The Castle at Edinburgh

I transferred our first 150 images to disk so I could take some more pictures today at the castle at Edinburgh. Our hotel is only a 10 minutes walk up a steep hill to the castle. The whole town is built on a series of steep hills. All the houses and buildings are built with the terrain in mind. Entrances on one street lead to exits on another street behind and above.

The castle was very pretty. Aside from having the usual castley things, it has a very special chapel devoted to the memory of St. Margaret. She is a former queen of Scotland who was known for her kindness to the sick, poor and infirmed. I guess that's why they made her a Saint.

We also spent some time in the National War Museum of Scotland, also located at the castle. AWESOME.

This is a very pretty and special place. Jon's off to see the history museum and I'm heading up for a nap. We started out pretty early this morning and I could use a nice nap after my nice cup of tea.

The the Two Women Who cursed at me in York.

I am sorry I got in your way looking at your beautiful city. When you walked past me, uttering the phrase "Jesus, F-ing Christ" in your Irish accent, I instantly understood where you were coming from. If any New Yorker has had to work in Times Square over the holidays, they also understand.

You also taught me that people are a bit edgier in York. If you see the woman I accidentally cut in front of at the bakery, please express my sincerest apologies to her as well. I didn't realize the loosely formed mob in front of the counter was actually a well organized line and certainly didn't mean to cause you any inconvenience. But you really didn't need to be so nasty.

But you really should relax.

Dear Woman Who Walked into my shot of Jon and Mark at North Greenwich Station:

I'm sorry we were posing a photograph on your way to your bus. No. Really. I am. I understand what it's like to have tourists everywhere mucking up your evening commute. I never thought I would be one of those people yet somehow it has happened.

I apologize for getting in your way.

And I will save that picture forever. The cross look on your face says it all.

Tower of London and more

The pub quiz went great. We were a big hit. People applauded us when we were finished and complimented us as they went out the door.

Monday we visited the Tower of London which took hours and was endlessly interesting. The history of the royals is violent and fascinating. The Crown Jewels are gorgeous. Henry VIII's armor has an enormous codpiece which I photographed with and without a flash.

Last night we walked around Covent Garden, the Seven Dials and finished our trip out with some delicious Indian food, the best I've ever had. When we got back to our friend's house, some friends of his had already gathered to watch the finale of "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here", featuring Huggy Bear and Paul Burrell, Princess Di's former butler. Fascintating. We've also been introduced to "LITTLE BRITAIN", the funniest show I've ever seen.

Today we travelled north to York where we spent the afternoon and then continued on to Edinburgh where I am writing this post.

Tomorrow we plan on seeing Edinburgh castle.

There are pictures to post for sure but I forgot my USB cable and figure out how to get them out of the camera.

Talk to you soon.

Valerie

Travelling

We travelled on 4 different modes of transportation over the course of four hours before we made it to our final destination. We are here. Everything was going very well until we went to transfer for the bus at the North Greenwich Station. Yes. We took a bus in the wrong direction. No. It wasn't that bad in that added only an hour to our travels but it was a long hour. Our host had a full and delicious dinner waiting for us when we got in and we stayed up until about 1:30 in the morning eating and catching up.

This morning, we kippers for breakfast. Then we rode the train to Central London where we rode the very impressive eye. At first I thought it was a pretty cheesy thing to do, being so touristy and all. But it's pretty amazing. An enormous ferris wheel that takes you way up into the air, provides amazing views and gives you a chance to map out your trip before starting out for the day.

We walked over to the National Gallery and spent an hour looking over their early Renaissance section. Incredible.

Then we went to get some curry and now we're taking a little break at an Internet Cafe before heading over to the Dog and Bell to host a pub quiz later tonight.

I'll try to upload pictures as soon as I can. Don't be deceived by the posted time of this entry. It's five hours ahead here.

Gotta' go.

Bye.

Lottie and Wally Darling

One of my favorite places in Madison Square Park is this bench near the Northeast entrance on to Madison Avenue. It's a bench dedicated to the memory of Lottie and Wally Darling. Every time I see it, I think about an elderly couple going out for their evening walk then sitting on this bench watching the sky turn colors at dusk; watching young people in love while thinking of their early years together; watching families strolling through the park on their way to a nice restaurant, thinking about the children they have raised and how proud they are of them.; watching a grandmother pushing a stroller, discussing memories of their college bound grandchildren. Together they watch people walking their dogs, sneaking kisses, looking at sculptures, begging for change, thinking all the while about how good life has been to them.

When I see this bench, I think about a lovely couple - well loved by their children and grandchildren; friends and neighbors - who lived a life so enriched and enriching to others that a bench was dedicated to their memory.

I find myself sitting here often, looking out on to what they must have looked out at while Lottie nestled her head into Wally's shoulder and he put his arm around her to pull her closer.

If you know anything about Lottie & Wally Darling please write to genxmisanthrope@aol.com. All my searches have produced nothing.

Thursday Night Laundry

Tonight I went to the 24 hour laundromat todo some last minute laundry before our trip. Perhaps I'm going a little overboard with the camera but I just love, love, love it. Even a mundane chore like doing laundry becomes fun when you can record your experience through the lens of a camera. Here is a picture of me in front of my favorite washing machine. I just washed a few things. A comforter, some undergarments, some socks but it was thoroughly enjoyable. I like our local laundromat. There are two televisions and they are always on separate channels.

I learned some interesting things watching laundry TV. I think the lead singer of Sugar Ray is hosting an entertainment news show. I know that Eric Roberts thinks his niece and nephew are beautiful. I learned that Julia Roberts did a sexy photoshoot while she was pregnant but before she was showing. I learned that Tom Brokaw was well loved but will be easily replaced. I learned that The Simpsons is still better than anything else on television between 6:30 and 7:30.

I am so excited about our trip. So, so excited.

Caption Contest

Night iron

Blog is THE word

The word blog is number one on Merriam Webster's top 10 list of words of the year.

Let's Hear it for The Blog

Blog is the Word

I Wanna' Hold Your Blog

Blog to Blog Ya' baby!!

Haas Happening

For those who love Haas avocadoes, the most wonderful thing has happened. The Bush administration has loosened restrictions against Mexico avocado farmers, allowing more imports from south of the border.

I'm sure California, Hawaii and Florida (where sales of imported avocados are still restricted) avocado growers are saddened,even angered by this news. But not I. With an increased supply of avocado, the demand is going to go down and then hopefully the price.

Wahoo!!!

Reefer Madness

Do you remember that paranoid film from the 30's Tell Your Children also known as Refer Madness?

Here is the plot summary from IMDB:

Propaganda film that relates the story, as told by high school principal Dr. Carroll to parents at a PTA meeting, of the scourge of marijuana. The tale revolves around Mae and Jack, accomplices in the distribution of marijuana, who manage to entice the local high school kids to stop by Mae's apartment to smoke reefer. The lives of all who are involved with this menace are inevitably shattered. One youngster becomes so addicted to the killer weed that a judge orders him to be committed for life to a mental hospital! Dr. Carroll advises us to not incur the same tragedy.

According to this article, the notion that pot can makes you crazy is not far from the truth. In it, researchers claim that excessive smoking to pot in your youth, leads to a break down of you mental health in later years. People who are already suffering from mental illness seem to be most at risk.

A Pretty Picture

I took this tonight, on my way to the subway.

Smoking Update

I am going to confess that my break from cigarette smoking hasn't been 100% clean. On Saturday night, I smoked a cigarette with one of our party guests. And maybe a week before that I had smoked with the same person. Before that, it was months that I went without.

The cravings and mood swings have disappeared. The only bad thing I that's come from the smoking is some weight gain. But I don't mind because I generally feel better all around. It's a pleasure to experience breathing through non-irritated sinuses. My complexion has improved in that I look healthier. I don't cough up gunk every time I go into the shower.

It's hard to quit. The way I did it, cold turkey, is the hardest way to quit physically, but psychologically it is the best was to do it.

Here is why. I started thinking that people are not naturally smokers. So therefore, it is unnatural for me to be smoking. I put myself in the mindset that I am not a smoker, so it would be silly to smoke. Eventually, my body started to believe it as well. And when I catch a whiff of someone else's cigarette now, with an occassional exception, the smell makes me sick to my stomach.

My advice is to quit. There is never a good time to do it, you just have to do it.

