Happy New Year!

Ten years ago I was living in New York, wondering if Y2K was going to destroy the world.  I spent the evening with some awesome friends, Heather and Anna and Emily, and I remember going to the roof and listening to everyone cheer when the end of the world didn't happen.  lol

I can't believe that was ten years ago.  The "oughts" were a pretty great decade for me.  I lived in NYC, San Diego, Albuquerque, DC, and spent three months in San Francisco.  I traveled to eleven countries, did a Broadway show, earned another bachelors and became an RN, went to both Disneyland AND Disneyworld, dived with an octopus in Indonesia and whale watched over lunch in Newfoundland.  I had the pleasure of getting one-quarter of "Il Divo" and one-third of The Jonas Brothers to sing "Happy Birthday" for my sister over the phone.  I saw the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls and Uluru and Angkor Wat.  But most of all, I've made a heck of a lot of good friends whom I treasure.

I have two more weeks to prepare for our Central American Adventure (what a way to start the decade!), and though we are getting a little antsy it helps that we have some really cute kids here in Vegas to play with in the meantime.  Got our travel insurance yesterday, and we're getting the Typhoid (it comes in pill form now, no shots!) on Monday.  We've even found a couchsurfing host for the first three nights in Cancun, which we are really excited about.  I wasn't sure I wanted to stay in Cancun at all as it would be so expensive, but now we have a place to stay and a local guide to give us info on where to go.  CA isn't the best region to take advantage of couchsurfing, so we are grateful for the opportunity.

Oh, and we've already seen three sets of friends who have come through Vegas traveling, so if you are coming in the next two weeks, be sure and let us know!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I've spent the evening eating fondue with my entire family (except one who knows who she is!) including nine nieces and nephews who were all super-cute.  I feel very blessed to have the family that I do, and glad that those holiday movies about families who love each other but are always miserable when they get together has nothing to do with us.

Now to go watch "A Christmas Story" with the kids...

Winter is bearable at 60 degrees

So how’s this for synchronicity. On Monday I had to pick up my brother at the airport, who was flying home from Albuquerque. Then I get a Facebook message that my best friend Tiffany has a three hour layover in the same airport that ends just after my brother arrives. Tiffany and David and I all met at the same time, doing a college production of “The Boyfriend” back in 1992. But Tiffany wasn’t flying alone. A few weeks ago her brother broke both his legs, so is now recuperating down in Cabo San Lucas with their parents (I know), but since he was gone our friend Nick, who was also in “The Boyfriend”, had left his home in Chicago to spend a few months in New York living in Tiffany’s brother’s room, and for reasons I don’t quite understand was flying to Sacramento via San Francisco with Tiffany and so was on the same flight. This part I knew. But then when we arrive at the airport, it turns out that ANOTHER friend of ours, Rod, whom I met just prior to “The Boyfriend” in a college production of “Chicago”, and who now lives in San Francisco but had been in New York doing a show for the holidays, had his show close the night before so just happened to be on the same flight home. Awesome, right?

It was great to catch up with these peeps. Also great was when we noticed how young and attractive we all still were. Until my stinking brother, who had been four years old when we all met, showed up and sat there as a 21 year old living reminder of how old we all actually were.

Vegas has been great. Been getting a lot done, plus are getting to spend some quality time with the kids here. We played darts and Sorry! and judged a gingerbread house building competition. David and I have even gone to see two movies, something we almost never do on our own. (Netflix, baby.) We saw Avatar with my mother (which was enjoyable) and The Princess and The Frog with the kids. Well, sort of. It was six adults and four kids, and we were the only people in the whole theater, so the six adults sat and watched the cartoon while the four kids literally ran around the theatre changing seats about every two minutes. Afterwards they said they liked the movie though. lol

It still doesn't seem real, but goodbye DC

Leaving a city you love, even for a grand adventure, is always bittersweet. Our 2 1/2 years in DC have been an adventure in themselves as we explored the many things DC has to offer. We attended a Presidential Inauguration, studied history at museums and civil war battlefields, and gaped at the grand architecture that decorates and uplifts a city like this. We found hidden gardens, underground art museums, and even learned to make homemade crabcakes with delicious fresh Maryland Blue Crab that replaced the turkey at Thanksgiving. And we both were blessed with fantastic people to work with, whom we will miss even more than the monuments and festivals. Our Central American expedition has our attention, but going to DC was not just a great decision, it was the right decision.

We were so wired the night before we left we couldn’t sleep, so we were on the road at 4am. (Thanks Chrisy for the pancake and bacon dinner the night before, next time I want some more of that black raspberry jam!) With such an early start we avoided any semblance of traffic and were able to push through to Jackson, TN for the first night. We lucked out and seemingly found the one non-fast food restaurant in town, hidden away on a side street, where the waitress was handing out homemade chocolate chip cookies she had just baked. Our motel was notable for having some of the best donuts I have ever had as part of the continental breakfast. Kudos to the Days Inn!!

After another motel in Elk City, OK, we hit Albuquerque, where we stayed several days with our dear friend Erin and her family. We saw lots of great peeps and were severely tempted to move back, even though a move back would violate my own commandment that our next home would be winter-free. The green chile breakfast burrito I inhaled didn’t hurt the cause either. Of course we won’t be making that decision until we come back next summer, but Albuquerque is back on the table.

Close calls

A few of these don't seem real, but who cares, still awesome.

Heading to work, but...

Suddenly everything seems to be moving so fast.  Amazingly, we are keeping up.  Craigslist has been awesome and we've been getting rid of lots of stuff, just down to a few items left that hopefully will go today.  David has been painting like a fiend and that is well over half done.  I work the next three days (trying to cram in as many paid hours before we go as possible), and then we just have Wed left to wrap things up, clean out the house and get over to our friend Chrisy's that night.  There is still lots to do but it is all coming together.

The only problem has been the weather, with lots of rain and, yesterday, snow, which is preventing us from taking one last walk up to the Capitol Building like we wanted.  We were just there not long ago, so it isn't a huge tragedy or anything, but I'd been hoping to make a farewell walk our last week to commemorate our time here, which has been so awesome.  Unlike some other places we've lived, where by the time we left we were ready to go, it does feel like we are leaving here a bit early, and I suspect we are thus going to miss it here more than others.  Ah, nostalgia.

The Destruction of New York (to Rhapsody In Blue)

 

Love it!

Another look at Close Encounters

I love this.


Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Marc Bullard on Vimeo.

Comments

Suddenly I'm getting a bunch of spam comments, so forgive me, but I'm gonna have to go to comment moderation.  All that means is when you comment (and of course I hope that you do) it won't show up until I ok it as someone I actually know and not someone trying to link to some pharmacy site.  (Some of them are so polite.  "I love your site, it is so informative, I read it all the time!  Also, follow this link to get viagra!")

My sweet Craigslist Adventure

Holy crap, Craigslist is awesome!  I've bought a few things from there in the past, but this was the first time I've sold stuff.  Made $100 in less than 24 hours, and someone who wants to buy the washer/dryer for $550 but probably won't come and get it until Monday.  Sweet!  I probably should have tried for more money, because clearly there are plenty of people desperate to buy my crap, but I'm not gonna worry about it.  Each piece that leaves this townhouse decreases my stress level, so I'm happy.

The POD with all our stuff was picked up yesterday, which was the biggest relief of all, as I was convinced it was going to be too heavy for the forklift.  But it wasn't, and that is on the way to Vegas.  So our apartment is quite bare.  Still have a dining table, which I intend to put on craigslist, but not until closer to departure, because clearly once it goes up it will sell quickly, and I need somewhere for this computer!

While the focus is on getting things out, we unexpectedly just had to bring a bunch of stuff in.  My brother surprised us (and himself probably) with a last minute visit.  He and Tara arrive tomorrow and are staying through Thanksgiving.  Of course I work four of the five days they are here, we have no couch or TV or dishes or just about anything.  Luckily a friend loaned us some bedding, towels and even a shower curtain, so we've at least got the basics covered for them.  (Good thing I didn't put the futon on craigslist yet!)  But I'm sure we will have a great time, I've been trying to get him to visit since we moved here, and late is certainly better than never.

Had dinner with Chrisy last night, who just got back from a conference in the Yucatan where she got to pal around with Jane Goodall.  Yes, THAT Jane Goodall.  She had lots of great tips for us.  I can't wait to go swimming in a ceynote!

If the Earth had rings like Saturn

I'd never thought about it, but this is awesome.

Plane tickets to Mexico? Check.

Super boring? Remembering to call and cancel Netflix and Tivo. Super fun? Buying our plane tickets to Cancun. January 13th, with a layover in Dallas, window seats the whole way. Sweet!

I was surprised to find that most flights were either a red eye with layovers of 10+ hours (who wants to do that?), or else they landed in Cancun at like 9pm. I suppose most people who fly to Cancun have their resort pre-booked so just have to get there, but as a backpacker you want to arrive early in the day so you have time to look around and find a place. We haven't ruled out pre-booking a hotel that first night, although we don't really intend on staying in Cancun. Just a few hours south is Tulum, an old Mayan ruin right on the beach, which sounds far more interesting to us.

We arrive at 3:30 in the afternoon, so we'll have a little leeway to decide what to do.

More packing

Yesterday I had what, for me, comes as close to a "bad day" as it gets. Just feeling a little overwhelmed with so much to do, with a million little decisions that aren't really so important, but added together made me feel like I was on the verge of accidentally parking in front of a fire hydrant or something. Deep breath, keep packing, move on.

And packing indeed. I'm now worried that we are packing so well that the pod is going to be too heavy. So the duality of my nature is having an epic battle, with one half of me wanting to save as much as possible just in case (or just because we can), and the other side wanting to toss everything that is not required to sustain life. If someone could film the fight going on in my brain it would make one heck of a pirates vs ninjas movie. Again, I am fully aware of the futility of trying to know which dresser would be most useful or if the decorative pillow will be useful in a different apartment. Knowing me I'm gonna want to decorate everything Mayan when we get back anyhow, so maybe that answers that question. :)

We've decided to go ahead and pack the TV, three weeks before we actually move. In theory, I'm a snob that hates TV and would feel great about being one of those show-offs who brag about not owning a television. In practice, I am a reality TV junkie, and love Survivor and Amazing Race and So You Think You Can Dance and Food Challenge, not to mention Glee. It is going to be hard to give them up, especially in the middle of a season, though I suppose we can watch them all online. I had given up TV for several years in the early 90s when I was doing so much theatre, which worked out great. