, mostly 'cause it's a time suck and because after awhile I become mentally unphased by anything i read.

However I came across this Best Of entry and can't stop laughing.

Item #5 may very well be the most hilarious thing ever written...ever:
5. It's OK for you to make noise. Otherwise, we feel like we are fucking a ninja.

I don't know why I can't stop laughing.

Movie Review: August Rush

Review of August Rush, starring Felicity and the dude from Bend it Like Beckham.

I only added this to my Netflix queue 'cause Season 2 of The Tudors isn't out on DVD yet and I needed another Jonathan Rhys-Myers fix.

The music is very good, Robin Williams is creepy, Jonathan RM is crazy hot even though he really should just keep his mouth shut...and Keri Russell does the EXACT same stupid mouth thing that makes me dislike Scarlett Johanson.



That half-open pout that denotes wonder and awe. Can't stand it. Anyway, I liked Felicity so I'll cut her some slack.

What rating out of ten would I give this movie? Whatever review you'd give a movie that you would watch on tv if it's 3am and you can't get to sleep. Or if you've got a hard-on for Jonathan Rhys-Myers playing a rocker-turned-San-Francisco-Executive.

Prelim review: Carbonite

So I'm sure in my random bitching I've demonstrated the bad luck with computers Kraig and I have had the past few months. (NOt to be confused with the plumbing problems, which surprise surprise, the knob shower situation is jacked up again and we're showering in the cats bathroom once more..but that's another blog for another time)...

I had researched external CD/DVD burners (because part of the computer problems I've had is having internal burners not working...better off having an external one that won't be impacted by internal issues)...I definitely wasn't going to go with an external hard drive after the WD MyBook fiasco as well. Anyway, yadda yadda, I decided maybe Carbonite would be the ultimate way to go, just effing pay someone else to deal with my problem.

So here's my review so far...

You can a free one month trial, so thumbs-up for the cost factor so far (sort of hard to complain when worst case, you get what you pay for**). Initially you select the file or folder you want to back up, right click, then select Carbonite-->Back Up This File.

**side note: now logic would tell you that you don't pay anything for spyware or viruses, so that's not the worst case. However I would argue that someone else using your computer for malicious purposes is more like, THEY should be paying YOU...and since they're not, then that's NEGATIVE money which is even worse. So worst case with something like Carbonite is that it doesn't work...they didn't benefit from you, you didn't benefit from them.

After that Carbonite just runs in the background backing up the files, and alerts you with a little green icon when it's all done. They warn you that initially it'll take a boatload of time, and then after that as you modify files it just automatically backs up, no action needed.

Now I didn't truly take the time to assess their fine print. Online reviews warned me that you have to manually push video files (since I have zero video files on the computer in question, I didn't care). Same for executables (once again, not something I was worried about). The problem? I didn't note how you also had to manually push files over 4k in size.

I have a gazillion mp3s from my Napster days, and almost all are over 4k in size each. So here I was all happy thinking my files had finally been updated, a little ghetto green dot was placed on the mp3 folder indicating my files had been uploaded...and then I realized that it had only uploaded small playlist files.

So there was my dilemma...was I going to right-click and manually push each and every one of those mp3s? Well the moron that I am actually attempted to this, and realized that the RIAA was going to find me long before I actually finished up.


In my infinite wisdom, I decided the way to go would be to zip a given music folder, and the push the single zip file.

Riiggght. Did I mention that this was at like 2am on Saturday night? Did I mention that this is for the older computer that we used because the "good" PC's hard drive went dead, and now it's fixed but contains no personal files?

Zipping A music folder containing a zillion files over 4k each, let alone MANY folders, on a computer that moves at the speed of molasses combined with the stress of Carbonite running in the background made for a painful, PAINFUL process.

Well that's pretty much all I can review so far. The trial runs out in 2 weeks, so eventually I'll get off my fat ass to nag at my husband to carry the "good" PC upstairs so we can try the next phase: Operation Copy My Music Back To Me.

Imaginationland....

So i have to give serious props to Matt and Trey...of South Park, naturally. Tonight's Major Boobage episode was effing awesome...and I've never even seen Heavy Metal, the movie this episodes parodies.

Let's do a recap of times South Park has mimicked other animation styles:
(in no particular order):

1. Make Love, not Warcraft
This was more genius than funny, although Kenny wanting to play Hello Kitty Island Adventure still busts me up every time.

2. Simpsons Did It
I love love LOVE the Simpsons, so combining my two favorite adult cartoons is like pure heaven.


3. Family Guy...
I don't remember the name of the episode, but it was the one where Cartman tries to stop Family Guy from airing an image of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). Since I'm not a huge Family Guy fan, I respect Cartman's auth-o-ri-teyyy .

A side note: for some reason as much as I don't like Family Guy, I actually really like American Dad.

4. Fun With Weapons
I don't care so much for the animation of this episode, however it's one of my favorites just because Butters takes a chinese star right in the eye. It's awesome.


5. Major Boobage
I couldn't find any pics online yet (since it just aired this evening), so here's a small clip from SouthPark.com


Only one more week to wait for another episode...tonight's compensated for the depressing Britney episode from last week...don't be makin' me feel guilty 'cause I'm Britney-obsessed like everyone else....

Foiled again by this thing called life

Have you ever just wanted to catch a frickin' break!?!

So I got Kraig an in-car GPS thing, as an early anniversary gift as well as a "thank you for getting nose surgery for me so I can finally sleep"...i did a crapload of research, and it seemed like Garmin with MSN Direct for traffic was the way to go.

Ummm, yeah. NEVER have I had a problem relating to finding anything...i'm right in the middle of San Diego and Los Angeles, two of the most major cities in the US. As far as I'm concerned, the whole world revolves around California (in case anyone cares, OC to LA is like..San Jose to San Francisco...)...

Well go figure. MSN Direct works perfectly in LA. In San Diego. Apparenly in NORTHERN orange county.

Going south, it stops in Tustin.

WTF.

This is of zero help for Kraig, who needs to know like 10 exits before that if he should get on the 5 or the 405.

Returning that sucker will be a bitch (online purchase), but I tried to find another GPS device that had good reviews AND had definite coverage in South OC and I couldn't find anything online. Oh and apparently this OC thing is a big mishap on MSN's part.

So...now do I return it, or do I have him keep in hopes that eventually they'll expand their coverage? In the meantime, it DOES provide real-time gas prices and movie listings...

Seriously MSN...you provide traffic updates for f*cking Riverside but you don't for OC?!

When will companies realize that they need to cater to me and my needs before those of others? Geezus.

Dear USPS....

Dear United States Postal Service,

I get that in the grand scheme of things, you're still just a governmental agency. I get that you have to raise the price of stamps, and I get that you have to be closed on Sundays and hours outside of business hours (which always surprises me, organizations that are purely service-based should work the OPPOSITE hours of people who work in the product industry. But whatever).

I know you've got some stiff competition with UPS and FedEx and that other one that starts with a "D".

I figure you guys took a hit when people stopped writing by hand and started emailing people. Seriously, if you think about it, that's probably ALOT of dough lost. But in return, you guys are making BANK off online sales. You guys get a decent chunk of my cash as a result of online sales I make.

I was so excited when you guys allowed people to print postage at home. And for times where I couldn't do that, your Automated Postal Machine Doodads that work 24/7 were also life saviors.

Then...this week...I discovered the stupid sticker you have on your mail slots for packages: anything over 13 ounces now has to be physically handed to a USPS counter person due to "security" concerns (really? Sounds like a fantastic challenge for some dude to create a 12oz bomb). Plus, just because you put a little sign on there saying "13oz only" doesn't mean someone with a 5lbs package of anthrax will stop and say "damn! So much for popping this baby in the mail chute".

I can't begin to explain what a pain in the ass this has been for me. If I have to actually be at a post office during your retarded hours, then I might as well not bother printing postage at home or through your so-called automated device.