The Game

So, we had people over on Saturday night to play The Game (not this game). The Game was not invented by us so we don't take any credit for it. I'm not sure who was the creator but we had been planning to throw a gathering in honor of The Game for quite some time. Finally, we did.
We have the space and we have the friends.

The Game combines elements of Charades, The $20,000 Pyramid and Password. We had enough people to break up into three teams, but perhaps too many people for the game to be thoroughly enjoyable. Our party broke up about midnight which isn't bad for a Saturday night theme party.

Some of the evening's highlights include: the locust style consumption of the meat I roasted for the party as well as the the rest of the food and drink (it is good and endlessly satisfying to feed people completely); Jon and I spending 1/2 an hour explaining the rules to our friends; one of our guests doing his best impersonation of Mick Jagger for the entire minute of his turn while his team guessed every answer but the correct one; another guest performing a clue for the movie The Incredibles by pantomiming sitting and staring; my use of the word SCRUNGER to elicit the answer PLUNGER from my team (called foul by Jon) during the Password style round; various guests performing clues having to do with crack, Uranus, atrophy, President Jimmy Carter, and shitzus.

Some of our guests included LFROS, akaChris, Caren, Phil from Phil's Entertainment Spot; Sarah from Sarah's Entertainment Spot; Vidiot and a cameo by Evil Twin Theory. Those weren't are only guests either; it's just that our other friends don't have websites or journals.

If you were our guest, thank you so much for coming. If you couldn't make it, I'm sorry we missed you. If you weren't invited and feel left out, I apologize.

Monday Again

Yes it's Monday again. Wahoo!!!

We should have 1 four day weekend every month. I feel great. Jon and I had a great and wonderful weekend.

Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday were spent in Cortland with Jon's family. Saturday night we had friends over to play The Game.

Sunday afternoon, we went to Central Park to play with our new digital camera. We're practicing shooting digital pictures for our trip to London. We picked a good afternoon for it because the sunset was beautiful. If you look at the pictures below, you'll see for yourself. The picture, under the below heading of pretty, was taken at Tavern on the Green. We were both enchanted by the magical effect of the small white lights on the tree. When combined with yesterday's sunset, the effect is surreal.

This first picture to the right was also taken near Tavern on the Green. I was trying to capture the animal topiaries behind this lamp but I discovered that if I tipped up the camera, I could make this eerie photo. There are many interesting street lamps in Central Park. That's another photo essay I started yesterday but for now, let's focus on yesterday's magical sky. The second photograph to the right was taken about 1/2 an hour before sunset, just when the light was beginning to turn.

Pretty

Happy Day After!!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!!

I am in Cortland, NY and there is snow on the ground. Yes. Actual snow. We are visiting Jon's parents and the weather is closer to winter than I've seen in some time this time of year.

Last night we had turkey for dinner. Also on the table one could find baked sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans and salad. For dessert we had pumpkin pie.

Our trip up was blessfully quick and easy. I am thankful for that. We awoke at 6am and were at Port Authority by 7:25 for our Greyhound upstate. Our bus left at 8 and we were in Cortland by noon. Our busdriver skipped the rest stop outside of Binghamton shaving 30 minutes off our trip. I am also thankful that the bus was half empty.

We aren't the only guests this weekend. Jon's aunt and uncle brought two of their grandsons (children of Jon's cousins). I am very impressed at their behavior. The children are sweet and loving and I am reminded yet again how holidays can be ruined or improved by the behavior children. Had they been on their worst behavior, last night would not have been as enjoyable.
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I was reading over my Thanksgiving entries from last year. Do you remember how I was thankful to be employed at my current job because it meant that I didn't have to move home to my parents in shame.

Well, one full year later, the opposite is true. I haven't been happy in my job. Clearly, it's been showing because I was given a month's notice to find another job. Granted, this is a gentle firing, but it is a firing none the less.

And do you know what? I am thankful for it. I was getting stagnant in my dead end job. I needed it last year and was grateful at the time to have it. Yes. I still need a job. Now, I have to find something else; something more interesting. I had already lined up a job interview before it happened.

I'm not quite sure how it went. The person who interviewed me didn't give me much of a chance to talk. Nor did he ask me any questions about myself. It's my feeling that he made a spot judgement upon seeing me and just decided outright to phone the interview in.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Any suggestions?

Jewish Woman Gets Desperate

This woman's approach sounds like trouble. I personally have likened the process of finding a mate to initiating a marketing campaign, but this lady is actually doing it.

Marry Blaire

I'm scared of this approach and what precedent this is setting. Why? Because it's hard enough to be competing on the bar/temple/social activities/jdate/match.com level. Now, Jewish women, it would seem, have to actually go as far as starting there own websites.

What's next?

• Direct mail campaigns?
• Full page ads in the Sunday Times?
• Full scale infomercials?

Are we really so disconnected from one another that this is what life has come to?

Ech!

Tuesday Night Trivia

Last night, I went to Tuesday Night Trivia, for the first time in weeks. Our team name was Now playing Center for the Pistons, Sponge Bob Square Pants. We finished in fourth place. Our prize was getting to play as a team.

My team consisted of Bob plus 3 friends who for now shall remain nameless, Sarah and Mr. and Mrs. A. We had fun when we could hear each other. As nice as it was to play with my team I was very uncomfortable because the bar was uncharacteristically loud - so freakin' loud. We couldn't hear each other before, between rounds or afterwards. It was also very hot. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of being in a very crowded, small space. Most people aren't. So, the crowd, the heat, the noise all produced a very uncomfortable Val.

The game itself was well planned. Caren hosted with Barry. Barry's general knowledge round centered on turn of the century trivia, 8 out of 10. Instead of a top ten list, Barry had us match famous sex quotes with their owners. That was quite challenging. Barry's audio round consisted of songs that he thought were weird. I think we scored about five out of 10 on that one. My favorite round was the visual one, designed by Caren. In honor of Thanksgiving, she produced copies of a Chinese Restaurant menu with 10 words blacked out from either the name of the dish or the dish's description. We scored about 8 out of 10 on that.

In spite of our best efforts, we still only placed fourth, but that's okay. My teams have had pretty good winning streak there for a while. I guess it's only fair to spread the joy. And any opportunity to hang out with friends should be taken advantage of.

I'd like to send a public thank you to the hosts of the dinner I attended late last night. You know who you are. It was a pleasure to see both of you and I hope you have a good time watching the Thanksgiving Day parade with your beloved from the office of our mutual friend.

Spartner

Last night, Jon and I went to the Russian Turkish baths. We arrived around 6:30. There weren't too many people there, which was nice. When I came down from my massage at 8 it was very, very crowded. This bothered me because I couldn't find a place to sit in the Russian sauna which is their hottest one. From there, it's nice to jump into the ice cold pool and people seemed to be in the way everywhere. But I did manage to get a nice sweat in two of the four different rooms they have.

This time, I went to P. for my massage. She didn't talk too much (bonus) and when she did talk it was to explain what she was doing. Using a combination of Reiki, Shiatsu and Swedish, her approach was a little bit different. We started the massage on my back. She worked on my neck first and then on a spot in front of my armpits where all the muscles join up. Then after a while she asked me turn over, to do work on my back. She found a lot of tender spots.

Lower back, ouch. Left hip, ouch. Shoulder blades, ouch. Shoulders, ouch.

She definitely made progress, gradually working out my knots but due to the time constraints of my 45 minute massage, there was only so much she could do. She really could have worked an hour on each of the above spots. But it's not good to get that much work done at once anyway.

As soon as we got home, I turned on The Swan. Last night, the plastic surgeon found cancer on a contestant's nose. It was pretty serious. A specialist removed it and the contestant was thankful for the right reasons. This season, the transformations are a little more natural. Last season, everyone looked like they'd been through a conveyor belt. This season, the surgeons seem to be keeping more with the contestants' natural looks. Don't get me wrong. They don't look that natural but they look more like themselves than the ladies from last season.

Saddest Story in the World

This sad story comes to us from Texas. A mother, suffering from postpartum depression, cut the arms off of her 11 month old daughter, resulting in the baby's death. Covered in blood, she called the police and waited for them to arrive.

My heart goes out to the family and the police and paramedics who were called to the scene. The person who will receive the least sympathy is the mom and that's too bad.

