Yuck Part II or Stowaway Horror Story

NEW YORK (AP) - A body part apparently fell from the wheel well of a plane coming in for a landing on Tuesday at John F. Kennedy Airport and landed in a suburban backyard, authorities said. More remains were found on a South African Airways flight after it landed at Kennedy, said Tony Ciavolella, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said a Customs agent meeting the plane, Flight 203, after its landing at Kennedy's terminal three discovered a leg hanging from the left wheel well section. Police suspect the remains were that of a male stowaway, Ciavolella said. He would not confirm that the incidents at the airport and Long Island were related, saying, "It's still under investigation." Messages left with South African Airways were not immediately returned. Police in Nassau County received a call at 10:51 a.m. about a body part found in the backyard of a house in Floral Park. It apparently had hit the roof of a garage and bounced to the ground, said Officer Thomas Blanchard. Peters said the skies over Floral Park, about 5½ miles from the airport, would be about the point where a pilot would routinely start lowering a plane's landing gear in preparation for arrival. The South African Airways flight had originated in Johannesburg, but made one stop in Dakar, Senegal. AP-ES-06-07-05 1500EDT �

Yuck

in what can only be described as madness Chinese citizens are having themselves surgically stretched. height is believed to gain advantages in work and romance, spurning on a trend in surgical procedures and home bought stretching machines.

Another Photographer

Jon and I met with another wedding photographer last night.

All I can say about this guy is WOW!!

Here is his website. Be sure to check out his art photography as well.

Ion Zupcu.

He prints your proofs in his dark room and his prints are spectacular. The website doesn't do them justice. The whites are creamy and rich and the details are so there. He showed is three samples of wedding albums and, and, and . . .I could go on and on.

I liked this guy.

Monday

Eyes open. Check.
Clothes on. Check.
Face clean. Check.
Bag packed. Check.
Ready to go. Check?

I am not ready for Monday. Can we have lazy Sunday back?

Hottest Day of the Year So Far

Today was the hottest day of the year so far. According to the hour by hour prediction on www.weather.com it's only going to go down to 70 degrees tonight which might mean an uncomfortable night. Just a couple of days ago it was nice and cool and rainy and now it's hot, sticky and gross. Today was not a good day to bake anything, so I did not use my new Artisan mixer. Rats. But I am cooking and defrosting my freezer which resembles Siberia on a bad day. What am I cooking? Why chicken, of course with Vidalia onions, plum tomatoes and currents.

Today has been a relatively lazy Sunday with the exception of that hour at the gym. I used the sauna and the shower and I indeed dared to go naked in the locker room although I don't yet feel comfortable slathering lotion all over. I was only bare for a second. It wasn't so bad. The gym provides a shampoo and condition that smells fruity so now my hair smells like fruit.

60 minutes is playing a news story about bears in people's backyards. Yawn.

The Artisan

I present to you the KitchenAid Artisan Mixer. It has long been my dream to own a KitchenAid standing mixer and now I do. Thank you to my lovely aunt for the wonderful present. I am not surewhat to prepare first. Maybe I'll bake some whole wheat bread. Any suggestions?

Friday At Last!!

This has been a busy four day week. Yesterday I had to run an errand from my office to LI City. Not a big deal, right? I got from my office to my final destination in about 20 minutes. Very easy. On the way back it took twice as long. Gosh darn NYC MTA!!!!!

MTA closed the 5 stations leading to Queens Plaza on the 7 line. I needed to take the 5th one. Because the station was closed I had to go further into Queens, get into a train running express to Queens Plaza and transfer to the N. So I had to wait for the N. I did. It took a while. Then, when I got to 34th Street . . . you guessed it!!! I had to transfer for a local so I could get my stop at 23rd Street. I had to wait there too.

It sucked!!!

Happy June!!

Today is Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - 20 more days until the summer solstice. Already, the mercury is rising and the air is becoming saturated with moisture. I was at the dreaded 34th St. N subway platform last night. It's starting to get warm down there. The smell of pee and humanity and impatience is becoming more and more prevalent as I find myself passing through that station more and more on a daily basis. How do I always end up there?

These mild springs are deceiving. They lull is into a false sense that our summer will be mild as well. But what really happens is that as the summer solstice occurs we instantly have 90 degree weather with 93% humidity and hardly any relief at all.
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I went to Tuesday Trivia for the first time in ages last night. I played with Caren, Punka, Barry, Jill, Mike, Nick, Kory and Kory's friend whose name I can't ever remember. The five rounds consisted of one on Bruce Willis (who knew you could make a round out of him?), current events, a top 10 list on best selling movie soundtracks with The Bodyguard at the top of the list (surprise to me. Another surprise - West Side Story was nowhere to be found). After these first three rounds we were in a dismal 8th place. The visual round consisted of group shots of people from 80's television shows. The audio round were 10 songs by Burt Bacharach recorded by popular artists. Our team had enough strength in these two rounds that we were able to pull ourselves up to second place. Wahoo. Now that American Idol and the Amazing Race are finished, I'll be going to trivia regularly.