One step forward, eight steps back...way to go USPS.

Another Letter to the Editor

You and your husband don't have any computer nerd friends that can help you out?? Between Ray and I we fix our share of computers for friends. Sounds like a weekend fix'er upper. :)

Dude, this IS all we know thanks to people who are total techies (and i'd like to think that have a B.Sc. in Computer Science gives me some street cred myself)...this is the end result of taking PCs and hard drives and everything to every tech person I know, including my last company's IT department.

EVERY single one of the hard drives from all of our sources has completely gone to crap, i.e. stopped spinning...once that happens, you're outta luck.

I started researching external DVD burners so I can back this stuff up to a format that won't get jacked up (i.e. something without internal components that can get screwy), but then I think we're going to go with an external company that does data backup as a service. I was thinking Carbonite, and it turns out that at the memorial service I went to today I spoke with someone who said that they've been using Carbonite for over a year and they love it...so I think that's the way to go. Plus for $50 a YEAR...that's a pretty sweet deal for unlimited stuff.

Of Life and Death

Today I went to a memorial-slash-life-celebration for a friend's grandmother up in LA. I guess I'm pretty lucky that in my life so far I haven't had to go to that many services (the only true funeral-type that I went to was for a friend's boyfriend in highschool, Bryan i know you know who i'm talking about, and that was just bizarre 'cause I just went to the wake which no one warned me i'd see a BODY...anyway...), so the times I do go I tend to get emotional pretty easily.

I can truly say this will go down in history as the best memorial service ever. Not so much because of the surroundings or the food or any of that (although I'm pretty sure they snuck some crack into their sandwiches, I seriously inhaled at least a dozen, and it was all absolutely gorgeous), but because everyone had so much to say and their comments showed what an absolutely incredible woman my friend's grandmother was.

The best part I think was the video interview my friend's sister put together shortly before her grandmother died, which is absolutely brilliant...this is now the perfect excuse for me to get a camcorder (side note: were they super expensive in the past? My parents made it sound like a camcorder was thousands of dollars. I went on Amazon and you can get a decent Canon or Sony handycam for under $400. Then again, my mom made the Pizza Hut buffer sound like a month's salary).

During the services I started to wonder...if I died tomorrow, what would people say about me? Or 60 years from now, what would I have done with my life that could possibly make people speak so fondly of me like they did for my friend's grandmother? If i died tomorrow, people would say "Oh, she knew her TV trivia. She had an obsession with pop culture. She could win Vh1's Celebrity Pop Culture challenge. She donated $20 to the Donkey Rescue charity in 2007. She had high anxiety about paying off debt."

Sad, very sad people. So I think I'd like to make it a lifelong goal to live in such a way that my actions will be meaningful to others, that I'll be remembered for more than the girl who freaked out when her interest-only-no-cash-down-house plummeted in value.

Hmmm, let's see how long THAT lasts....

Letter to the editor

I am a guy. I pick my toe nails, drink milk out of the jug and twist the bread and wrap it under to keep it fresh.

GOD i hate when people do that! The only way it stays fresh is if you're already 1/2way through the loaf. If you've only had a few slices, then the "tuck under" concept doesn't keep it fresh! That being said, the end piece can be used as a tab of sorts to maintain some level of freshness.

Bryan, I tottalllly remember our book idea...sadly I think it would have ended up what He's Just Not That Into You later became...

Oh, how times have changed...

This weekend I saw Die Hard, which I haven't seen in awhile. I love me some John McClane, but only in the early series...I wasn't impressed with Die Hard 4.

What cracked me up is how different today's work environment is from the 80s.
Here's how I figure work life went:
Neanderthals to pre-WW1: it was all dudes, and they ran the show
WW1 and WW2: women were stuck working out of necessity, not 'cause they had to prove anything
1950s: men took their pants back and women (in their infinite wisdom, which I wish stayed this way) were like "eff the workforce, if I gotta cook for you mofos then I'm going to do it on my terms...wearing a polka-dot dress and using my new Maytag oven"

1960s and 1970s: birth control pills REALLY take off, women are so high on drugs they think entering the work force is a GOOD idea (and so is the birth of the 2-income society. Just effing fabulous).

1980s: with the exception of coke, women are pretty much sober but realizing that if they're gonna be in the workforce, they want to be at the TOP of the workforce...if that means dressing like a dude, so be it.

1990s: dropped the coke, less shoulder pads, bright colors a la In Living Color Fly Girls, while the birth of the Sensitive New Age Guy emerges

2000: we all just blend into the same working drones

So back to Die Hard, which obviously took place in the 80s. The scene is some 1980-something holiday party. The Hot Chicks of the office were blond. The Smart Chicks of the office were brunettes with big massive glasses and bad perms. Both Hot Chicks and Smart Chicks wore scrunchies even if they wore suits. Men snorted coke on the job. This was pre-sexual harassment era, so people were free to express themselves through groping and desktop "activities". Everyone looked 'roided out thanks to massive shoulder pads. You could actually SMOKE in the office.

Did no one back then think ANY of this was just a LITTLE BIT EFFED UP?!


Even though I've seen the movie a trillion times, I completely missed this wonderful gem of a scene:
Hans: The following people are to be released from their captors : In Northern Ireland, the seven members of the New Provo Front. In Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberte de Quebec... In Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn movement...
Karl: [mouthing silently] Asian Dawn?
Hans: [covers the radio] I read about them in Time magazine.

Alright, enough man...err, woman-love for John McClane...

Damn you spam, damn you

I swear, whoever created spam should be shot. No wait, they should be forced to go through and personally be responsible for DELETING the spam that exists in my inbox....mutha effa.

So I have a bunch of random email accounts: yahoo, gmail, canada.com, hotmail, whatever...i have two yahoo accounts, one of them I used to use on occasion 10 years ago but now the only reason I even have it is 'cause it's my login for Amazon (that's where I was registered when I got married, and i've been too lazy to sync up that accuont with my regular yahoo email).

ANYWAY it's pretty much all spam, which on occasion I try to wipe out. Well I decided it's time to bring back that email account, and I'm going through all 3000 spam messages...problem is, I needed to filter out the ones from Amazon (that leaves Amazon.com, "auto-confirm@amazon.com", and the sneak peek emails i get from Cirque du Soleil)...

you'd think I'd be able to just select ALL and click SPAM, right? Sadly, no...yahoo email has some bug where it'll ask "are you sure you want to set all the mail to spam", if you select YES then nothing happens. So i'm trying to go through and highlight them all (using the new Yahoo Email format, where it looks like Outlook), but i'm on a crazy slow computer and the past HOUR has been spent trying to highlight a bunch, then click SPAM...

The slow computer is part of the massive computer problems we had way back when (see entry here)...it's actually gotten worse. Since I last posted, the "good" desktop PC's hard drive completely stopped spinning. So now i'm back on the crappy slow desktop PC, until I can either get an external hard drive or external CD burner to back up the personal info...after all the hard drive issues, i really want to get an external burner but those suckers aren't cheap (and i really don't feel like installing an internal burner onto this crappy PC only to later have to remove it and install it on the good PC).

Computer DRAAA-MAAAA...

Speaking of drama, some people make fun of me 'cause i'm in a book club. Y'all can suck my balls, at least I'm reading for God's sakes. Thank the lord for Meetup. Anyway, a whole bunch of stuff went DOWN...oh yes, people in the book club were ready to rumble. In the grand scheme it was all just chick drama, but it proves a few things:
1. Women are naturally drawn to drama. There's no effing WAY a guy's book club would ever have had this much drama. (Then again, no dude would join a male-only book club).
2. Women will bitch about ANYTHING.
3. Large gatherings of women creates nothing more than a clusterf*ck (i hate that word, but i can't think of a better way to describe it).

I wouldn't change items 1 through 3 for anything...