I don't know what happens to a woman when she is suffering from post-natal depression. I don't know what goes on in her head. When this woman snaps out of it, if she was sane to begin with, she is going to feel so guilty, we'll probably hear about her suicide in days to come.

It's a sad story all around.

Literer-Arabs

I'm confused. Very confused. Saudis and other Arab nations contributed lots and lots of money to the new Clinton Library. Doesn't that mean that Clinton has an unscrupulous connection like the one Michael Moore accused the Bushes of having in his inflammatory cockumentary film (pun intended) Fahrenheit 911?

The Clinton Library

(Looks a little too much like a trailer from a trailer park if you ask me.)

Video Game in Bad Taste

There is something inherently distateful about a video game that allows players to reenact the assassination of President Kennedy.

But still probably oodles of fun.

MONDAY. . . AGAIN?!?!

Wasn't it Monday just last week?

It was a cool and rainy weekend. Perfect for the likes of me.

I did my ritualistic food shopping on Saturday at the local supermarket that used to employ me. I talked to one of the young women I used to work with - nice person, very bright, degree in nutrition and food preperation. "Why are you still here?", I asked her. "Because I can't find anything else and besides, I'm starting full time next week", she replied. I encourage to get out of there as soon as possible. She's worked with them through most of her adolescence and early 20's.

Shopping was as satisfying as it always is except I spent more than I usually do. The idea is that spending more money on food for the house, will save us from spending money outside of the house. I celebrated my food shopping spree by preparing a huge meal. I roasted chicken with my famous stuffing, using pita bread for the starch this time around. I made a scrumptious potato-leek soup, variation on mom's recipe and I made pasta with a sauce made from 3 different kinds of mushroom and cream. I also made a pound of pasta. Everything was so rich we couldn't possibly eat seconds.

We did spend a quiet weekend at home. Although some of it was spent out on Sunday afternoon as we cavorted at an arcade/pool hall on Steinway Street. Shoot 'em up games and driving games are a great way to play with your mate. We found one driving game that linked two machines so we could race each other through a fictitious New York City landscape. That was fun, way fun, too much fun.

We also tried a new eatery near the Astoria/Kaufman Studios called CUP. I had an GINORMOUS portobella mushroom burger which was a pile of delicious veggies on a roll accompanied by some regular ole fries and an EMONGOUS cup of coffee. A real bonus was the actual cream in the cream dispenser. It's very stylish and a nice place to go on a rainy, Sunday afternoon.

Friday stuff

I read recently that cows are becoming very angry in Canada and that this is a big problem for their beef industry. This is becoming an American problem because the cows from Canada are encouraging the American cows to become angry as well.
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Here is an example of a prosthetic with a porpoise in mind. The story presents the heartwarming "tail" of a tire manufacturing company that came to the aid of a dolphin that lost of part of its tailfin to necrosis.
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In other animal news, rats everywhere are getting relief from their constipation through the miracle of rat enemas via Vidiot via someone else)
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Cynics are made, not born.
- Max

You're Fired! You're Fired!

Trump fired two people from the Apprentice last night, but I had to read about it online this morning. I was watching the show when all of a sudden NBC just cut out as well as most of the other channels. I'm guessing TWC was having some trouble with their digital output or whatever. No bother. I read about this morning. I have to say I kind of saw it coming. There was so much buildup this past week on NBC about last night's episode having the most exciting boardroom scene ever.

Who was fired? Maria and Wes.

All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.

--Alexandre Dumas

Rice for Lunch

President Announces Nomination of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State
The Roosevelt Room
12:33 P.M. EST

DR. RICE: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. It has been an honor and a privilege to work for you these past four years, in times of crisis, decision and opportunity for our nation. Under your leadership, America is fighting and winning the war on terror. You have marshaled great coalitions that have liberated millions from tyranny, coalitions that are now helping the Iraqi and Afghan people build democracies in the heart of the Muslim world. And you have worked to widen the circle of prosperity and progress in every corner of the world.

I look forward, with the consent of the Senate, to pursuing your hopeful and ambitious agenda as Secretary of State. Mr. President, it is an honor to be asked to serve your administration and my country once again.

And it is humbling to imagine succeeding my dear friend and mentor, Colin Powell. He is one of the finest public servants our nation has ever produced. Colin Powell has been a great and inspirational Secretary of State. It was my honor to serve alongside him, and he will be missed.
It will, of course, be hard to leave the White House, and especially to leave behind the terrific NSC staff who have served their President and their country so ably in this most challenging of times. Yet, I can leave confident in the knowledge that they will be led by the consummate professional, a man I know and admire, my colleague and friend, Steve Hadley.

Finally, let me say that in my 25 years of experience in foreign affairs, both in and out of government, I have come to know the men and women of the Department of State. I have the utmost admiration and respect for their skill, their professionalism and their dedication. If I am confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with the great people of the Foreign Service and the Civil Service. And one of my highest priorities as Secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st century.
Mr. President, thank you again for this great opportunity, and for your continued confidence in me.

THE PRESIDENT: Good job. Thank you all.

Friday Night

So, yeah. I had a bad week at work. What of it? Haven't we all? What did I do last night? I cleaned our house more than it needed to be. (What's frustrating is that I know it's clean but it still looks cluttered but att least I know it's clean). What's amazing is that I felt 2000 times better after cleaning the house. I channelled all of my anger and aggression from the week into the cleaning of the toiilet, scrubbing of the tub, repairing of the vaccuum cleaner, preparation of dinner, straightening out of the kitchen (finally putting away the plates from our party), etc. Then after an exhausting two hours of non-stop cleaning, I vegged in front of the television to watch WHAT NOT TOWEAR (extra good last night) for two hours.

Now, it's Saturday morning and the house is clean. All that remains is making the bed, cleaning last night's dishes and I no longer have a reason to procrasinate instead of looking for a new job. This Saturday belongs to me.

The most fun part of Saturday is that tonight, Jon and I are finally going to see The Incredibles. YAY!!!

Today is Friday

Friday, Friday
It will be a fun day, fun day
All day long


NOT

Anonymous Bloggette

Oh great and nameless friend. Why hast thou forsaken us?

We have not heard from you since September.

I look everyday to see if you have wise words to share with us but alas I am always disappointed by the permanence of your September 29th post.

Will we ever hear from you again?

Sunday

We slept late. We went to Long Beach for dinner. Some friends of the family are visiting from France. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were there and my parents' neighbors.

Did you know that my cherubic nephew can cry loudly for long stretches? My poor brother and sister-in-law . . .they had to leave early. My nephew just couldn't get comfortable.

After they left we visited for a little while, had dessert and we got an early start home where we watched the season premier of the Simpsons on tape and of course, played more Scrabble. I lost but to a worthy opponent. Jon is truly a master SCRABBLE player - utterly the best I've ever played.

Weekend

Brad aka The Anonymous Blogger wrote about his delightful weekend.

And now, I'd like to tell you about mine.

It started sometime after 5pm Friday night when I went home and puttered around the house until What Not To Wear's new episode at 9 pm. I honestly don't remember anything specific that I did. I could have read a book, done a facial, bathed, cooked, cleaned and I just can't remember. But I do remember the show. Afterwards, I think I hitched a ride on the Internet Super Highway until I couldn't stay awake any longer. Pretty exciting, huh. But that's okay. You guys know how I feel about downtime. It's completely necessary and restorative. If you go, go, go all the time you either get physically ill or soul sick.

Saturday was the day to get things done. Grocery shopping, cooking and clean were all high on the list as well as playing several hours of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. If I don't pay attention to the time, I lose hours playing that game. Does that sound sad to you? Well it shouldn't. After typing mindlessly for a week, processing stupid bills and running errands for the owner of the company which he wouldn't even ask his mother to do I need some serious decompression time on the weekends. I did get the girly stuff done early, like preparing food for dinner and cleaning. My only regret is that I didn't nap because I was cooking and I didn't feel comfortable going to sleep while my chicken soup was simmering. When Jon get home, there was dining, Scrabble Playing, Simpsons watching and hours of quality time staring deeply into each other's eyes.

Sunday. Well that's a horse of a different color.