Deep Throat - Not A Woman

Deep Throat finally came out of the closet and not a moment too soon. I saw footage on Channel 2 of W. Mark Felt waving at reporters from inside his front door. He looks like he could expire any moment. This guy is old, really most sincerely old. He kept his identity a secret for over 30 years. That's remarkable. I am probably the only one of my current friends old enough to remember when Nixon was President, barely. My memories start coming clearly into focus around Ford, but that's neither here nor there. My understanding of Watergate is that the coverup was the scandal. What was covered up wasn't necessarily so bad. The scandal was complicated and resulted in the impeachment of a President who was a big fan of McCartheyism. Nixon wasn't cupcake but he wasn't such a bad guy either. It's important to remember that all politicians are crooked and probably all have some kind of Watergate like scandal in their closet. The trick is that their closets are locked a little tighter and are better guarded.

Home town parade

This weekend was great. You already know about Saturday. Sunday, I picked my china pattern and flatwear and crystal etcetera at Fortunoffs. My parent's neighbors threw a picnic which we were all invited to. Jon and I finalized our invitations - my dad is printing them.

And then on Monday the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Jon and I attended the annual Memorial Day Parade in Long Beach. My father organized it this year. Here is my dad marching with the AmVets.
He's the one on the left in the navy jacket.

It was like any home town parade, every organization in town was represented. The Long Beach Public Library had five people walk with a huge banner and the post office touted all 5 of Long Beach Post Office's official mail vehicles.


The most fun was watching the kids in the parade, especially the Long Beach High School band. I marched in the parade from 4th grade to my senior year as a flautist so I started to get choked up when I saw the flag twirlers leading the pack.


When the band pulled up behind them, there were a couple of tears, especially when I saw the flutes. Later, I broke out into full tears when I caught up with former flute teacher who now teaches music in Long Beach and directs the elementary school marching bands.


Here's one more shot of the band playing at the band stand. Notice how cool and stylish their berets look. When I was in the band we had to wear enormous Q-tip style hats with tassles. You've seen them. They are featured in every teen movie in the segment with the marching band as a tribute to most people's awful experience with those uncomfortable polyester uniforms.

Saturday Highlights Figuratively

Lazy Saturday survives although yesterday I wasn't completely lazy. I was at the gym for two hours. 40 minutes on the treadmill, the remaining time was spent working on upper body. Of course I threw in a little leg and ass work but you have to do that every day to some extent.

The rest of the day I watched TV and went food shopping. That's it. Well, I didn't watch TV exactly. I watched an episode of The Amazing Race Season 2. I watched Public Enemy and programmed the remote so it controls the TV, the VCR and the cable box. Now I can turn everything on just by using one remote control. It probably doesn't surprise you that I made dinner last night - salad with avocado, apples and Newman's Own low calorie raspberry vinaigrette. It was good.

When Jon came home from work, we watched The Wizard of Oz which still holds up after all these years. I NEVER get tired of that movie- great special effects, great acting and great writing. Judy Garland's sweetness in The Wizard of Oz stands in sharp contrast to the not-so-innocent performance she gives in A Star is Born. In that movie, she's already fallen apart. She's too thin, drunk and ashen. She plays the has been that she was.

I much prefer the younger Judy.

What a Waist!!

After 4 months of working out I'm seeing results. This morning, I found my waist line. It's been a while.

In honor of this great accomplishment, I am going to the gym this morning. My personal sessions with Brandon ended on Wednesday night, but I learned so much from him that I can make it on my own without him, although I'll miss him. I don't know if I'll be able to match the intensity of our workouts on my own. I sure will try though.

Today's Disturbing Icons

Disturbing. Clearly that horrible show with the talking baby resonated deeply with the advertising agency that thought up this campaign for Quiznos. It's not so much that the baby talks. It's more what he says. Babies should not be ironic.



When did the Blue Man Group sell out? Apparently The Blue Man Group is some kind of theatrical franchise that can be seen in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin and Toronto. So why not in a Centrino commercial? Because there is no connection between computer chip technology and alternative theater.



This unfortunate icon is what happens when Mardi Gras meets Madison Avenue. Would you really eat anything this giant head handed over? No. Because only a deranged man would wear something like which means he could have put poison in anything he wanted to feed me.



I couldn't find an image of this most disturbing icon of all but I was able to find an image of a child wearing the Great Adventure weird guy costume. Is there anything more unsettling than watching that old guy dancing? Yes. Yes. I know it's a young man in an old guy get up, but still. I never want to go to Great Adventure again in fear that I might see this guy and he asks me to dance.