It's been awhile

I vowed to write more often and I haven't written in awhile. Funny how your brain goes into crazy overdrive after you give your 2 weeks notice. Friday was my last day, it was pretty emotional and the happy hour after was fantastic (okay, i'm biased since i was drunk as hell).

I sorta feel like I just got out of a relationship. One of those "oh, it's me not you" types. I love the people, but...it just wasn't for me. Not anymore. I'm not the same person as I was at the start of that relationship, and I've felt for awhile like we've grown apart. Still, I feel a little cranky like one feels after a breakup, like "oh, what could have been"...sigh.

In other news, I'm watching the red carpet...PLEASE Jon Stewart, be better than the red carpet crap...although dumbass actors didn't find Jon funny last time...I swear, Hollywood is the LEAST hip place on the planet. It's like you have to be a certified tool in order to make it as an A-lister. That excludes Steve Carrell and George Clooney, who seem pretty straight up.

Wow, Miley Cyrus needs someone to razor down her effing teeth, she looks like she's going to eat Ryan Seacrest.

Jennifer Garner irritates me to no end, but DAYAM she looks great.

It makes me feel good that Jessica Alba looks forgettable. Granted she looks better than anyone ever will pregnant, but still.

Heidi Klum looks so hot, I'd bone her.

I want Xenu to come down and stomp on John Travolta. Him and Kelly Preston irritate the crap out of me, she was digging for compliments when Ryan Seacrest said her dress was "road signal yellow" (or something like that) and she asked "Does that mean I can stop traffic?"...yeah honey that would work if you're 20, not when you're...well at least as old as Xenu.

Ohhhhh Faye Dunaway, she looks like a knockout for an older broad. See Kelly Preston, you need to see how Faye does it...Faye looks like she's ready for a romp in the back of a limo.

Letter to the Editor

How much damage could $22 do to your credit rating?
I had a score of like 760, and it brought me down to like 500-something.

It makes a HUGE difference, my score is more sensitive than others because i'm already being dinged for only having a few years of credit history. Fortunately my score went back up with teh other credit bureaus after a few years, except for Experian.

It made enough of a difference that I couldn't get on the home loan when we refinanced...hence why i had to get it back in shape for the Big Refinance 2009.

Bryan: i owe you an email still, i know!

I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled....

I was surfing the web and was reminded of an old Molson's commercial:


Their marketing is sheer genius, I don't think they ever made a bad commercial. They made me want to drink beer and I don't even LIKE beer. You can't get a better tagline (for canadians) than "I AM CANADIAN"...and they've single-handedly managed to corner the beer market for Canada Day (the number on thing Americans do on July 4th is BBQ and watch fireworks. Canadians...drink and watch fireworks. No time to eat. No one said we were a civilized society.)

I really should have bought that lottery ticket yesterday. Around 1am I couldn't stand Kraig's snoring so I went down to the couch to sleep there, only to realize I was pretty awake because I had crashed at 6pm for a super long nap. Lo and behold, after watching some random stuff (and the rest of Cashmere Mafia which I should be shot in the head for enjoying), I discover that Ryan Reynolds is on Conan.

Sadly, he wasn't THAT funny like he usually is in stuff...but funny enough. And i was so tired i didn't care what he had to say.

Dammit really should have bought a lottery ticket.

Deux Semaines et autres histoires fabuleux

I don't like posting job stuff up on my blog but since this is pretty major I might as well alert the masses...I gave my 2 weeks notice on Monday. I won't list the new job details here, but it's in Irvine and i'm gonna be a project manager...for a totally different industry. I'm pretty freaked, tech writing I could go anywhere and figure the stuff out pretty quickly, but this is a brand new world for me. Eep.

Anyway, that was one of my "goals" for January/February, which thus also means that I've sort of put my other monthly goals on the side 'cause seriously, interviewing wipes you out. All that smiling and being peppy and acting like you're the most fabulous person on earth...it's like your own Miss America pageant. You dont' think of the TRUE answer to give, you think of the RIGHT answer to give, what they want to hear, all while looking flawless and flashing yer teeth.

Interviewing results in a very cranky Sabina. I feel like I need to get extra bitchyness out of my system to even things out.

In other news, check out the very bottom of the page...yes, the year's goal of 15K paid down on the home equity loan is almost down by half...and it's only February. The only reason I was able to pull that off was 'cause a CRAPPY CD i got a few years ago (seriously, the rate was only like 3%) expired, and i hauled ass yesterday to the bank to make sure they didn't roll it over into another crappy CD. Feelin' good.

To top it all off, I've been griping for years now about one dumbass sorta-error on my credit report...a stupid $22 water bill...recap: I paid my utilities with my rent...and they claim they didn't get the payment, i tried to get a hold of my old apartment complex to get them to have my back. Turns out, it got bought out and underwent a condo conversion, no one anywhere had any record I existed or lived there. So, even though i eventually paid it as soon as I found out about it (although i'm sure i already DID pay it, damn apartment people), it's been a huge ding on my credit score ever since. Other than that, my score is flawless...the only thing stopping it from being 850 is that I don't have a huge credit history in the US.

ANYWAY...i've tried disputing it and it's gotten me nowhere...well 2 months ago I did my usual "hmmm wonder what's up in my credit score report these days" and bought my reports again...and only one of the three bureaus still shows that damn alleged delinquent bill. I decided to attempt to put the smackdown again and filed a dispute. Those mother effers don't make it easy, they only give you like EIGHTY characters to state your claim. That gave me one whole sentence to pretty much say "The original bill was paid through my rent cant get a hold of them for proof" or something retarded like that.

Well, long story short: I won! Finally! Experian saw in my favor. Oh happy day! That's been a pain in my ass for years.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Another letter to the editor

Refinance Your Loan with the damn bank or lender...or whoever the f it is.

I think you have the (excuse me) balls to do this. And it works.
But WTH you can't lose.
Banks right now, and lenders, DO NOT want any more property. They can't handle it.
You walk in, get past the desk people and say you need to talk to someone with authority. Cry and tell them you are about to let the bank have your f-n house if they don't sit down and do some dickerin with you.
Take a picture of your home, tell them your ready to leave it with them and start all over.
Tell them you want some relief from this f-n mistake, that your upside down 70k or whatever and have to have some interest relief. Tell them your husband is against it, but you will leave him too. (This is a lie)
Walk in with a foreclosure sign, leave the picture with your phone number on the desk of the person you are talking to, and tell them you did not come to debate, you came to share your desperation and get some relief one way or another.
I gurantee you he will call you on your cell phone before you get home and say..let's talk. We don''t want your house.
(The further under water you are, the better it is for your bargaining power.)

Ummm yeah the flaw in your logic is that to do something crazy drastic i'd have to miss at least a single home payment...which I will never do.

And it's not like Countrywide doesn't have my income statements...we CAN afford our payments.

I also dont' want to get stuck in another crappy loan situation, which is exactly what people with bad credit (i.e. missed home payments) and foreclosures are getting in order to keep their homes and loans.

I have good credit.
I can afford my home...now...
My adjustable rate expires beginning 2010.
If i didn't have an interest-only loan i'd still be stuck paying principal, so that's what i'm doing now.
I'm not going to see if they'll call my bluff if I start missing payments (which would be necessary in your scenario for them to believe i'm in dire straits), scream i'm going to foreclose, then force them to give me another bizarro loan created only because of this crazy market.
People just need to hurry up and foreclose, so that other people can buy crazy cheap, and then things will even out. It's this slow awful death that's ruining things.
I'm not upside down in anything yet...i'm not selling, i'm just hoping to make it easier to refinance.

I would sooner beg my aging parents for money AND my mother in law before I ever miss a home payment.

I posted this here instead of in the comments section 'cause I started to write so much I figured it deserved a blog entry :)

Letter to the Editor

So with all the rate cuts there is no way you & Kraig could refinance into a better loan situation?

Nope, that's why I have to pay down my HELOC loan asap...our loan-to-home value is crappy (at least before it had gone up a little bit, the last home that sold with roughly the same floor layout was $70K less than what we paid). So...no refinancing and locking in a rate until I pay down the home loan. I wish I could refinance! I wouldn't have that damn ticker at the bottom of the page.

So the goal isn't to get into a "better" loan situation...i just want ANY loan situation that would be a fixed rate, which isn't going to happen at all with the current snapshot of our mortgage.

They're alot more strict about giving out refinanced loans...Carrie i'm sure can attest to that (she still had to jump through hoops and her home didn't go down at all and she's got perfect credit).

I just need to win the effing lottery.

HELOC paydown status

Yee haw! Check out the very bottom of this blog...over 1/3rd of teh paydown goal completed! Plus I realized that I also need to start saving up well in advance for our property taxes (trying to scramble and pay off a $6000 property tax bill last minute is no easy task!) so there's 1/6th of that is put aside now as well.

Damn you crappy housing market...I will not go down without a fight.

Movie Review: Cloverfield

Today I saw Cloverfield. You know, the movie that had a big buzz because no one knew anything about it.



This should be easy. I couldn't stand it.

NOT because it wasn't entertaining...it was very entertaining, very different, great script.

I couldn't stand it because it was filmed in handy-cam format, a la Blair Witch. I avoided Blair Witch for this very reason...I get motion sickness pretty easily, and this movie was pretty brutal for it. The ENTIRE movie is filmed this way. The videographer is either drunk at a party or running for his life, both of which make for seriously shaky visuals.

If you have a strong stomach, then it was very good...there's not really an ending (Kraig and I differ on that. He thinks there is because there's a resolution between the love interest storyline...uh to me I need to know wtf happens with the bizarro monster plotline.)

Fortunately the theater was empty so I was able to push some of the armrests up and lay on my side while we watched it, otherwise there would have been a nasty mess on AMC's floor.

I love you YouTube

I hate 99.999999999999999999999999999999999% of what's out there on YouTube, but praise the person who posted this of Sarah Silverman singing...well you decide. Every time I see it I start busting up.

Damn damn damn DAYAM

This guy could make a movie about putting forks in one's eye and I'd still watch it.



Hmmm actually then again that sounds like a funny movie concept.

Heath...

So Marlene asked me why id idn't blog about Heath Ledger...two reasons:
1. I already got all my emailing and freaking out done that day, i didn't really have anything to comment on.
2. I don't like the crap about "oh there were pills by his bed" (well no kidding, Kraig takes medication for his cholesterol before bed isn't that front page news?!) and "he was probably heartbroken over his separation from Michelle Williams" (really? He was dating Gemma Ward...i think a 28 year old hollywood actor can get over an ex girlfriend pretty easily)...

So Anderson Cooper summarized pretty much what I was thinking:
“For the last two nights we have reported on actor Heath Ledger. His shocking death is clearly a story a lot of people are interested in, but tonight we will not be reporting more on it. The truth is there is not really anything new to report.

The full results of the various tests done on Mr. Ledger will not be ready for perhaps a few weeks and there is very little new information. I have no doubt other networks will spend a lot of time tonight discussing his death and the various rumors about what might have caused it, but I am not a fan of speculation, so unless there is something really new to discuss we probably won’t be covering it anymore anytime soon.”

Letter to the editor

Happy New Year, Sabina
I check your post now and then to catch up on life on the West Coast.

I had a pretty sorry post the last time I wrote WTF I felt bad and took it out on you. Sorry.

I hope you vote for Obama and not Hillary, or Romney and not McCain.

I wonder if you have ever heard of a pretty famous church near you...called Saddleback. I think they did something recently for all the folks during the fire...and I think Hillary spoke there, too. Do you know anything about Saddleback?

First off, this makes me an a-hole for ranting back. Please folks, don't apologize for the stuff you write to me...it's a free country. Hmmm, but it IS my blog. Ahhh well, don't apologize. If I don't like you, I'll just create a website dedicated to what a douche you are. So far that hasn't happened yet, so it's all good.

Yes, Saddleback is nearby...don't know much about it though...

Dirty Nasty

Well since everyone is all depressed over Heath, i figure this should cheer people up.






I remember scoping out Simon Rex back when he was a model...i dig superhot people who can make fun of themselves.

And Nick Swardson may very well be one of the funniest people alive.

A+ service: View Cleaners

So everyone on the planet knows my fiasco with the AWFUL dry cleaners that ruined my White House Black Market dress...in case you don't, just know that you should boycott with every bone on your body:

Dry Clean Express
23842 El Toro Road, Unit C, Lake Forest CA 92630
949-457-1800

I mean, come ON...one employee flat out said to me "what do I know about fabrics? I'm a guy!"...to which my reply was: "You're a DRY CLEANER...you're supposed to know fabrics!" and he had no reply.

Anyway, I should have taken it to my USUAL spot...View Cleaners in Ladera...I meant to take my other dress there but it's not like i drive to ladera all the time and on Saturdays I always forget, then Sundays they're closed...

I dropped off my NEW White House Black Market dress (courtesy of my wonderful girlfriends who were sick of listening to me bitch about the old dress that got ruined lol) and the lady was SO nice, and was like "of course we inspect the dress when it comes in...if it were damaged we wouldn't even bother"...EXACTLY! And then I just called to confirm it was ready and with a pleasant voice she was like "yep, it's ready one item for pickup!"...

At the other place, their idiot employee Fidel would have been like "i don't know...maybe...i dont' know...i'll call you back"...incompetence is not acceptable.

Anyway, I just wanted to give props where props is due!

(knowing my luck i'll pick it up and it'll get damaged...dammit.)

Letter to the Editor

I'm not sure I agree with that, the term customers isn't mutually exclusive to either Sellers or Buyers, they are both customers of eBay.

I disagree. A customer is someone who's dishing out the dough...you, as a buyer, don't spend a dime to ebay. Now I do think Ebay has a responsibility to ensure that their sellers are legit, and that the items are legit, but the "true" customer is not the bidder but the seller.

When you purchase something on ebay, ebay is not responsible for the item itself, for shipping it, for making sure you're happy. That's the seller. The bidder can be considered Paypal's customer, sure, but basically Ebay's interest in keeping bidders happy is because they need to keep things legal and kosher in order to make their marketplace not look like some underground crack den.

I used to adore ebay, but because of all the bad seeds out there the whole thing is just jacked. I used to use Yahoo Auctions back in the day, but that caved when Ebay became uber powerful. I will probalby always use Ebay until there's another alternative...but I don't have the same "fun" as I used to.

Ebay enjoys taking money from the sellers and then stepping back and only involving itself when necessary (that excludes Paypal, which I actually have had very good experiences when it comes to getting effed over with my money...but i attribute it to their legal team and that paypal wasn't owned by Ebay initially). One prime example is how it's being sued by Tiffanys...

Ebay takes a stance that its not responsible for fake items on ebay...well Tiffanys disagreed and discovered that 75% of the items on ebay listed as Tiffanys jewelry is fake. Ebay claims it's just a forum...but it's NOT just a forum. They make money off the fake stuff too...the more fake stuff, the more ebay makes.

I think I lost alot of respect for them when they purchased Skype...NOT because they needed it, but because Google wanted it and if Google wants it, then Ebay HAS to have it (so an insider told me at the time). I just really question the people running the show.

/soapbox rant.

Movie Review: Strangers with Candy

Before I begin the review, I must note that I've never seen the original tv show nor did I even know there WAS a tv show.

Strangers With Candy...how can I describe this bizarro movie? Well let me start by saying it's got Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, the two people everyone should have in your life.


The gist is a super odd nutty ex-convict returns home only to find her mom died, her dad remarried, he's in a coma, her stepmother has the family butcher over for dinner all the time. Her dad's doctor suggests that if Jerry (Amy Sedaris) can un-do her years of crime/suffering then her dad will awake from his coma.

She goes back to high school and decides that if she can win the science fair, she can get her dad out of his coma.

I can't begin to explain how hard I laughed during this movie. I mean, I actually FRIGHTENED myself with how much I laughed. Then again, that was the first half...the second half, Kraig and Chris came home and that sorta ruined my comedy mojo.

There's alot of little hidden jokes in this movie...during one scene with kids in a science class, I realize in the way back corner of the wall the teacher (religious nut Chuck Noblet played by Stephen Colbert) is the periodic table of the elements re-arranged to form a cross. LOVE IT!

Plus this line alone had tears pouring down my face:
Geoffrey Jellineck: You pushed me away!
Chuck Noblet: I wasn't pushing you away, I was pulling me toward myself.

If you have an effed up sense of humor, you will absolutely adore this movie. Then again, since I didn't know anything about it my standards were pretty low, but for a clearly low-budget movie, it was brilliant.

The cast is pretty tightly linked...Amy Sedaris was on Sex and the City, as was obviously Sarah Jessica Parker, who's married to Matthew Broderick...Kristin Johnston also played a small role on Sex and the City...

The true gem of the movie is Principal Blackman. I have no idea who the actor is, but he does a phenomenal job.
Principal Blackman: Why would I doctor the books to improve the overall test scores of the student body just so I could collect bonus funds from the state which I willfully misappropriated in order to pay off large gambling debts? It just doesn't add up!

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Ebay Discussion

Just perusing the ebay seller board (I figure, I've sold enough stuff and i sell more than I buy, i deserve to provide my input...i've been on ebay since 1999), someone posted this:

Well, Ebay has forgotten who its customers are. We, the sellers, are Ebay's customers. But they protect buyers (who are our customers, not theirs) over sellers (their customers) almost every time. Their business model depends on extracting fees from sellers -- even from a buyer's scam -- and they really seem to have no interest in protecting this community or the sellers who make it up.

Which is absolutely true.

Countrywide gets boned by BoA!

Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
This news totally shocked me.

Most of my banking is done through Bank of America...and my home loan is through Countrywide. So you'd think I'd be cool with this, but I'm not...I like BoA because they're everywhere (to canadian folks: if you remember in our OAC economics class they taught us that anyone can open a bank in the US, it's not like in Canada where there's just like 5 banks and thats it other than credit unions...so you could have a bank with only like 2 locations) and because their online bill paying is absolutely fantastic.

That being said, i also can't stand BoA for the same reason I can't stand 24 Hour Fitness: they're the McDonald's of Banks. I would never want my home loan through them.

Well, I guess COuntrywide had to bend over and take one for the team. The article says:
Bank of America said it initially plans to operate Countrywide separately under the Countrywide brand, with integration occurring no sooner than 2009.

I just need them to not f*ck around with Countrywide too much till the end of 2009 when I have to refinance. That's all I ask. I love my loan dude (Gina's ex husband), I really like the communication, etc...please please PLEASE don't eff me over....

In other news: TGIF!

Idiot ebayer, part II

So the moron from yesterday sent this to me today:
I think it's time to consider refunding my money. The dvd's have not been delivered. I don't believe they even exist. Today makes 12 days from the time I paid for them. There is no reason why they shouldn't have arrived yet. I'll expect a call from you by 4:30pm eastern time to work out the details of the refund. If I don't hear from you, be rest assured, I will file reports of items not received with EBAY, Paypal and file a formal report with local law enforcement. This is not something I want to do but I refuse to be ripped off. I can be reached at 917.709.0457.


I asked for help on the ebay seller board, the only problem is that he has a non-confirmed address, which effs me over even IF the tracking eventually shows he got it.

What kills me is that...it's not 12 days from the time he paid, it's based on BUSINESS days...and it hasn't been 9 days yet. To top it off, 4:30 eastern time = 1:30 my time, and I got this at like noon. WTF, how unreasonable can you get?! Fortunately on the ebay board everyone was like "yeah, this guy is insane. it's not worth dealing with him".

My concern isn't if in the end paypal were to refund him or something (see my note** below), i just don't want bad feedback. I can lose the $20 or whatever, my feedback is what's important.

** so check it...apparently the reason you want to ship ONLY to confirmed addresses is that there's alot of address fraud...so by confirming the address (I believe with a credit card), if the delivery confirmation shows it's shipped then ebay will find fault on the bidder if they bitch. But if they bitch and you shipped it to a non-confirmed address, well paypal figures it's your own fault for shipping it to an unverifiable address. I didn't know that. So i figured out how to set my paypal settings to ONLY accept payments from a confirmed address.

Anyway...on the advice of someone from the forum I replied to him short and simple that parcel post is give or take 9 business days and when a reasonable amount of time has passed i'll file a claim with the post office. That's it. (You can't file a claim until after 14 business days).

Once the transaction is totally complete (i.e he gets his item and either gives me bad feedback or...its' been awhile) i'll post his ID so the world can block him from bidding on his bids.

Ebay f*cker!

From an email I sent to someone:

Okay I"m SO p1ssed. I got this email from a bidder:

This item was paid for on 12/30/07. It's now 01/09/08 and I still haven't received it. What is going on? I called the post office and gave them the tracking number you supplied. They said they have no record of the item or the item number. With all due respect, I'm not in the habit of paying good money for nothing. I need you to contact me asap at 917.709.0457 with an explanation and the whereabouts of my dvd's. If not, I'll be forced to file a report to EBAY & Paypal claiming non-receipt and possible fraud. I'll be expecting your call by 5pm Eastern Standard Time (2pm Pacific time).


So not only did I send him an email saying if he actually looked at the tracking numbero nline, it shows it was processed, but also that it was shipped parcel post which takes up to 9 business days (which hasn't' been 9 yet).

Then i call him and the guy is a COMPLETE idiot, giving me until 5pm tomorrow to have the item to him. I'm like "well you can't escalate it to ebay, it shows the shipping label was printed and the item was indeed shipped but okay go for it", and he starts tellling me how the post office is MY responsibility. I"m like "uh you didn't get insurance, so no i'm not".

he also proceeds to tell me that he doesn't use the online tracking tool, he goes straight to the "horse's mouth". Uh the government employees at the podunk post office? WTF!

So then *I* called the 1-800 number and the lady was able to tell me that it was shipped on the 31st, left california on the 4th, and that she didn't have more info but the 9th day is technically Friday so worry about it on Friday.

I call the guy back and he FLIPS OUT on me...why? Because i didn't ship it priority mail because he spent all of $5.10 on shipping. I'm like "well that's what was listed on the auction, if you wanted it shipped another way you should have said that BEFORE it was shipped!"...so then he yells that he's going to escalate this to ebay and hangs up on me!

What kills me is that i'm going to get bad feedback from this moron even though it's 100% his stupidity (I even checked his ebay ratings, someone else gave him a bad score for the exact same thing)...

So now I'm praying he'll get the item today or tomorrow. OH to top it off, i said i would call him when i spoke to the post office (even though i'm not going to ask the local post office, wtf there's not much they can do when it's in transit) and he said "well this is my work number and it gets turned off at 5". then i said "well...it will be after 8pm your time before I will talk to them" and he insisted that I call him before 5pm...HIS TIME. I'm trying to be all nice and polite but i'm like "WTF i can't leave work before 5pm and there's a time difference, you f*cker" (i didn't say that but damn i wanted to).

WHY WHY WHY are the majority of people total morons?!

Going to post this on my blog. Even with his frickin' phone number.

Money, costco, jobs, and bling

So did some web surfing crap and came across this:
Job-related stress is extremely common. According to the Jobs Rated Almanac, the five most stressful jobs are:
1. President of the United States
2. Firefighter
3. Senior corporate executive
4. Race car driver
5. Taxi driver
The five least stressful jobs, according to the Jobs Rated Almanac, are:
1. Medical records technician
2. Janitor
3. Forklift operator
4. Musical instrument repairer
5. Florist

I think it bothers me a bit that a medical records technician's job isn't stressful...you SHOULD be stressed. Keeps you on your a-game. That being said, I once was item #5 (although being 14 years old nothing is stressful...oh wait, this is me we'er talking about. The only job that I felt wasn't stressful was Le Chateau, because I was there for so long and I was the quickest person on the cash register...so when the store got crazy busy, i was automatically put on the cash register which is easy monkey work).

Naturally being a florist isn't stressful...although I sucked at floral arrangements and the only thing I could do properly was a simple bouquet of a dozen roses (with or without baby's breath, although I preferred to make it without). Other than not being able to arrange anything in a vase, the only other thing that bugged me was that my hands were marred from the roses' thorns...it'd say I had a ratio of 60:40 skin to holes on my palms. Which even then wouldn't be so bad if part of the job didn't involve packaging our own floral preservative, which was like pouring battery acid on all those wounds.

In other news, my Costco membership is expiring and I really don't feel like doling out another $50 for a membership (seriously, I hate costco. Almost as much as I hate 24HF. You have to save $50 just to break even. And their prices are NOT that great...i've compared them elsewhere. I just go for the stuff that's costco-specific) until BBQ season. So last night I went on a huge grocery store spree and ended up talking to the cashier about how much people spend at costco.

She said that people easily blow $10-$15K, mostly because they're buying TVs and stuff. But then we started talking about the jewelry section...when i never really noticed because it's not like I'm going to buy anything and my goal with Costco is to get in and out asap (the longer you're there, the more you spend). She said that one time someone bought a $100K ring. It was 22 carats. They had to get the police to escort them out. Nuts!

And seems like bigwig executives buy jewelry there all the time. So I went again today at lunch and checked out the jewelry section...nothing was $100K, but there WAS a pair of diamond earrings...for $56K. FIFTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS...at Costco. I think they were a little over 2 carats. Most of the diamond stuff they had averaged between $2K to $15K. I just can't get over that you can buy a bulk box of detergent...and a pair of earrings that cost more than my car (and heck, i bought my car brand new!).

On to money matters...

So in February I have a CD that's finally expiring. Effing Bank of America...the rate was so crummy. I believe I put in around $3000 and earned $483 in interest. Gasp. Such a huge amount (grumble. I think the crummy rate was 3%, which hardly keeps up with inflation). Anyway, so my debate when it expires has been:
1. Put the $3K towards the HELOC loan, put the rest in the botox fund (it's been awhile since i had it done).
2. Put the $3K towards the HELOC loan, get laser teeth whitening. I am obsessed with teeth, especially my own (naturally), and the past 2 years of drinking diet pepsi has stained them IMO.
3. Put a little under $3K towards teh HELOC loan, get a decent frickin' laptop.

Let's break this down. I went to the dentist today (my dentist kicks ASS. She works at another office and on Wednesday she's going to be working on Brad, Angelina, and all fifty of their kids) and she was like "you're nuts, you're teeth are white, you're fine. Just use the bleaching trays you already have" (another reason why i love my dentist: 'cause they don't sell me crap to make a buck). And the hygienist agreed. But...i personally LIKE teeth that are milk- or paper-white. I've invested alot into my teeth (as have my parents) and if they have to glow to get attention, so be it. There's very few things I like about myself...my teeth deserve center stage.

But...well if she thinks it's not worth it, then fine.

I was going to forego the botox, but this morning I looked in the mirror and I think i wrinkled my forehead IN MY SLEEP. And it's making my whole face look haggard. The only problem with botox is that you do have to maintain it...granted, the mroe you do it the less you have to get it done (i.e. down to 1x/year), but until then it's kinda pricey.

So that leaves the laptop. Which is the smart choice, assuming that I verifythe bootlegged s/w I have (Office 2003, Dreamweaver, etc) works on Vista since that's all you can pretty much get (and i'll i'd want...i wouldn't want to get a laptop with XP only to later upgrade it to Vista since hardware with Vista pre-installed was designed specifically for it. I'm not f*king around with microsoft).

THEN...i was scoping out HP laptops (my favs are HP or Sony Vaio laptops...HP because that printer of mine was kickass and it sens a message ot me about the reliability, Vaio because i had one once for work and loved it), their mousepad track thingy is awful. So...we'll see.

Quick like a mongoose!

So my new show of the moment is easily American Gladiators. Not because I miss the original...i never actually saw the original (did that even air in Canada? The years it was on were the years my parents decided the family didn't need a tv so they literally put it in a garbage bag and threw it out)...

What cracks me up is the big blond guy, Titan (who actually has been on over 400 magazine covers and was in the original Gladiators as a backup) reminds me of the blond skier from the South Park "Asspen" episode (the guy who calls Stan "Stan Darsh" and challenges him to a ski match)
The guy in the middle:




One of my all-time favorite movies is Running Man (and a very good book too), this is sort of the non-futuristic version of it. While it's overtly cheesy (the contestants were clearly prepped to say catchy one-liners, and I'm positive the audience members were handed those "homemade" signs saying "I crush on Crush! JUSTICE for All!"), it's still great to see regular joe-shmoes compete against people who spend their lives doing nothing but work out.

I felt especially bad for the first chick to compete...she sells toilet paper for a living. TOILET PAPER. How the eff do you put that on your resume? "Account Executive for specialize paper products"?! And within a minute she jacked up her leg and had to back out.

I'm not a big fan of Hulk Hogan, maybe because of his divorce situation. Although I get the feeling that he doesnt' want the divorce, Linda does. But still, I saw Hogan Knows Best...what do you expect when you put your family on a reality show? (Then again, how else was Brooke going to get that record contract?). More importantly, I"m just annoyed with his bizarro posture, his tight black jeans, and the yellow straw he calls hair.

Ahh, whatever. I'll cut Terry "hulk" Hogan some slack.

The only downfall to all of this is that it makes me feel like SUCH a tub of lard. How do people with regular jobs and kids find time to bulk up? How many egg yolks do you have to consume to get that big? And wtf how quick IS a mongoose?

TV Review: Cashmere Mafia

Last night I didn't watch the latest Desperate Housewives or American Gladiators...but I did watch the premiere of Cashmere Mafia.

Sigh. Let's go through each of the ladies before I even give my opinion of the show.


Frances O'Connor (the only i've seen her in was Bedazzled) plays Zoe, one of those workaholic moms married to a workaholic husband who put their little precious children in ballet, soccer, whatever. I think she's supposed to be the most relatable character but I don't think any female on the planet would agree. First off, if you're THAT busy...why the hell do you have your kids in so many things? Maybe I"m just weird because the only thing my mom signed me up for was skating lessons, which I promptly quit after awhile (there's only so much ass pounding a little kid can get...ice hurts. Let that be a lesson into adulthood too).

Probably the worst scene was where her nanny called with some retarded crisis and miss BigWig Zoe took the call during the meeting. I absolutely can't STAND when people take personal calls during meetings, and at the very least you'd set it on vibrate and see if they call back if it's THAT important. Then, to top it off, she continued her meeting from her office, where her little precious ones decided to have some sort of WWE smackdown in there. My mom would have beat me with her name plaque and told me to stay quiet or she'd "beat the bloody life out of" me if she had a work thing. And damn straight that's what she should have done instead of offering ice cream to whoever stayed quiet.

Totally not relatable at all.

Next we have Lucy Liu playing the ever adorable Mia. I actually liked her character the most of out all the girls, but I still have the character she played on Ally McBeal in my mind so I kept expecting her to break out a whip or something.

The problem with her character is definitely no fault of the actress' but you'd think girl would have spoken up and pointed out the retardedness of it all. For example, she's engaged to another coworker...if you're a big wig at a company (and even if you're not), you are NOT going to walk down the hall HOLDING HANDS. Even worse, HOLDING HANDS while your boss is explaining how one person will get a promotion and the other will get fired. And you're not going to constantly kiss in the office either. Unless you want HR on your ass.