What Not to Operate On

There are several reality TV shows on this season that make ignoring television virtually impossible. I've spoken about two of the shows I'm thoroughly enjoying, "The Apprentice" and "Survivor", in previous posts. Both shows are very similar in that once a week a contestant is eliminated. Both shows are very similar in that the players have to ultimately betray people they are teamed up with. Both shows are entertaining because it's endlessly interesting to see how far people will go to make it to the top of the heap. But that's not what this post is about.

The two shows I'd like to discuss here are also very similar in that they encourage the participants to improve their innerselves by making changes to the outside. The two shows up for discussion are "The Swan" and "What Not to Wear".

"What Not To Wear" on the The Learning Channel (TLC) is quickly becoming my favorite of the four programs mentioned. Here, two fashion experts encourage someone to improve their lives and their look by helping them to revamp their wardrobe, hair and makeup. The recipient of this service is secretly videotaped by their family and friends. Then the friends and family send in the tape to show the producers of the program what dreadful taste their friends have and beg for help. The two fashion experts then surprise the soon-to-be recipient with a $5,000 credit card for a new wardrobe that can be theirs if the fashion criminal is willing to turn himself or herself over to the show, body, soul and wardrobe.

There are several good and positive elements to the show. Not only does one get a $5,000 gift card but the fashion victim is flown to New York City for a week where the hosts of the show give the person tips on what clothing looks good on them specifically, treats them to a hair consultation and hair cut above and beyond the $5K, and then given a lesson on how to apply makeup properly or to groom themselves properly in the case of men. Everyone I've seen on that show has come out the other end a happier person. They all say same thing. . .that knowing how to take care of themselves and shop for themselves ultimately makes them feel a little bit better and a little more confident. I love this show and understand why it is on The Learning Channel. I learn a lot about fashion and makeup etcetera and I enjoy the social psychological aspect of the show that secondarily allows you into the process of improving one's self esteem. Good stuff.

The other show that I'm fascinated with and horrified by at the same time is "The Swan" on FOX. As in "What Not To Wear", the viewer is learning that by making changes to one's outer appearance one can feel better on the inside. Unlike "What Not To Wear", almost every contestant has to undergo radical plastic surgery, compete with other women all suffering from the same, very sad self-esteem and depression issues, to get into a beauty pageant at the end of the show where they will compete once again to be win the title THE SWAN. Every week, the stories get sadder and the Dr's get more cocky. Generally I watch in horror as the experts on the show end up looking like a bunch of Dr. Frankensteins because of the amount of plastic surgery they insist the contestant get. Tonight one of the contestants was bullied into receiving dental work she didn't necessarily want although she really needed it. Another plastic surgeon expressed his interest in this poor woman's snake like and twisted nose which he then broke to correct. These women undergo serious plastic surgery, to the point where they are no longer recognizable. I don't this a good lesson.

Yes. This show has the same socio psycho aspect to it as "What Not To Wear" except it is a mean spirited show. Yes. Producers of both shows are creating entertainment as a commodity. But "The Swan" seems to have a more exploitative angle. They are giving the women who participate thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of physical training, psychotherapy and counseling and mucho plastic surgery. This is all good, but I would respect these people more if they did it without my ever knowing about it. They pretend to be doing these women some kind of favor while simultaneously exploiting them. The lessons are mixed and bad. It teaches us that it's good to be a victim, because victims get rewarded. It teaches us that beauty is the most important thing in life to get ahead.

What do we learn from "What Not To Wear"? That with a little advice, a good haircut and $5,000 shopping spree one can learn how to make the decision to look the best they can look with what GOD has given them.

I will continue to watch both and keep you updated.

You Are a Social Blogger!

Your blog is more of a semi-private affair for your friends. It's how you keep in touch... sharing stories, jokes, and pics.

What kind of blogger are you?

Human Lie Detector

The woman at this site claims that she has the supernatural ability to detect when someone is lying and asks that you write to her so she can help you determine who the liars are in your life.

Very interesting. I may have to blogroll her site.

Millions of Cures for Millions of Dollars

America is purchasing 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine for almost 900 million dollars. This should be enough to treat 25 million people. Maybe I haven't been paying attention but when did the new ANTHRAX scare arise that would cause my tax dollars to be spent on this? Not that there's anything wrong with having a vaccine but nobody asked my opinion or even mentioned it to me.

The Government is beginning to give me a complex - I'm feeling a left out of the policy making process.

Dollar Struggles Against the Euro

Not surprisingly, the dollar is at all time low against the Euro. Clearly this reflects the faith Europe instills in our fearless leader.

Hamas

Here is a link that supports the argument that Palestinians are raising their children to be terrorists.

http://www.haganah.us/harchives/003043.html

Trump Fired Raj!

He just made too many mistakes. I guess he'll just have to go back to being the successful real estate developer that he already was, having started a business with family money he inherited. Yeah. He's real salt of the earth kind of people. Clearly, he has struggled (not) to get where he is.

This guy already won life's lottery. I'm glad he got fired. Give someone else a chance. I miss Troy from last season.
Maybe he'll make a cameo appearance.

The task was to renovate two houses. The team that came away with a higher appraisal than the other won. The winning team kept it simple and just cleaned up what was already there. But the other team, led by Rah, complicated matters by ordering too much work be done.

For a real estate developer Raj sure didn't seem to know what he was doing. He turned a four bedroom house into a three bedroom (for which he got fired) and added a second bathroom to the second floor. The contract screwed him by not completing the work on the second floor. Well, if it were me, I would have had the contractor put the bathroom in first. Clearly, installing a bathroom takes a lot of work. Not only do you have to install the hardware but you have to grout and tile the walls. Why he left that until the last day is beyond me? Bad contractor or not, that should have been his first request.

This is why I hate business. You have to stay on top of people's shit all the time to make sure they are doing what you need done. If not, they'll slack off or fuck up. If you're too nice a person, it's just not in you to give someone else a hard time. Raj was too nice a person. It's also interesting to see how the teams set up other members for failure.

Gosh. I love that show!!

Open Letter from a Wounded Liberal

This self proclaimed Wounded Liberal sums up for all of Kerry supporters why this loss stings so badly.

I agree Wounded Liberal. I agree.

Arafat is in a coma

Yasser Arafat has slipped into a coma leaving hand selected people in charge of the P.L.O. At lease if he's in a coma, no one can blame him for sending teenagers to their self inflicted death in Israeli market places or on Israeli transit. At lease if he's in a coma, no one can blame him for inciting the Palestinians against Jewish settlers. Or can they?

I think the P.L.O., under the leadership of Arafat, made a long and abiding commitment to terrorize Israel for as long as it exists. I think the surrounding Arab countries made an agreement with the P.L.O. to keep the Palestinians living like rats in refugee camps as an army of avenging angels to rid the area of the Jewish scourge.

Perhaps, with Arafat gone, the Palestinians as a nation, will be able to settle in one or all of the surrounding Arab countries which are certainly wealthy enough to give every one of those terrorist homes and jobs. This has been going on too long. A true leader would have found these people homes and work a long time ago, but instead he continued to allow his people to live like dogs in the wilderness.

I invite discussion on this, so don't be scared to link and argue and do what you need to do.

Bush won

In case you hadn't heard, President Bush won and John Kerry lost.

It's a sad day for Democrats and their supporters everywhere.

We'll never know what kind of President Kerry would have made, because most likely he will not get renominated by his party to run another campaign. On the bright side though, if there is one, we won't have to deal with John Edwards or Theresa Heinz Kerry.

Another food myth has been debunked. Fruits and vegetables do not help protect you against cancer.

VOTE!!

I voted earlier this morning. It took longer than I thought. There were quite a few more people there than I'm accustomed to seeing. I saw my neighbors of the last 11 years; many familiar faces of people I have never spoken to.

All the voting is controlled by local volunteers. Why are those volunteers always 100 years old and hard of hearing? There were a few young faces but they were strategically positioned in places that weren't of help to anybody.

The police presence was a lot heavier than I remember in the past. Police were stationed every 20 feet or so. That made me feel safe even though I didn't really feel threatened. But that Bin Laden video, if you think about it, can be a little unnerving. So far, I haven't seen any reports of terroristic interference. That could be thanks to President Bush, but I still voted Democrat down the line.

Remember that your vote is private. It's the one privacy entitlement I know of that is legally protected in the U.S. I say this because if you don't want to get into a heated discussion at the office or the dinner table, you can quote me and avoid a sticky situation.

"You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss". Your romance is Casablanca. A classic story of love in trying times, chock full of both cynicism and hope. You obviously believe in true love, but you're also constantly aware of practicality and societal expectations. That's not always fun, but at least it's realistic. Try not to let the Nazis get you down too much.

What Romance Movie Best Represents Your Love Life?
brought to you by

Scary Costumes

Matt Drudge has done it again. He found a funny and obsure news site that both comments and amuses at the same time.

This time, he links us to a newspaper, that is offering funny Halloween costumes.

Here are some interesting facts about November 1, from the Wikipedia. Can you believe only 60 days remain until the end of the year.

Here are three questions for you to answer below or to copy and answer on your blog.

1. Has this year been going by quickly for you?
2. Has this been a good or bad year for you to date?
3. What would you like to see improved for next year?

Here are my answers:
1. Between 9 and 5 my days have gone by slowly. After 5 pm they have gone by quickly.

2. This has been a good year to date. Many positive things have happened in my life.

3. I would like to improve my work situation.

Halloween

Halloween fell on a Sunday, on the weekend. What a great time to be a kid!!! Could you imagine having an entire weekend to plan and executive your Halloween mechanations. Good times indeed. Last night, Jon and I went to a Halloween/housewarming party at The Anonymous Blogger's beautiful new condo. Three bedrooms, huge living room, comfortable sized kitchen, and two bathrooms!!! Sign me up. On top of that, his condo has a view of the park across the street - a very nice home indeed.

Jon and I dressed up. I was a jack'o'lantern and he was Matthew Lesko, the free government money guy. Thank you Sarah for letting me borrow thispicture from her website. There were several clever costumes indeed. The Skycaptain was there and so was a eurotrash/goth/lingerie model. A young woman from the ARMY was in attendance - she showed us the self defense form of Torah Dojo. It seemed like Clark Kent was having an identity crisis and exposed part of his superman S while loosening his tie. I've never seen Clark Kent look so disheveled, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. T.A.B certainly was entertaining as Fred Flinstone, Johnny Cash, one of the Dark Lords from the Star Wars trilogies. (Dressed as I was, I don't think I was too threatening, even when fighting the Dark Lord with my light saber).

T.A.B. served party bagels. Party bagels are just like those great big heros except they are bagels. Delicious. We all brought some home with us.

Special thanks goes to our friend who came as someone who doesn't like to dressup for Halloween. He drove us home, at 2 in the morning, halted in 59th Street Bridge traffic until 3 am. Who knew that the bridge would be so crowded so early in the friggin' morning. I don't know why I never remember. The city works on the byways late at night causing all sorts of problems you wouldn't expect.

Fun, fun, fun.

Today I'm going to see my 10 month old nephew dressed like a giraffe and I'm really looking forward to it.

Have a happy Halloween!! and keep your kids safe.

Worst Mom of the Year Award Goes To

this mom.

Not only did she make her baby smoke pot, but she photographed it.

D'uh

Reality Shows Update

Last night, Orlando Bloom look-a-like #1, from Survivor was voted off the island. Poor John. The young mechanical bull operator was a good sport about it. He tried to rally the troup against Chad, the contestant with the prosthetic leg, theorizing that if the jury had to choose between one of them and the guy with one leg, the guy with one leg would get the sympathy vote. His plan backfired becuase he was the only one who voted off Chad - John's team kicked him off unanimously.

Meanwhile, on the Apprentice, Orlando Bloom look-a-like #2, Andy, did amazingly well in leading his team to victory. The task was to create an ad inviting young people to join the NYC police force. He took command and didn't waver, didn't even compromise. He stood behind his idea and succeeded. Poor Elizabeth didn't fare too well. She was just too nice. She wanted to make every body happy and in the end made no one happy. She lost. I felt bad for her and I saw what her weakness was. She had trouble communicating. Trump didn't even have to think twice about firing her. He did it rather quickly, without her even having to go to the boardroom a second time with two people of her choosing.

Elizabeth. I salute you. You are smart and you were right. But you have to speak up for yourself more. You understood the assignment and Raj was a big pain in the ass. He confused you by seeming right about a wrong idea.

Arafat arrived in Paris . . . .

. . . . for medical treatement. Tests show that he has a low platelet count which could be symptom of a number of different illnesses. He is being treated at a French military base.

Arafat to Be Flown to Hospital in Paris

Sources: Ailing Arafat refuses Paris hospitalization

Sharon in top security meeting over Arafat health crisis

Yasser Arafat is dying or is he? Reports are mixed. Some say he is on his death bed while others say he just lost conscienceness for about 10 minutes. I even heard on the radio tonight, that there are rumours that he has A.I.D.S. and that it's just a matter of time before he passes over to the other side. That rumour, according to the radio, is supported by his rapid weight loss over the last two weeks and his bout with several colds and flu like illnesses.

This report I heard also said that several groups are primed and ready to fight for leadership of the Palestinian people. I never thought I would find myself in the position of hoping that Arafat lives. Now that Sharon has agreed to evacuate about 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, Arafat would probably be instrumental in making sure everything goes smoothly and that the Palestinians accept this as a step toward increasing the peace.

Hey Trivialists. . .Trivialize *THIS*!!

Eric and I led a very coordinated co-hosting effort last night.

There were 10 teams, about 50 people. One team came in first, then another came in second and then finally one came in third. In true Valerie fashion, I can't remember who did what or when. I do remember there was someone in the audience who wasn't happy with one of our answers. He protested when we gave the answer, after we gave the answer, while we were collecting the answer sheets. He protested up until we started the next round. Finally he calmed down because I'm sure he realized he was wrong.

We didn't give in.

Never give in. Even if you are wrong which we weren't. But once you give in a little bit as the host, then you leave yourself open to a lot of negotiations for points. The crowd won't stop picking at you until you find by the end of the game, you've given it all up. Don't do it. It's not fair to the teams that play fair and work hard and know their shit.

Anyhoo. . . . . . .
==================================

So . . . Who are you voting for next Tuesday?

Again? Yes, Again

Tuesday Night Trivia
The Baggott Inn
October 26, 2004, 7:30 pm
Featuring Erik Kabakoff and Valerie Goodman
in their second ever appearance together

Bottom of the 5th

It's the bottom of the 5th, second game of the World Series. Ortiz just hit what he thought was a fair ball and a team of umpires is trying to determine whether it was fair or foul. In my life, I don't remember enjoying a baseball game as much as this one right now.

Perhaps, I have caught the fever from Jon, a fervent baseball fan with encyclopedic knowlege of the sport. Or perhaps, I am one those fans who can only enjoy post season baseball. I'm caught up in the Red Sox being the sentimental favorite to win the game. Maybe I'm excited about the almost 38 year old pitcher with the bleeding ankle who chose to try for a Red Sox World Series victory over surgery to fix what could become a permanent limp that could kill his career as a ball player. I think for these reasons, I'm really enjoying the game.

I still don't see how baseball is a metaphor for life, like many fans do, but I certainly can understand the emotional investment of those follow it before, during, and after the season.

Housewarming Party

Thank you to everyone who made it out to our housewarming party last night. It was a pie and wine kind of evening. I heated a Mrs. Smith's apple pie and put it out but it didn't even get eaten because;

One guest brought 2 pies. Good.
One guest brought a cake . Good
One guest brought He'Brew, the ethnic beer. Good and funny.
One guest brought Yellow Tail wine. Very good and very cool because I've seen the ads everywhere and was wondering what the hell it was.
Actually many guests brought wine. Extra good.

One guest made the world's friggin' best homemade guacamole. Yummers.

Two guests thought it would be funny to put an image of T** girl on our computer, so we would see it every time we booted up. Not so good. (I use the asterix because I don't want searches for that freak to find me here). Took me half an hour and the assistance of my brother to remove the image from my computer. Those guests were properly chastised.

I learned several things last night:
Men like baseball and so do some women.
Captain Morgan coconut flavored rum is scrumpt-diddly-icious.
Scatological humor is making a comeback (shipoopie).
Romy and Michelle's HS Reunion is a quotable cult film.
Half liter bottles of Poland Spring water are easier to serve than waiting for water to filter through a Brita.

But most importanly, I learned that we have really great friends.

Mark Burnett - Secret Crush?

Is it possible that reality show producer Mark Burnett has a secret crush on Orlando Bloom?

Look at these three pictures.

