Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Nostalgia for yesterday

Here is an easy way to see if you watch too much YouTube. I don't recognize all of them, but enough to make it fun.



I don't know what the song itself has to do with it, but what a genius way to make sure everyone watches your video. Of course, I'm a bit offended when these kinds of thing (including the South Park Youtube episode) leave out my own favorite Dancing Matt.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Happy Memorial Day!

Kyle, Liz and I took the totally awesome tour of the Capitol Building. Unlike last time I went, this time Congress was actually in session, and they let us go in and watch a little. In the Senate, they were voting to confirm some circuit judge. Following what was going on was a bit confusing (the Senate Rules are famously Byzantine), but it was nice hearing a few of the Senators give good wishes to Ted Kennedy. None of the Presidential candidates were there, but I was surprised at how many of the other Senators I recognized, my old Senators Feinstein, Boxer, Dominichi, Schumer, and even Specter, Webb, and that guy from Louisiana that hired the hookers. (That probably applies to most of them, but I think his name was Vitter.)

Then we went over to the House, which was mostly empty, but was far more entertaining as we watched a handful of them fight over drilling for oil in Alaska. It basically went something like this:

Republican dude: "Drilling good!"
Democrat dude: "Drilling bad!"
Republican dude: "I respectfully disagree with my colleague who is totally awesome in every way except in the way he is retarded."
Democrat dude: "I am honored to debate this issue with my colleague who is totally smart and popular and pretty, but on this issue is still a complete and utter tool."

It was pretty funny. They had charts and everything, but everyone was very aware of the cameras. Just kind of surprising that no one really said anything that wasn't already said like four years ago. Since coming to DC I am much more aware of the importance of having a good transportation policy (one that discourages driving and encourages carpooling and public transportation), yet none of these issues were addressed. Just a big paper fight for the TV. ::sigh::

Then we picked up David and went to see "Iron Man". Not knowing anything about the character, I enjoyed the movie, though I would have wished for a little more action and a little less of the origin story which was a little long. It all felt like a prequel getting us ready for the inevitable sequel when the movie will really start. Also, I can't say it enough times, but I HATE IT WHEN THE BAD GUY IS THE HERO'S BEST FRIEND. It is Hollywood's most favorite thing to do, and I always find it incredibly tedious. But whatever, at least Jeff Bridges is awesome. I even liked Paltrow, which was unexpected, although she has a stupid name and it bugged me every time they said it.

What was most fun about it was watching Kyle, who, shall we say, was *really* enjoying himself. When the friend saw the second suit and was all "Next time", Kyle practically started hyperventilating. Then when the other guy was like "Just call us Shield" I thought I was going to have to whip out my mad nursing skills to save Kyle as his eyes rolled back in his head and he started moaning. (To be fair, about three other guys in the theatre made the exact same noises.) Don't even get me started on the whole Sam Jackson thing, which was completely meaningless to me but made Kyle very, very happy.

Anyway, this was hardly "X-2" caliber, but was still a lot of fun. But I wish I could see more movies with my brothers. (Also, for the record, there is no one more fun to watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" with. Holy crap that boy can laugh.)

Since everyone left I've been working every day (to make up for the week I took off). As of Friday I've moved to working night shifts. I've been working one or, rarely, two nights a week for a while now, but now I'm gonna try all night shifts for a while, so's I can have my weekends off to play with David at Six Flags this summer. So far it seems to be going pretty well. My last shift, which when I signed up for a Saturday night on a holiday weekend I worried we would be understaffed and crazy busy, was actually one of the slowest shifts I've had. All four of my patients were like "i just want to sleep, so leave me alone for as long as possible." If you insist! I'm back again tonight, so we'll see how it goes. Just hope I can find a middle ground for my sleep schedule so I can still play with David and not just sleep all day every day.

We were walking by the Capitol last night, and there was some big holiday concert going on. It was far too crowded to tempt us over to try and watch, but we heard some awesome mezzo sing the National Anthem. Kind of fun to have that caliber of thing going on just a mile from your house. But we were too busy taking silly photos of each other. God bless digital cameras.

Monday, May 19, 2008

We love visitors! (continued)


Erin, we miss you already!