The other problem is the crap this girl wears. Carrie Bradshaw could wear funky outfits because she was a work-at-home freelancer. You can't wear low-cut bright dresses in an OFFICE. I don't care if it's New York or Timbuktu, no one's gonna wear that sheeot to the office.

Next up is Bonnie Summerville. Let me say, I keep getting her confused with Monica Potter:


But Bonnie Summerville was on Grosse Pointe, which was one of the best shows that never made it past 1 season. That was the show that was a spoof of Beverly Hills 90210. Sigh.

Anyway, her character is pretty refreshing, not because of the usual "oh i'm hip, I work for some makeup company, blah blah"...but because right off the bat her character isn't sure she's gay. LOVE IT. Now that is relatable, not because I have identity issues but it's nice to see characters that as adults still don't now who they are or what they're going to do with their lives.

Finally we have Miranda Otto who plays some ice queen Juliet. She's also a CFO (CIO, whatever) so we're supposed to think she's a tough modern chick who can make it in a man's world.

Girl looks like her face is botoxed beyond belief. I'm okay with Botox for the rest of us, but my job doesn't require me to show expression.

In her first scene, a buncho f guys in a meeting push their coffee cups towards her like she's some exec assistant, at which point she gives some snotty comment about how important she is. NO ONE in a company would ever push their mug towards a CFO, regardless if they're a chauvinist pig or not (unless the dude was the president or some title above hers). You will never, EVER, find a peon pulling a move like that. Which right away just annoyed me, because I get upset when TV/Movie people don't get the concept of office environments (Office Space: they nailed it. Cashmere Mafia: not so much).

Then in a scene where I think we're supposed to be cheering her on (I couldn't tell, her frozen botox face made it difficult for me to understand whatever feeling she was trying to convey) she tells her unfaithful husband that she's going to take on a lover from any man in the room. The husband then looks scared and naturally takes a chug from his champagne. Really? REALLY? 'Cause if I were him I would have been like "great, now i can keep boning my hot chicks without feeling guilty. And i can leave you because we're equal".

Overall, the show misses the mark. It's supposed to be about 4 hip working friends in NY. It's supposed to be a SATC knock off (it's produced by Darren Star after all). Ohhh how wrong they are. For example, working mom Zoe hides in a closet to make a work phone call because her kids are screaming. That is so effed up, either you yell at your kids to shut the hell up mommy iso n the phone, or you go into a bedroom and close the door. You don't' hide in a CLOSET. To top it off, she used a non-wireless hands-free thing...You have a high paying job, a fancy blackberry phone, and you're telling me your company won't spring $30 for a bluetooth earpiece? If you're that rich, that successful, and that desperate in need for tools to help your life, you'll get yourself a wireless ear doodad. Geezus.

Then there's a scene were Mia emails everyone to meet her for lunch. She emails each and every one SEPARATELY with the same message. How the eff you're going to get a promotion at that inefficient pace is beyond me. Obviously the goal was to see her type in her friend's name, and then the scene where that friend receives the email so we can associate the two. At that point I just get super annoyed because I don't need the producers to dumb it down for me like that, i'll eventually catch onto who's who. Geezus. Or maybe they really don't know you can send one email to multiple recipients.

Bonnie Sumerville's character gets her email while she's having breakfast with a boyfriend who's dumping her. The email says "we need to do lunch". So somehow she goes from having breakfast with the ex to walking over and having lunch...which maybe these people who dont' work in offices understand that breakfast = around 8am or before...lunch = 11:30pm onwards for us office folks. You h ave to be at work somewhere in between.

Overall, the show is just plain awful and will probably get axed once the regular shows come back on the air. Sadly, until then, I will continue to watch because I'm so desperate for a SATC replacement (please Lipstick Jungle be better!) and for something that's not a reality show.

(please excuse any weird words in here, i tried BLogger's spellcheck and it's not so great).

Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

Bill Gates is the least funniest person on the planet, but it's still interesting how he got so many people (Even Bono, gasp!) to play into this video. I dig Jay Z.

Le dernier jour de Bill Gates (Bill Gates last day)

And let it be stated...Obama's section was WAY funnier than Hillary. Girl almost makes Bill Gates look funny.

Barack, Bush, and Babylonia

I was at the gym last night (thanks Marlene :P) and I ended up watching three shows:
TMZ (not much to report, it was pre-Britney's latest meltdown)
Celebrity Apprentice (I love you Carol Alt. When i grow up, I want to be just like you. Sadly, that will never happen, but a girl can dream).
CNN

CNN aired Barack Obama's victory speech, and it reminded me of something from the John and Ken show earlier that day: in the grand scheme, the most LIKEABLE (not the most competent) person generally wins. Which is good, 'cause I kinda dig Barack and I think he's very likeable.

THEN i thought...pretty much allt he reasons I prefer Barack Obama isn't his position vs. the other candidates...it's Barack vs. Bush.

Here's the list of reasons why Barack Obama kicks ass, all compared to our current president.
Disclaimer: normally I wouldn't care at all about this, but now that I can vote (if i actually registered to vote), I feel like I probably should take note of this crap.

1. Barack isn't a country bumkin. Apparentlymost of America likes a hillbilly for their president (as evidenced by him winning a 2nd time), but Barack has zero southern drawl. He went to school in Hawaii. I dig that...I don't want someone who grew up on chicken fried gravy to run the country. I do have to admit however that at one point during his victory speech he started to pull the Martin Luther King accent, but i'll let it fly because he was discussing freedom.

2. He wasn't born into politics and had to follow his dad's dream. Call it the Gossip Girl syndrome: boy wants to follow dream X, but affluent and reputation-seeking father wants dream Y. So boy follows daddy's dream ("No, i don't WANNA go to Yale!" "But son, I went there, your father went there, and your grandfather went there. We funded their library. Now hush on these dreams of backpackingi n europe. Here's ten thousand dollars, go buy yourself something nice.") I feel like Barack (or Barry as he was apparently called in high school) truly wanted this for him, for his dreams, not because he was raised into it.

3. He's got the color thing down pat. He's not white. He's not black. Being mixed, he can hang out with all folks. Except maybe skinheads, since his hybrid blood goes against their aerian plan. Georgey-boy is as white at they get. You know how white he is? I imagine the first time he tried Indian food (made mild) he was probably all "ooohhh weeee! Now thayt is sum spah-cey food rih' there!". He's so white it's impossible for him to become any more diverse. If he knew how to use email (and AOL doesn't count), he's the guy who's off forwarding the crap about how people should boycott The Golden Compass because in the books, the kid (allegedly) kills God. Then i bet his autosignature is some religious passage. Basically he's so white that in his super hillbilly white behavior, he actually manages to offend others (like ME).

4. Barry's got a sense of style. It reminds me of a Nip/Tuck episode...Dr. Shawn McNamara gets chided by a homeless guy for wearing Armani and he offers him his old Brooks Brothers suits. Barry's wearing Armani. Georgey is wearing...is it even Brooks Brothers? I feel like whatever he's wearing, it's like an old man who puts on a sport coat over a plaid shirt with beige pants. If i have to see your face interrupting my tv show whenever there's a crisis, damn right your clothes better be aesthetically pleasing.


5. Does Georgey boy even have a sense of humor? If so, does he get that he's the joke itself? I was actually impressed with Barry went on Ellen...not because he made the appearance, but because the guy can clearly roll with the punches. First he danced with her...and for a politician, Barry's got moves. Then they sort of prank called a viewer, which I could not IMAGINE Georgey Boy ever doing. LOVED IT. During the interview the topic of gay marriage came up, and Barry gave the perfect answer. I dont' remember it perfectly, but he managed to give an answer that "protects" regular marriage while still allowing gay folks a marriage thing as well.

6. Barack's catchphrase is "Change". Keep in mind, the entire time i've been in teh US it's been ALL Bush (minus 1 month of Clinton). I'm desperate for that "change", to see what this country is like when there's not some hillbilly running it.

Although to Bush's defense, i was here for less than a year when 9/11 happened, and naturally that's created a profound impact on this country. So i really don't have much opinion on what the US was like before that...all I know is what it's like since, and what I want changed.

**Disclaimer2: i'm not saying i'm pro-Barack vs. the other candidates...i'm simply saying why I like him if i think about him relative to the current president and how he'd do in that role.

When it rains, it pours!

You know how some people have one car problem after another? Well it seems we have computer problem after another.

A year ago we swapped out the old "main" family computer for Kraig's somewhat old Dell computer (it was better...it just wasn't being used because Kraig had a laptop from work he was using). STored the Old Main in the closet.

Computer Status at this time: the Dell, his work laptop, and this ghetto old laptop i've got.

Earlier this year kraig got a new job, so he got one of those Western Digital "MyBook" things (over $200) to put the stuff from his work computer, his work laptop on...well after the IT guy at his old company erased those systems, the MyBook crapped out.

Kraig called WD but basically they said they could give him a new one (it was brand new), but that wasnt the point...the information ON it is what's important.

I took it into my IT guy at work and he said that the disk inside won't spin, he popped off the case and tried to attach it to a regular computer...basically, it was dead. Kraig then looked into a storage recovery thing but those are CRAZY expensive 'cause they have to wear bunny suits and look all fancy to protect the disk when they try to recover the info.

Computer status at this time: The Dell, the ghetto laptop, and an unusable WD storage device.

Then the ghetto laptop got f*cked up REALLY badly. It kept crashing, then restarting, and the only way to get it to stop this cycle was for it to repeat it and let the battery die out. I had to re-install windows from scratch (have you ever tried doing that? It took HOURS. And wiped out everything I had). It still doesn't work great, I get a blue screen about once an hour, so it's good for random web surfing and that's it. Remember the blue screen of death days? It's even WORSE when you get it without having Windows 95.

THEN the Dell crapped out...it gets stuck at the main Windows bootup logo thing...so this morning Kraig and I had to put the Old Main one back in ('cause i've got stuff I need to do that requires a steady system, knock on wood).

Computer status at this time: a Dell that won't work, a ghetto laptop that barely works, an unusable WD storage device, and an Old Main computer that seriously it like working on my old skool Pentium 75.

THEN...THEN...just NOW...i was printing shipping labels for my ebay stuff when my printer crapped out. By "crapped out" i mean, it shorted out. I can unplug it and replug it in and get a flicker of light for a second and that's it.

I LOVE THAT PRINTER. It's an HP LaserJet 4, one of the best printers ever made. That thing is at least 15 years old and has held up SO well. If you go online it still gets the best reviews for printers, and that sucker is still used in businesses. LOVE LOVE LOVE this printer.

So what do I have now?
A super crazy old slow Old Main family computer and the use of my HP inkjet. The inkjet is fine but it's not ideal, for the cost of replacing ink in that sucker I might as well buy a brand new laser printer. Plus i'm a Printer Snob: inkjets, deskjets, whatever, they're unacceptable. It's laser or nothing.

Do i pay to fix the HP? Do I get a new laser? Either way, it'll cost $$...which is ironic since it shorted out while i was trying to print out shipping labels for stuff on ebay IN ORDER TO MAKE MONEY...argh. One step forward, eight steps back.

Cooking with that ghetto free Costco cookbook

Over the holidays Costco gave away this cookbook using, naturally, costco-specific products (which isn't too hard to substitute). Cookbooks are like serious food porn...i could pour over the pages, salivating, oggling, for hours...and repeat it frequently.

I decided today to give two recipes a whirl: the meatloaf and the apple-cheese soup.

The soup (link to cookbook, go to page 77): it's actually pretty tasty, except I added extra mustard powder and tabasco, since I generally think recipes are very bland in flavor (I feel pretty confident in my spice-skills, since a coworker pointed out that whatever I bring in always has the right amount of spices...which I tend to triple in a given recipe). Oh and I used that fat-free oil (Enova) instead of butter, since the whole planet knows I've got an aversion to butter. Only problem is that I was cooking while reading and missed hte part that said to peel the apples before putting them in...ahh well, it still tastes pretty spiffy.

You wouldn't think a cheese-apple soup would be good, but you gotta use granny smith apples which makes it very tangy.

Healthy Mini Meatloaves: (link to cookbook, go to page 147) this is my first ever meatloaf, to be honest I've never really had meatloaf before (unless a bite off someone's plate once counts). It's good, VERY easy to make, except this is what I would change:
- don't bother with the muffin concept...i dunno, maybe i'm weird, but i think a traditional old skool meatloaf format would be better.
- I added like 5 times the thyme and i would definitely not hesitate to be liberal with that. Plus I would add even MORE pepper than the boatloads that i added. Turkey's not exactly the most flavorful meat.
- I would really, REALLY chop finely the mushrooms and onions...even maybe puree them (if i had a mini food processor...not worth whipping out the big one...heh heh that sounded perverted), i don't like big chunks of stuff in my food.

Overall, considering it's Costco, it's a very good cookbook. Instructions are clear, recipes may look like they take alot of ingredients but they're all basic stuff nothing crazy (One thing I hate about Rachel Rey's stuff is that they usually need some white whine...wtf i don't keep white wine laying around, let alone waste the rest of the bottle...not a white wine fan)....

Time to get my Girls Next Door and Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood on...

Movie Review: Au Revoir Les Enfants

I have no idea why I added this movie to our Netflix queue, I think I read somewhere that it was really, REALLY good.

Ummm...riigghtt.

Maybe part of the problem is that I turned the subtitles off, and the last time I saw a movie in French without subtitles was in high school. I speak (or at least, have the caveman vocab skills) Quebec French, not France French, which makes it harder in general to understand the movie. Also doesn't help that I moved from an English/French country 7 years ago to an English/Spanish country...lord help me if I had to speak French under duress, i'd be hosed.

So the movie is about a kid (Julien) who has to go to some private catholic boys' school during WWII. While there he befriends a Jewish kid (Jean Bennet). Then the germans come and take the kid away. That's it. Seriously. THAT'S IT.

Oh did I ruin it for you?! I don't see how this movie won all sorts of awards. The scenes were too long and there was ALOT of scenes that were pointless. Julien gets lost in a forest...i swear that was half the movie. How many scenes of a frightened kid with a camera circling him do you need to make to convey the point that he's lost?!

At any given moment I was waiting for the Germans to come in and do some brutal shooting (doesn't help that i saw Smoking Aces the night before, so my brain was in full-on Gratuitous Violence mode) but it didn't happen. I thought maybe one of the Catholic priests was gonna have his way with the boys, but that didn't happen either. There wasn't even any Boy On Boy action (at best, two boys were scoping out some porn before taking a shower).

If you're in the mood for a slow-paced foreign movie with little point, then I guess I recommend it.

Note: This movie is based on the director's personal experience. Personal experiences don't always make for good movies. You know what I did today? I woke up, had a cookie for breakfast, checked out my email, took a shower, went grocery shopping, prepped dinner, then watched the movie. You don't see me making a frickin' movie! HA or maybe I should...i'm sure i'd win some foreign movie for what is otherwise known as My Random Sunday.

Yeah! New template layout!

Well you probably don't notice anything, but I was using an older template and now I finally got Blogger to update it so I can start adding "modules"...note the new module on the right, where you can view by topic. That being said, clearly that would have required me to add a label topic for each and every blog entry I've ever done, and there's 559 of 'em.

I attempted to go through and update them until I realized (probably around 9 entries in) that that's ALOT of work. Even if you do a search by topic. So...suck it. It'll take awhile. And i highly doubt anyone's going to be reading by topic anyway.

Dammit, now I gotta create a label for THIS entry.