Mister Rogers Watches Me

September 13, 1996, my friend Jane gave me a postcard of Mister Rogers wearing his golden sweater. It hangs over my desk and whenever I look up, there he is. In the card she wrote, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Happy, Happy Birthday Valerie! Love, J." I really liked Jane. We lost touch over the years. She was very interesting. She was the editor for the Occupational Health & Safety line of books for the publisher I was working for at the time. 10 years my senior, I thought everything she did was cool. She believed in recycling everything, so much so that she owned a used clothing, jewelry and furniture store. Cool. When she went to Bali with her boyfriend she came back with a bad case of Malaria. Cool. When she went to her assistant's wedding to an FBI agent, she thought for sure they all knew her because of her various anti-estblishment activities and attitudes. Cool. She was an Italophile and an expert in Italian literature. Cool. I left that job for a better one as a direct mail marketing manager for a conferencing company and when I left she gave me a picture of Mother Jones's tombstone with a private inspiration thought. Cool. Sadly, I lost touch with her. In the last message she left me, she told me she married a police officer and was having a baby which was cool because well everything she did is cool. That child is probably 8 or 9 years old by now.

Jane. If you find this, I would love to hear from you.

Sarah and me

Thank you to Caren for sending this picture of Sarah and me.

A Storm Called Burt

BIG NEWS FOR WEATHER GEEKS. A MONTH OF MAY NOR'EASTER IS HEADING OUR WAY. IT'S GOING TO RAIN ALL WEEK!!! YAHOO!!!
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Spent the evening contributing to the ratings for May Sweeps. I hit all the finales. From 8 - 9, I caught the big showdown on American Idol. From 9 - 10, I watched two men beat the shit out of each other on The Contendor and from 10 - 11, I watched Rob and Amber exchange their wedding vows. Oy Vey!!

Then from 11 to 11:03 pm, on CBS news, I watched footage of Burt Reynolds slapping a producer at a premier for The Longest Yard. He slapped the producer because he admitted to Burt that he never saw the original movie starring Burt Reynolds. After the slap,Burt asked him what kind of man he was that he never saw that movie. He didn't look like he was kidding. But his publicist released a statement that something to that affect - that Reynolds gave the guy a gentle tap as a joke. It sure didn't like a gentle slap. Reynolds seemed genuinely upset.

As soon as I can find the story, I'll link to it.
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More Subway Fun

Here is a picture of me on the train last night. Notice the unhappy look on my face. Got in the train at 6pm. . . the absolute slowest to Astoria. Every five minutes the announcer said "Please be patient. We have a red signal. There is congestion up ahead."

There was congestion. It took me until about 7 to get home from station to front door.

S. Korean Cloning

So. . .the South Koreans have made advances in cloning human cells. Not suprisingly President Bush did not receive the news well.

"I am very concerned about cloning," President Bush said in response to the news. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes accepted." If Congress manages to pass a bill it is considering that would lift some of the restrictions on stem-cell research in the U.S., the President promised to veto it.

It would easy to pick fun at our President's point of view. Because it seems almost backwards to some people that others might find cloning unethical.You have to admit it is kind of weird, especially when you start to really think about it. Granted, the kind of cloning the South Koreans are advancing is the type that would provide the most benefits - from replacing organs to repairing nerve damage and replacing parts of the brain damaged by Parkinson's or Alzheimers. It's called therapeutic cloning and the South Koreans have started with growing skin.What does it mean to grow human organs in a petry dish? Clearly, this would be something that is living but is this question relevant? If I need a kidney and a doctor can grow a kidney from my own DNA and then puts it in my body where is the ethical dilemma? I think the ethical dilemma comes into play when people start fantasizing that cloning specialists want to grow fetuses in large cylindrical fluid filled containers for the purpose of harvesting organs.

I do not support this sci-fi fantasy. What I do support is the former suggestion, that organs can be created from the DNA of the people that need them. And therefore I support the research that goes into making this idea a reality.

Birthday Fun

Thank you to Sarah for hosting a fun party last night. It was a great opportunity to celebrate with you and to catch up with some people I haven't seen in a while.

Happy Birthday Sarah!!
Happy Birthday Eric!!
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Last night, I was reminded of that lesson I learned in Elementary School about thinking before speaking. Always be mindful of how what you say to others may sound to them. I said something last night, to someone that I should not have said because I didn't think first. I ended up hurting that person's feelings but at least that other person felt comfortable enough to tell me right away and didn't let it fester giving me an opportunity to apologize now. Hopefully, it will be forgotten. I'm sorry.

Washington DC

When Jon and I were in DC, we went to see the White House.

We saw my favorite painting in the National Gallery.

(picture linked to more information)

And we saw grasshoppers humping in the Insect Zoo at the
National Museum of Natural History.