Albuquerquian-Erin came to visit us, and I think we wore her out, I hope her family isn't too resentful, but we walked her socks off. We toured the mall, we "oooh"-ed over Jeffersons draft of the Declaration of Independance (complete with cross hatches and margin writing), we "ahhh"-ed over the monuments at night. We drove out to Great Falls and tried not to fall in the water, because, the signs all warned, we would surely die if we did. ("If you fall in, you will die.") Fortunately, we didn't. We took her to the lily-pad garden, which happened to be on the same day that the great-great granddaughter of the original owner was visiting. Unfortunately, all the rain last week flooded the garden, so all of the pools had been overflowed from the Potomac, and were crammed with fish. These fish were none too happy about their new home, and were desperately trying to swim out over the flooded land bridges into neighboring pools to find a way out. Which created a great show for us as these big fish were half-exposed as they slithered like sea-monsters over the barely submerged land. It was pretty darn cool.

We went to the theatre, and saw Chita Rivera and George Hearn in "The Visit" at the Signature. Totally weird! There was a movie version made years ago with Ingrid Bergman that I would love to see, but it isn't available on DVD yet. Basically this poor gypsy leaves town, becomes supersupersuper rich, and returns when she is an old woman to exact some revenge. It is totally creepy and perverse, and while we all had plenty of problems with the plotline, we were always entertained. Plus, I mean, it's Chita Rivera! Throughout the show she was walking with a cane (her character had a wooden leg), and every so often would get this quiver in her legs. We were all sad that this amazing dancer was finally starting to feel her age - she is well into her 70s by now. But at the end of the show she runs out for her curtain call and is walking totally fine. Talk about good acting! Also in the audience was choreographer Ann Reinking (this was like the third preview performance) and it was fun watching her just beam during all the dance numbers. At one point a few lines got a little shaky, and poor Ann sunk so deep in her seat we could barely see her. It was quite funny. After she show we got to talk with Karen Murphy, who David did a National Tour with in "The Wizard of OZ" a few years ago (she was the Wicked Witch). She is a very funny lady, and as soon as this closes she is headed to LA to play the drunk in the new "9 to 5" musical. I can't wait to see that!

Let's see. We ate some super yummy food. We drove over to Annapolis for lunch one day, which is a very quaint town, and ate lunch in a tavern George Washington used to frequent, and I had some incredible crab cake. We took her to our favorite restaurant in Dupont Circle and she had the butternut squash ravioli and I had some parmesean encrusted grouper and, well, I forget what David had but it was equally delicious. Something with mushrooms probably.

My brother Kyle and his cutie-patootie girlfriend arrived after finishing up their semester internship at Disney World, and we took them all on a night-time visit to the major monuments which was a lot of fun. The highlight was the Korean War Memorial, which was incredibly effective at night. Oh, we also made fondue. And Erin brought us some fresh green chile and also some tortillas from Frontiers. You non-New Mexicans have no idea what that means, but pretend you moved somewhere that didn't have, say, sugar. And that you had to go an entire year without eating any sugar at all. And then at the end of a year someone brought you some fresh, pure, sugar straight from the cane fields in Hawaii. How much would you love that person? That is how we felt towards Erin when we were eating breakfast burritos. (She even brought extra, so I have more in the freezer!!!!!)

Yesterday we were all feeling a bit tired, so we went to a movie. Nothing impressive, we went straight for the mindless romantic comedy - "What Happens In Vegas". But it was just what our tired bodies needed. Plus, way funnier than we expected. Rob Cordry is much-missed at the Daily Show, but I hope he finds his path cause that boy cracks me up.

We got to watch a video of Erin doing a production of "Ruthless", which was quite hysterical. (Like I said before Erin. Never. Stop. Belting.) Made us miss our Albuquerque peeps even more. (Max, that was just...wrong. lol)

Last night we went to a cabaret to hear some locals sing. If you, like me, are of the South Park generation and think a beautiful woman in an evening gown using profanity is funny, YouTube Gilda Radner singing "Talk Dirty To The Animals". I was crying with laughter.

This morning I was faced with the difficult task of taking Erin back to the airport. ::frown:: When we got there my body even betrayed us and I drove right to the "arrivals" terminal and had to circle the airport again to go back to the "departure" gate. We miss you Erin! Luckily she promised to come visit us again when we are in Hawaii.

Kyle and Liz are still her for another few days, so I have some more sights to see. My dad arrives tomorrow night for another of his quick business visits. Then back to work on Thursday, so I might not have time to blog about them for a few days. I am pretty darn tired, but am having lots of fun. Fortunately the kids are sleeping in - it is 10:30 and they are still out of it, so I had some time to myself to write this. I bet if I start making pancakes it will wake them up, what do you think?