1. 2. 3.
On both The Apprentice and Survivor are contestants who look a lot like the young star.

Can you find the picture of the true Orlando Bloom?

Exactly One Year Ago

I'm kind of busy today, but I long to BLOG. I long to share with you.

So, I link to my post from October 22, 2003.

Not surprisingly, it is about trivia.

Castro Invertable

78-year old Fidel Castro fell on his face after giving a speech. He quickly recovered and let the crowd know that he was okay. He injured his knee. Why doesn't this guy just die already? It seems like he's immortal. He never dies. I think it's his hatred for all things Western that keeps him going.

He is the original ole dirty bastard.

Lay Lady Lay

Police stun 75-year-old
Rock Hill chief says Taser was used after woman attacked officer

Drinking and Thinking

• 7:30 pm - October 20, 2004
• Dempsey's Pub, 61 2nd Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
• Janet Rosen, Valerie Goodman

Tuesday Night Trivia

Akachris cohosted last night with Caren. Not only did he do a good job, but considering it was his first time, he did super job. It's always a good game when Caren hosts, so I'm glad I went last night. In honor of an article recently published in New York about Tuesday Night Trivia, Caren wore her nerd glasses complete with tape across the bridge of her nose. (side note: I am mentioned in the article as the "pale, blowsy woman shouting out the answers from the previous round").

I played with my usual team last night, including T.K.O.A.B., Barry, Kory, and Robert. We invited Dina to play with our team because she was new. She explained to us that she had played previously in Hong Kong, where she worked as a lawyer for a few years, at fuctions for foreign correspondent. I figured a lawyer with international trivia experience would be a good new edition to the team and sure enough, we won first place.

It was a closer game than usual. Candy Blue Kite's team was only 1 point behind this time, coming in second. Candy's team has been playing much better lately, starting to emerge as a real threat to my unbeatable winning streak. Believe me, it's not because I'm on the team that we're winning (I received an honorable mention from Candy). It's because I have good people playing on my team, really good people. Robert surprised me last night by his expertise on club music from the 90's. Turns out, he worked as a dee jay in the late 90's. Who knew?

Celebrity Spotting

As I was walking through the turnstyle, leaving the platform at 28th and B'way, B.D. Wong was walking though in the opposite direction heading toward the track with a cute little boy, who I assume was his son. This is the second time I've seen him in this neighborhood and he looks just like he looks on television - very smart, very handsome, and very nice.

Taxing

Note: Matt Drudge points out that Mrs. Heinz Kerry pays less in taxes than most middle class Americans.

In an attempt to make Theresa Heinz Kerry look worse than she already does, the NY POST published this lovely article practically accusing her of being a thief. It reports she is paying taxes at half the rate the Bush's are paying by exploiting every possible angle of the tax code. It also reports the Mrs. Kerry's wealth is impossible to calculate because she is withholding information. Thank goodness no one looks at my records this closely. Of course, no one cares about my 25,000 a year.

I just did a little research and found that I am in the 15% tax bracket. Theresa Heinz Kerry somehow was in 12.5% and the Bushes are in 20 something percent.

That means that jointly the Bush's income is between 14,000 and and about $100,000 a year. Theresa's at 12.5% means her income is between about 15,000 and 23,000 give or take.

Check out your tax bracket here.

Theresa Heinz Kerry

Not knowing Mrs. Kerry personally, it's hard for me to say whether or not she is a good person or what she is like. But if I had to judge based on what I read about her every time she picks up a microphone, I'd have to say that she's a little bit out of touch with reality and the way common people live. It's to be expected. She is the wealthy heir to a large fortune and has lived most of her life in luxury. I'm not saying that her life has been easy, but I'm pretty certain, it's been more comfortable than yours or mine put together.

What inspires this post is a teaser I read at the Drudge Report. Although it is not there any longer, the teaser was Mrs. Kerry's remedy for arthritis pain.

"You get some gin and get some white raisins - and only white raisins - and soak them in the gin for two weeks," she said. "Then eat nine of the raisins a day."

She was addressing a pro-Kerry crowd at the Neil Road Community Center in Reno, according to this article at the Reno-Gazette Journal website.

The article later quotes an expert who says that raisins have sulfites and that people soak in sulfer springs as a cure for arthritis, but I think the journalist was using that offset how crazy Theresa Heinz Kerry sounded.

The DNC should not let her campaign for her husband. She gets crazier sounding with every sound byte.

Star Trekking

Last night, long after the closing credits for the Apprentice flashed on our TV screen, Jon and I decided to watch another fantastic episode of Star Trek from the Season 1 DVD.

Shore Leave is perhaps the most lightest hearted of the first season. The crew find themselves on a planet where every daydream comes true. The premise is quite silly but I think the episode sets the foundation of ideas for the hollow deck.

Does anyone remember the name of the Star Trek episode that only aired once?

The Apprentice - Season 2

Yes. Mark Burnett hooked me again, this time hodling my attention through two hours of television.

While changing around my summer and winter clothes I was half paying attention to the latest season of Survivor. Tonight the men's and women's teams were mixed together and the reward challenge was a test to see which team could dive deeper to collect disks. The reward was potato chips and beer. Tonight Travis "Bubba" Sampson was voted off for trying to communicate with his friend from the opposing team. This makes the show more watchable for me, because I tend to dislike chubby, ruddy skinned, white guys with hick accents named Bubba. I don't know much about him outside of his entertainment value and I'm sure the producers are thrilled to lose this equivalent of a lawn ornament/eyesore.

John, a 24 year old marketing director from San Francisco, was fired on tonight's episode of the Apprentice. Having finished the laborious task of hanging my sweaters during Survivor, I lay on the couch mesmerized and unmoving from 9 - 10 while the contestants designed a line and then presented it at a fashion show. The women finally beat their 4 time losing streak by selling more product to the attending buyers and the men had to go to the board room where they suddenly started turning on each other.

I just love this show. The cheese value is high, which I feel is an inherent factor in a successful TV show, but then it also has this quality about it that makes the viewer think they are learning something about business by watching Donald Trump sum up the basic idea of the assigned task. Tonight's lesson was Know Your Market. Wow. It took me a second, after all I only have a BA from a state University, but I realized that knowing your market is perhaps a great idea for successfully selling a product. If you detect derision, that's good, because I'm trying to sound derisive.

Debate three

Who said what? Can you identify which candidate said which of the following?

1. . . . outsourced the job to Afghan warlords . . .
2. . . . if you're younger and healthy, don't get a flu shot . . .
3. . . . 82,000 Arizonians lost their health insurance under this President's watch . . .
4. . . . I have a plan to cover all Americans . . .
5. . . . a plan is not a litany of complaints. . .
6. . . . by reinstating what President Bush took away, which is Pay as You Go . . .
7. . . . he voted to increase taxes 98 times. . . a tax on every small business owner in America
8. . . . here's some help for you to go to a community college . . .
9. . . . education is how to help the person who lost his job . . .
10. . . . I want you to notice how the President switched the discussion away from jobs to education. . .
11. . . . like Tony Soprano talking to us about . . .
12. . . . the fact is he cut job training money . . . he cut the Pell Grants . . . not extending unemployment benefits
13. . . . I don't want Americans subsidizing the loss of their own jobs . . .
14. . . . Whew!! Let me start with the Pell Grants. . .
15. . . . he voted to increase taxes 98 times . . .he voted against tax cuts 126 times. . .
16. . . . more people qualify for [Pell Grants] because less people have money . . .
17. . . . your record is such that Ted Kennedy is the liberal senator from Massachusetts
18. . . . Mr. President, do you think homosexuality is a choice? . . .
19. . . . defined marriage as between a man and a woman. . . .it shouldn't be up to the courts to decide
20. . . . we're all Gods children Bob and I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, she would tell us she's being who she is . . . it's not choice. . . that's why I'm for partnership rights . . .
21. . . . I believe that I can't transfer to another American citizen an article of faith . . . it's between a woman, God and her doctor . . . faith without works is dead . . .
22. . . . I think it's important to promote a culture of life . . . it's a brutal practice . . .my opponent voted against that law . . . fund maternity group homes . . .
23. . . . consumers are not involved in the decision making process . . . I know that the lawsuits are causing healthcare costs to rise in America . . . it's equivalent of buggy and horse days. . .
24. . . . this administration has stood in the way of common sense solutions that would reduce costs. . . blocked you from the right to have less expensive drugs from Canada . . . Medicare belongs to you . . .
25. . . . he has no record on reforming of health care . . . no record of leadership . . .
26. . . . I have passed 56 individual bills . . . the President's wrong. . .
27. . . . my healthcare plan America, is very simple . . . if it's good enough for us, it's good enough for every American . . .
28. . . . it's not fair to quote leading news organizations, well, nevermind - let me quote the Blah blah report . . .

I'm bored. One is building castles in the sky while the other is trying to convince us he's not stupid.

And it's all for naught, because George W. is going to win. He could write "I wanna' be Prezident" in his own feces on the wall behind him, during this debate and he would still win.

I'm going to watch Star Trek.

Trip Highlights

Mount Royal
Walking up Mount Royal through the park. We were hoping to see the Cross, but it started to get too dark to see anything. The park paths didn't offer to much in the way of lighting. We started our ascent at one of the entrances where Tom Toms were being played madly by wanna' be hippies. The square was full of rich college students pretending to be dirty gypsies, selling cruddy home made jewelry and seemingly tripping on ectasy. We were heard those tom toms all the way up to Beaver Lake. We were pleasantly surprised by the randomness of the sculpture garden near by.

St. Joseph's Oratory
On the side of the mountain opposite the park, we explored St. Joseph's Oratory. we chose to walk up the steps like tourists, rather than like the penitents we saw ascending on their knees (that's 90 steps,ouch). Exceptional. The history of the Oratory is interesting. Founded by Brother Andre 100 years ago, this was the most beautiful structure in Montreal. This is another site that surprised me with it's amazing museum. On the level before the basillica is a museum with over 200 nativity scenes from 107 countries. Nativity scenes, if you're not aware, are a lot more pleasant than depictions of the crucifixion. Way in the back of the museum is a series of life size diaramas representing the life of Joseph as it relates to Jesus. This is a little creepy but very special and a must see.

Marie Queen of the World Cathedral
Our hotel was across the street from Marie Queen of the World Cathedral. One of the reasons I love visiting cathedrals when I travel is my fascination with stained glass. In most cathedrals, the windows tell little stories either from the old or the new testament. In this cathedral, the windows explained the religious history of Montreal. I won't bore you with the details but the heroes chosen are interesting characters, many of them women. Canadians credit both special men and women with founding the city of Montreal. I also really liked the stations of the cross here, done in relief. The stations have more meaning for me since seeing the beating rather The Passion of the Christ. The structure itself is a 1/4 scale model of St. Peter's Basillica.

Notre Dame Basillica of Montreal
This was breathtaking. Gothic, romantic, religious. My observations for this cathedral are too personal for this venue. (I am still and always will be Jewish. I just happen to love Cathedrals. They are always more interesting than temples. Some of the best art I've ever seen has been in Cathedrals, because for years, the biggest sponsor of the arts was the Catholic church. They have commissioned more great works than any institution, mostly during but not exclusive to the Renaissance. Artists give up so much of themselves to express their love for Christ and for the church. You would have to be heartless not to find it moving. That's why I find it hard to express in words, what I felt when I saw this Basillica, not because I am having a crisis of faith.)

Ass Jumping
Staying at the hotel was great fun. We stayed at the Centre Sheraton and our room had two beds, two big fluffy beds. Part of the joy was playing a game I invented called Ass Jumping. Jon and I competed to see who could bounce higher on the beds using our behinds. The hotel had a pool and a jacuzzi and a sauna. All put to good use by two happy tourists.

Dear Weird Guy at Gate 89 at Dorval Airport

Don't you think it was inappropriate to be reading your whackoff material in the waiting area with children present? Seeing the look on your face when you opened the first magazine was quite disturbing. But when you groaned while looking at the naked women in the third one, I just knew that you would be sitting near us on the flight. I wasn't surprised to see you sitting one row ahead, nor was I surprised when you started to snore so loudly it sounded like you were sawing wood. I felt bad for the guy sitting next to you, quietly reading his Tom Clancey paperback, especially when you started looking at whackoff magazine number four.

I hope I never have to see you again.

We're back.

Hello from Canada

Before you read this post you should know two things.
1. The Canadians love this weird dish called Poutine.
2. Jon cut his hair and it looks really, really great.

Hello from Rue St. Urbain.

Jon and I are taking some time off from our walking tour of Montreal. We've stopped in a little internet cafe on Rue St. Urbain across from Hotel Dieu, which we think is actually a hospital. Yesterday, after checking into the luxurious Sheraton, we went directly to Rue de St. Catherine. We walked all the way down to the Place des Artes, then hung a right on Rue de St. Laurent, walked through Chinatown, into Old Montreal where the fun really began. When we first entered Old Montreal we noticed a couple of brides walking around here and there and thought it very charming. But then as we walked further down Rue de Notre Dame, the number of brides started rapidly multiplying. It was when reached the PlaceVauquelin, and the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, we realized that people were getting married en masse. We saw brides everywhere. Yes. I took pictures, but I used by Pentax K-1000 so hopefully they turned out okay. The camera is almost 20 years old and hasn't been tuned up in 13 years.

In the square across from the Hotel de Ville is this great fountain where all the brides were posing with their wedding parties. People were also posing by their limousines, their incredibly ridiculous Bentley and Rolls Royce limousines complete with tulle and other wedding decorations. Across the street at le Place Jacques Cartier, we saw the odd statue of one armed Lord Nelson, whose name I know, only from watching the movie Master and Commander. Jon knows more about the history of British naval warfare than I do, but from what I understand, Lord Nelson is famous for winning the Battle of Trafalgar which I guess was some important battle against Napoleon.

To the right, you can see the picture of city hall to the right of that very tall statue of Lord Nelson. Imagine this square full of brides. It was really quite lovely. Also imagine those big pots full of orange, yellow and purple flowers. Absolutely incredible.

We walked further into Old Montreal and found charming little shops and restaurants and windy streets and strange art stores and weird, original jewelry. We walked past the Notre Dame basilica but I was just too pooped by this point to really appreciate the basilica and besides it was overcast and you really can't enjoy stained glass when it's cloudy outside. We chose to save for it another day.

Today we took the metro to the Ile Saint Helene and saw the enormous geodesic dome which I photographed ad nauseam, and then this cool old fort, Musee Stewart. We were surprised to discover a fantastic little gem of a museum. Inside there was an interactive diorama explaining the history of the city plan. Very cool. There was also a lot of pewter, more than you can shake a stick at.

We're now headed out to Mount Royal to meander through the park and then walk back to our hotel back up Rue de Ste. Catherine. Can you guess what was named after Mount Royal?

Ste. Catherine Street

I got a tip from one of my company's vendors, a printer in Canada, that Jon and I should spend some time on Ste. Catherine Street when we are in Montreal.

Check out this link.
http://travel.e-scape.net/canada/quebec/montreal/streets/stcatherine.html

It looks pretty cool.

It's coming from inside the house

In Barstow, California, police reported that an 11 year old went after her babysitter with a shovel, a babeball bat, a BB gun and eventually a machete which she found on the front lawn. Huh?

Apparently the 11 year old was beating up the dog and the babysitter tried to stop her.

The 11 year old chased the 34 year old babysitter and her 12 year old sister into the bathroom where they hid to take refuge.

Just what we needed. A good scary babysitter story in time for Halloween.

Better Than Theraflu

Five days with this cold and finally I have it together enough to make some Jewish penicillin; liquid gold; good old fashioned chicken soup. Actually, feeling ambitious, I am making two different types of chicken soup. I'm trying out a couple of things.

I split a 5 pound chicken into its various parts.

In the first pot, I've added two pureed two chili peppers, two pureed small onions, two stalks of celery to the legs, thighs, breast and wings of my chicken. I also put mini carrots, some chopped celery, cayenne pepper and salt. This is going to be the hot and spicy soup to clear out my lungs and sinuses, basically acting as a decongestant. In the second pot, I put the neck, the back, the wing tips, some mini carrots, chopped celery, the juice of two freshly squeezed lemons, 1 pound of asparagus, white pepper and salt. This will have some kick but not be burning, burning hot. This one is meant to sooth and deliver that good chicken fat that has all the healing power.

I'll let you know how they turn out. Or maybe Jon and my neighbors will write a little review. It has yet to be seen.

Montreal

Jon and I are going to Montreal for a little get away. I am a big fan of cathedrals so hopefull the first site we see will be the Basillica of Notre Dame de Montreal. And I hope we also get to visit the Biosphere, the amazing geodesic dome designed by architect Richard Buckminster Fuller for the 1967 Expo. It's now an amazing environmentalal center and museum and being the amateur science geek that I am, it's a must see. What's wild is I remember Jon telling me about a geodesic dome by Fuller but I never connected the two.

Rodney Dangerfield Passed Away

Rodney Dangerfield passed away. He was 82 years old. I don't know anybody who didn't like him or didn't think he was funny. He made me feel like comforting him even while making me laugh. I always wanted to say, "You're not so bad looking." or "Your luck will turn around soon."

I have two favorites when it comes to Mr. Dangerfield. One was when he was a guest voice on The Simpsons as Montgomery Burns's long lost son. It's episode 4F05 from season 8. The second of my favorites, is the movie Back to School where he plays the wealthy owner of a chain of clothing stores for big and tall men. In it he attends his son's college to help his son fit in and feel better about himself in general. Of course the plan backfires, as Rodney's character Thornton Melon becomes more popular than any student on the campus. Part of what makes him so unbelievably, and I mean that literally, popular are his outlandish parties featuring Oingo Boingo as the main act (Danny Elfman, former lead singer, wrote the theme for the Simpsons and many movie scores) and his irreverence for his teachers.

You know the movie. You've seen it many times as one of your guilty pleasures. You've watched every time your clicker has fallen on Comedy Central while you were channel surfing on Saturday mornings. You know that the funniest scene in that movie is when he performs his dive the triple Lindy. A dive that is so impossible nobody could possibly do it. And if you know the movie as well as I do, you understand why it's my favorite of his.

Anyway, thank you Rodney Dangerfield for making me laugh. I'll miss you.

Ahhhhh. Theraflu.

I almost completely forgot about my favorite OTC cold remedy, TheraFlu. I added a packet of the powdered elixir to 6 oz of water and I feel so much better. I think I'll be able to sleep tonight. At work today, I was thinking about sleep having gone virtually 2 nights without it. I started thinking about some pillows that I'd seen on some recent rides down the internet highway.

Rides, rides . . .that leads us to my first online pillow memory. A few weeks ago, my friend Vidiot, informed his readers of a link he found to the Kropserkel God Father Horsehead pillow. I don't know how peaceful a sleep I would get, sleeping next to a reminder of the horror of that early scene in Part 1 of the Godfather, the best movie ever made. That wouldn't do.


So my mind wandered back to a link I saw on the Drudge Report last week for the Man Pillow. A manufacturer in Japan started marketing the arm pillow to the female population of Japan. They have been selling like hotcakes. What a brilliant idea. But why stop there. The pillow is just half a torso and an arm. Why don't they just make a whole man pillow? Why don't they sell that here? It would save single American women the expense of having to get a cat.

So, given a choice between the severed horse head pillow and the Man Pillow, which one would you choose?

Why?

Why would anybody go after these guys, especially with what they've just been through. Shame on those men.

Monday

It's early Tuesday morning and my sinuses have kept me up a second night in a row. Well, I haven't been awake exactly, but I haven't been asleep. I'm in that frustrating limbo between the two that most insomniacs understand whic is frustrating because I haven't had trouble sleeping in quite some time.

Sunday night was a night like that. Upon awaking Monday morning I felt neither refreshed or recharged. Working was a bit of a challenge but not as much as you would think. Something about 8 or 9 hours of light sleep makes your brain a little sharper even though you hurt other places. For me, it was my eyes that hurt. The combination of lack of sleep and sinus pressure was pretty bad. At one point, I had to breath water up my nose in the ladies room to try to get some relief. It didn't work like it usually does. It seemed to make it worse by making my eyes tear.

After work, I met Jon and Sandy at Wo Hop in Chinatown. Apparently the restaurant has two parts. At 15 Mott, the restaurant is set up more like a traditional restaurant but downstairs at 17 Mott is more cafeteria style. It's a famous New York eatery that gets referenced often on cop shows situated in New York City. Interestingly enough, there were three cops just sitting down to eat dinner as we were getting up to leave. The portions were generous. The three of us shared, steamed dumplings, cold sesame noodles, sesame chicken, Szechuan shrimp, beef chow fun, rice and we each drank a Diet Coke. This enormous feast, that we couldn't even finish, came to a grand total of $36.00.

When we got home we played two games of Scrabble. I lost the first game but won by 100 points in the second game. I bingoed with the word ADJUSTS on a triple with the first "s" connecting with the word ICING to make ICINGS. My total score for that play was 103 points including the 50 for the bingo.
That is the highest score I have ever gotten from playing one word.

I guess I felt a little better after we ate, thanks to the tab of Claritin I took before dinner. But I think the Claritin is what has been keeping me up these last two nights. The makers of Claritin aren't kidding when they list non-drowsy on the label. I've also determined that I am suffering from the ill effects of a cold rather than seasonal allergies, so I'm done with the Claritin and seeking something else for relief - something that doesn't cause drowsiness, yet doesn't keep you awake; something that doesn't dry you out painfully like Sudafed; something good.

Any suggestions?

Another Dead Celebrity

Guess who died. Come on. Take a stab at it.

Weekend Resume

Friday

• Worked
• Russian Turkish baths - see below
• Played Scrabble with Jon
• Slept

Saturday

• Woke up
• Watched the end of Osama
• Had brunch
• Napped
• Went to closed gym
• Picked up food for dinner
• Made steak and salad
• Watched When Harry Met Sally
• Played Scrabble with Jon
• Slept

Sunday

• Woke up
• Watched the beginning of Osama
• Made coffee
• Surfed the web
• Went to Renaissance Festival
• Went to Time Warner Center
• Came home
• Watched tape of National Scrabble Championship
• Made and ate dinner
• Played three games of Scrabble with Jon (lost twice)
• Watched a very special episode of Star Trek

Any questions?

My New Favorite Show

What Not To Wear on TLC is my favorite new show.

I just love it!!!

Salt is corrosive

Tonight I went to the Russian Turkish baths on E. 10th Street. It was my fourth time there, first time going alone.

I signed up for another Dead Sea salt scrub, this time with S . Last time, T scrubbed me down, so this time I wanted to try a woman. It was a much different experience. S explained to me every step of the process which was especially good when my skin started to sting. She is studying skin care and her scientific explanations were both interesting and a little frightening. Keep in mind that when T did the scrub there was no stinging involved.

S explained that, because she was doing it correctly, the salt was stinging because it was corrosive and burning off the top layer of my skin. Huh? What? Come again? After she slathered the corrosive agent all over the back of my body she told me to turn over. Those large grains of salt sstarted pressing into my back and were getting very warm. I was getting concerned. But I stayed the course while S rubbed more stinging salt all over my front. When she was done she wrapped me in a sheet, covered my eyes and told me I had to stay like that for 12 minutes. She warned that if the salts became too hot that I should yell for her, but just in case she couldn't get in there fast enough she left the hose for me to rinse myself off. IT WAS ALL VERY DRAMATIC and for no reason. Yes the salts were hot but their hotness leveled off. I was so relaxed lying there wrapped in salt and wet sheets I didn't want it to end.

S really knew what she is talking about. She said I shouldn't put anything on my skin that I can't eat. Instead of baby oil I should use olive, almond or sesame oil. She said I should use sour cream on my face because it has lactic acid. She then gave me a facial mask from her school that doesn't contain a single ingredient that I would want to eat.

Interesting.

She washed off the salt (I love being bathed - does that make me evil) packed away my left over salt and advised me that now that I'd been scrubbed I was really ready to sweat. So I did. I went into the various saunas before washing my hair and heading home.

I feel more relaxed than I've felt all week.

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

XP SP 2 WARNING

Whatever you do, do not, I repeat do not download the update for XP called service pack two or SP2. It screwed up my computer something good at work.

If you go to the MSN homepage, the update is sitting right there on the front page, begging to be downloaded.

DON'T DO IT.

Our company's IT group said that they have had to attempt repairs on 5 computers in three weeks that have received the download. After two rounds of repairs, my computer is still not functioning properly.

DON'T DOWNLOAD XP SP@!!