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

After a very busy weekend, I just had one of the slowest night shifts ever. All four of my patients wanted to be left alone to sleep which, hey, is totally reasonable (but very unusual). I gave one guy a sandwich at 1am and basically did nothing but paperwork until I drew some blood at 4 and then passed some meds at 6. A nice break I guess, but for a second-in-a-row night shift, it meant I was struggling a bit. One of my 93 year-old lady patients at least gave me something to think about by setting off the alarms every five seconds with her crazy bradycardia. Her baseline is about 50, so we had the alarm set at 45, but as she slept she kept dropping, and by morning the alarm was set at 39 and she was still setting it off every few minutes. Kind of scary, but the docs were aware and when I'd check on her I would be the one in distress, not her. At one point we had to straight cath her for a urine sample, and though she was resistant and restless, her heart rate spiked to an incredible - 55.

I had another patient all weekend, a guy who was hoping for a liver transplant, but his kidneys started shutting down as well. The transplant team finally denied him, so he decided just to go home. His family was all there and very supportive, but with liver and renal failure, he probably won't live but another few days. He was a great guy, only in his 50s, and though his family was being strong for him if I'd get them out of the room they would start to break down. For whatever reason they all got along with me very well and I'm glad I was able to help them through what was a very rough few days (lots of pain, blood and albumin transfusions, EKGs, etc). Don't forget to enjoy the time that you have, because you just never know.

But enough of work. Tonight our super-friend from Albu-q-q Erin is coming for a visit, and I am ridiculously excited. Kyle and Liz arrive on Friday, and then my Dad will get here Tuesday. Better yet, I don't have to go back to work until next Thursday! So let the partay-ing begin! I just hope all the expected rain gives us a break because we have lots of fun outdoorsy stuff planned, and I will be very bummed if we can't take our company to Six Flags because of stupid weather.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Survivor, or the season of totally awesome blindsides

Wow.

For me, Survivor is hands down the best show on television. From the very first season I was hooked, and whatever we can argue about the various tricks, gimmicks and tweaks over the years (hidden immunity idol good, outcast survivors coming back from the dead bad), the basic formula for the show makes for compelling and fun entertainment. Along the way we meet people we love (Stephanie), people we hate (Fairplay), people we love to hate (Hatch) and even people we hate to love (Courtney). But while most seasons have their ups and downs, and though I know I've been commenting on the general strength of the last few, I think I have to say this has been the best season since the very first. Chet and Kathy perhaps overstayed their welcome, but at least Chet has the advantage over Joel, who is a bigger ass than I ever imagined. All the injuries were lame. I don't think James leaving when he did changed the game much, since if he hadn't won immunity he would have gone at the same time anyway, but had Penner stayed I think the game would have looked much different at the end.

But that aside, this was by far the most entertaining run of fun tribal councils ever. Eliza humiliating herself playing what she knew was a fake idol. Ozzy. Jason. That girl. Eric. Awesome.

I will say I didn't like the twist of having a final two. I might have liked it more had they not forshawdowed it so much, but it just got to be uncomfortable. Had it been a total surprise I might have enjoyed it, but I was too wrapped up in the misery of the choice. Besides, I WANTED Cirie to go to the end, I WANTED to hear her plea to the jury. She had a compelling case, and I wanted to see how well she could argue it for herself. So I felt a little cheated. The only thing that comforted me was when Parvati said "We've been blindsiding people for weeks, so I guess it is poetic justice that we get blindsided at this point." Guess you can't argue that.

We went into the final tribal with me expecting Amanda to walk away with it. I figured the invisible girls would vote for Parv, and everyone else for Amanda. I think Parv said it, but Amanda is a closer. She wins challenges, she had some masterful performances at tribal. But then come the tears, which clearly the jury is totally uninterested in. I'm a sucker and I fell for them, but I'm not freshly bitter like the jury is I guess.

However Amanda at least learned a few lessons from last season, and made some great arguments for herself. Parvati was more collected, in part because she was playing the calm, calculating card, but not by much. Some of the questions were stupid (what the hell was Natalie talking about? Does anyone know?), I thought Ozzy was pompous and James very likable. But other than Natalie's uncomfortable rambling (which even the jury mocked her for, heh), at least there was no "rat in the gutter" or "you have no integrity" crap.

I thought it was Amanda's, but I thought that last season too (well, at least until she crumbled at TC). Parvati winning was like the final blindside, because I really didn't expect it. I am completely satisfied with her win, her big moves were far riskier than Amanda's, and changed the game far more drastically. And for me she is just as appealing in general. But I was surprised. And guess what, I like that. :)

Most Favorites who come back seem to either lose some of their appeal (Ozzy, Fairplay) or at best tread water (James, Amanda). Few of them manage to make a better impression the second time around than they did the first, but for me this years award goes to Eliza. I didn't care for her much on her season, and while I still find her kind of annoying, this season it was in a far more enjoyable way. Sitting on the jury she had ample opportunity to make her "surprised face" over and over again, and I never got tired of it. Plus, I will forever worship her for "But its just a stick!!!"

Other favorite moments: "Jeff Probst is standing right there!!". Eric eating the cake off of Cirie's fingers. Eric seeing boobs at the native dance reward. Actually, just about anything having to do with Eric once he got close to Ozzy. "I feel stupid even just talking about this". Tracy manipulating Joel. Cirie voting off Joel. Ami "thanking" Eric with a machete. And, of course, "Stir the pot".

Now we have to wait until fall for Africa. Thank goodness I'll have SYTYCD to get me through the summer.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Plants and a hair-cut

David got a little mad at me over a post a while back where I was talking about how he was terrorizing the neighborhood stealing plants. Well, that was hardly the case, so I thought I'd post some pics of the plants in question so you can see how small they are. Most of them came from his horticulture teacher, public parks and a few even came from stuff growing in cracks in the sidewalk. Only a few were actually taken from stuff overgrowing someone's lawn, but even in those cases you can see that he wasn't uprooting plants, just clipping a knuckle-sized end off a weed and sticking in the pot.

What is most fun is that they are all thriving. Weeds do that I guess. But weeds or not, I think they are pretty. We have a lot of plants in our house (and now a bunch on our stoop), but somehow we always want more. Until I get to live on a tropical island, preferably in a tree-house, then I'm always going to want more greenery around I suppose. I'm just glad David has the same feelings about that, otherwise he'd never let me get away with buying a flowering tree at Costco that so far is gorgeous but it will be a while before we will know if it is going to be able to survive indoors, even next to bright window.

Also, I got my hair cut. The before picture is with Rick, whom recently came to visit. The after picture is with some guy who lives at my house. I'm pretty sure that is the longest my hair has ever been in my life. It was kinda fun, but also work. Anyway, spring is here, and that decided it. I mean, who am I to argue with Mother Nature? Also, with this haircut I fit into my neighborhood better, considering the number of Marines who swarm out of the barracks a block over.

Finally, a little rant. The restaurants in our neighborhood are having some kind of street fair, where for $40 they are offering some kind of tasters or drinks or something. It sounds like a fun and interesting way to try a bunch of places out at once. But I can't get any info on how it actually works, like, is it a buffet on a table outside the restaurant, do you actually get a plate, I just want to get the basic details on how it works before I fork over a bunch of money. But all the flyers direct you to the website, and all the website gives you is a list of restaurants and a link to ticketmaster. What the heck? Someone needs to hire some new organizers that can't even spread the most basic information, ie, WHAT YOUR EVENT IS.

Survivor, or how Erik was defeated by boobs

Holy cow. I mean, I don't even know where to start. I will miss Erik, a hopeless, star-struck boy lost in a world of big-breasted women. I can't help but like him though. I mean, I think we are biologically inclined to feel a certain protectiveness toward the young and naive. ("I'm just an ice-cream boy. But I want to be an ice-cream man!") But this moment is certainly going down in Survivor history. Natalie put it best, "I feel stupid even talking about this." ::sigh::

Final four. Let's work it out.

Natalie: She has given us a few good sound bites, but all of them have been in the last two or three weeks. Prior to that she was virtually invisible. I have no way of knowing whether I should blame her for not having a story line or blame the editors for ignoring her. But in any case, for me it is all too-little, too-late. There seems to be some sentiment that she has some jury votes in the bag, but I'd be disappointed if that were the case outside of her twin invisible.

Parvati: On the plus side, she did orchestrate the downfall of Ozzy, which was a huge power move. But when that burned her, she just retreated and hasn't done anything since. Plus I have a hard time forgiving her for not even looking for the idol on Exile last night. I don't care how comfortable you are with your alliance. You can take a vacation on the beach in another few days, today you are still in the game and you ALWAYS look for the idol.

Amanda: She obviously had a brilliant move last week. And she is playing smart, doing everything she can to manipulate the jury into not liking Erik at the same time she is manipulating Erik. (When she said to Erik "You are the physically strong player and I am the most strategic player", well, that rubbed me a little wrong. She was working hard to lure Erik in at the time, so maybe it was just part of the act, but ego is never appealing.) I think the others are right to be afraid of her in the end. Ozzy and James are definitely going to be sympathetic to her, and everyone will love her for the entertainment she provided last week. And there is always the hope that she learned from her failures last season and will give a better closing argument for herself.

Cirie - I'm afraid she is going to suffer the same defeat that Amanda had last season, and won't give herself the credit she deserves. But overall, I think far and away Cirie has been pulling the most strings this season. From a weak alliance-less position, by sheer will power she forced her team to do what none of them wanted to do and got Yau voted off. A few weeks later she again turned things around and talked her team into voting off Joel, their strongest player, at a time when strength really mattered. This week's Erik shenanigans was totally her idea. Without a really strong argument, I think she is going to have a hard time stealing the win away from Amanda, but for me, I think she deserves it.

Of course, we still have another person to eliminate (I'm guessing Natalie unless she wins immunity, and probably Cirie or Amanda if she does), so there is a little more time for mischief. Can't wait for Sunday!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Jason Castro is the definition of laid-back I guess. I love him for it, but I also hate him for it. I'm glad he isn't going to suffer permanent scars from the "we love you/we hate you" dynamic of the show. But I also hate that he didn't seem to take it more seriously. I mean, I can actually forgive him forgetting some words. But it is hard to forgive him for being boring.

I love Syesha more every week. She has really grown as a performer, that is for sure. Plus, she has NO FEAR. She will sing anything, and you have to give her props for that. As far as she's come though, I don't see her overcoming either of the David's. The finale will be pretty darn interesting. I just wonder which one will snag the biggest audience? Cook hasn't done much interesting recently, but Davey is at his best between the songs when he looks so awkward that even Ryan has to ask if he is about to pass out. I would pay big money to have direct access to his inner monologue. You know it would be cuter than even this.

I think tonight is a good night to have breakfast for dinner. I don't know why, but it is one of my favorite things. David, who actually eats breakfast on a regular basis, doesn't get as big a kick out of it, but he indulges me every so often. But c'mon, pancakes for dinner? It just rocks! I did it practically every Sunday night growing up. We'd go to church, then we'd have waffles. With peanut butter and Mrs. Butterworth. Maybe later we'd eat popcorn while watching "The Wonderful World Of Disney" or "The Muppet Show". Back then I even liked butter on my popcorn, so I could eat it with the whole family. Now the butter grosses me out, so if I eat popcorn with anyone from my family I have to make my own or they give me dirty looks for serving them inferior butter-less popcorn. I'm not sure where that shift happened. Probably about the time I learned that movie theatres don't use real butter, but just pour on vegetable oil. ::shudder:: I think there has been a shift back to using "real" liquid butter now, but it is far too late for me, I've learned to love the popcorn without all the need to risk a heart attack.

Monday, May 5, 2008

A weekend of work

Hoo-boy. Saturday was a pretty busy shift for me at work.

- one patient had a heparin drip and needed blood draws every six hours,
- one patient had an external fixator to his leg and required "meticulous pin care",
- one patient had a wound vac to wall suction,
- one patient had feedings via his Pegtube (plus I had to crush all of his meds),
- one patient was starting to have hallucinations,
- two patients were on anti-nausea drugs around the clock,
- one patient vomited an entire liter,
- two patients received blood transfusions,
- all four patients received insulin with each meal,
- all four patients needed pain meds every two or three hours,
- one patient had a PCA started,
- all four were on telemetry, and one was on continuous pulse ox,
- two were on lasix and voided almost six liters between them.

At the end of the day, I walked into the room of the guy I'd been crushing his pills for his pegtube all day, and found him eating pizza he had ordered. You can eat a pizza but you can't swallow your pills? ::sigh::

The good news is - my day was actually ok. I was running around like crazy, things were obviously very busy with call lights going off all the time ("I need pain meds!!"). But at least I've gotten to the point where everything I had to do was firmly within my knowledge base. So maybe I didn't have time to stop to eat even my granola bar, but on the other hand I felt like I blinked and suddenly the day was over. Also, I had some great backup help from my charge nurse and our techs. Yesterday was a lot more under control without having to repeat the blood transfusions and the heparin drip reached therapeutic levels so I only had to draw his blood once. But I'm getting a grip on all this stuff that nurses do, and that is a good feeling.

I still learn new things every shift though. Like I'd never given nitro paste before, and this weekend two of my patients were on it, so now I'm good with that. (And boy does it work for bringing blood pressure down!) Vaseline gauze to external fixator pin sites? Check. I remember the first time I had to give a blood transfusion, and how overwhelming it all seemed, all the double checks, all the paperwork, all the vital sign checks. Now it is just a straightforward task, even if it is time consuming.

Under the category of something you would only hear in a hospital, I heard this being asked from across the entire unit "Hey, can you tell me about that bowel movement?" I won't get graphic, but the response included the phrase "banana-sausage sized". Seriously.

So I'm back to work tonight, and I think I will be getting all four patients back. Except for the guy with the hallucinations, I think night shift will be a bit easier for them. I doubt any of them will actually sleep much, but people still tend to quiet down at night. And I'll only have to give insulin once! Then I'm off until Saturday. Which is great, because I need some time to do some Mother's Day shopping. At least I have a good idea of what I want to do, I just hope the mail gets it there in time.

Now I have to go take a nap. I'm not tired, but I know I'll do better if at work if I get some sleep today.

political funny



Who has the time to make these kinds of things? (For the record, I think Hillary has been brutal in her campaign strategy, but I hardly find her evil. At least not totally. Yet. But still, it is funny, and on this blog, funny always wins. Also, GO OBAMA!!!)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Survivor, or Amanda gives a Master Class in how to win the game

I get so many emails from friends telling me that they like my blog even though they don't watch Survivor. The sad thing is, this season would have been such a good time to start watching. Despite the fact that three people have quit (two of them at least waiting until Tribal to do so), and now two strong players have been taken out for injuries, all of which I think is super lame, this has still been a wild and crazy and fun season. I mean, how often to people REALLY get totally blindsided at Tribal? Three weeks in a row is simply heaven.

Quickly - reward, as Amanda put it, was brutal. Not as many feelings got hurt as in seasons past, but I was a bit surprised that Parvati went before Eric or James. People often seem to use this challenge to express their real feelings instead of continuing their game face, which I always find funny. Parv is in real trouble. Also surprising that Cirie gave the reward to one of the invisible girls rather than Amanda. I mean, I'm supes glad that she did, but it was weird.

Time for someone to go to Exile, and FINALLY someone has a brain, and that someone is Amanda, who quickly and smartly asks to go. This, people, is the Amanda I fell in love with last season. I don't know where she has been hiding, but I am so. glad. to welcome her back. She finds all of her clues, working much harder than anyone else has had to do, only to find that the idol is hidden back at camp. I hate the twist, but Amanda again takes her lemons and makes lemonade, emptying her bag when she gets back to assure everyone that she does not have the idol.

Reward was fine but derivative and only fun when it looked like Natalie was going to be an unexpected threat. And what is the whole thing with using colored water this season? I like at least the illusion that the show is in the middle of nowhere, and all that food coloring is way too kiddy theme park. Actually, through the whole challenge I was praying Eric would win. Not even because I like Eric, which I do, (is it me or is he starting to look like a little-boy Rambo?) but because I love it when alliances have to turn on each other prematurely and I wanted to see the girls scramble. Wish granted, thank you fairy godmother.

So it comes down to Amanda. And she devises a master plan, and executes it perfectly. Amanda tells Parv she has the idol, which at first I thought was stupid, but then I realized that she needed her for the plan to work. She talks to Cirie, who truthfully is in a tough spot. Is her assessment of the whole colored rock thing before the final four the truth? Because I HATE the colored rock. I would love to have tie-votes all the time, and I hate that the rock discourages it. Probst, take note, the colored rock is the absolute worst mis-step Survivor has ever taken, worse even than bringing the Boy Scout Troop Leader back from the dead. And that was pretty darn bad.

But I digress from the fun. Amanda lays it on thick to Cirie, but even worse to Eric. I think Eric is fully within his rights to vote for Amanda, but she is totally evil and makes him squirm over it. At tribal she pulls out all of her acting chops and gets those big doe eyes of hers running at 110%. I *almost* question whether or not she really found the idol, but knowing what was at stake, if she didn't find it, she would deserve to go home. Even if it came down to digging openly for it, she HAD to find it. "About that idol?" she smiles as she brings it out. THIS is what the idol was made for, I love it. I didn't really care which of the invisibles went, although I'm glad it was the injured one, because if the show lost another person to injury I would have to scream. So glad that threat is eliminated.

Just to say it, I think it is terrible that James went out like that. And while people are always sort of glad when a competitor goes down, I think Parvati was honestly upset that he had to leave under those circumstances. While I think voting Ozzy out was a smart move, I think it has taken her out of the running to win, which is too bad because a move like that deserves some respect that she ain't getting. (Cracks me up that they show the Ozzy glare every week.) But I still like her. Cirie, also, I thought was surprisingly candid and honest with Amanda about why she had to vote for her. I wonder if that will save her.

From the jury reaction, I think it is safe to say that Amanda is highly likely to win if she makes it to the end. This was a brilliant move for her, and she played it to the hilt. Depending on the make up of the jury, I still think Cirie and Eric have played strong enough games to be threats to her, but it will be interesting to see what happens at this point. If Parvati is being honest and isn't ever going to vote for Amanda, then it seems Cirie will be the swing vote. But at this point, Amanda has to be seen as Threat #1. An Eric/Cirie/Parvati showdown would be an interesting final tribal to be sure, though I would be very surprised if it worked out that way. Natalie, sadly, has to make it to the final three, you don't want any more than three Fans on the jury, and Jason at least wouldn't vote for her.

There are still lots of possibilities for how this is going to end. That's why I love it.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

boomdiyada, boomdiyada

I would buy more stuff if all commercials were this good:



Hat tip: Kayla, my cousin who apparently is a diva with the sewing...

Frogs and Dame Maggie Smith


I think I'm overdue for some photo-blogging. Here are some pictures from our trip to see the frog exhibit at the National Geographic museum. Yeah, it was back in February. But I was, uh, saving it for you. Cause February was so jam packed. I knew I'd need a little blog excitement come May.

The weather is a bit on the annoyingly cold side today. But that is only because it had been so nice the past few days. Summer is close. I can't wait! The flowers outside are going crazy, which is great. We've never planted flowers before, I have no idea how long they will last.

Last night we Netflixed "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie". We knew nothing about it, except it won Maggie Smith an Oscar in 1969. Now I've told the story a hundred times, but I was very excited when Maggie Smith came to see Boheme, and before anyone else could molest her backstage I ran over and was all, "Thank you for coming, we think you are awesome! Could I get a photo with you, my little brother is a huge Harry Potter fan!" And then she smiled wanely and sighed, in that proper British accent that conveys disdain so well, "Ah, yes, the Harry Potter." And then I was like, crap, I know I've seen her in a million things but of course I was on the spot and could only think of her play "Lettice and Lovage" that she won renown for but I didn't see it because I was like ten at the time, but somehow I was smart enough not to say that. Anyway, so I wanted to see a movie of hers so that, you know, the next time I run into her, I can say, Oh, can I get a picture with you, you were so AMAZING in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie!

Except, the movie is, sort of, well, disturbing. It starts out a typical story about the teacher that is misunderstood by the administration but who loves her students and through her unorthodox methods gets amazing results. "Stand And Deliver" set in an all girls school in 1913 Edinburough. Except she is having affairs with not one but two other teachers. And when she breaks it off with one of them, she encourages him TO GO AFTER ONE OF HER STUDENTS. AND HE DOES. I mean, I know it was a different era and whatever, but I'm amazed at how blithely it depicts, you know, a 45 year old teacher having an affair with a high-schooler. Creepy! The one of the other girls get jealous (or something) that she wasn't the one "chosen" to have the affair with him, so she goes after him on her own. In the end Miss Brodie gets fired for being pro-Mussolini and Franco. At one point I turned to David and was like, is our "heroine" going to turn out to be a Nazi? VERY weird. She was amazing of course. But wow. A movie like that (which was based on a play) would certainly never be made today.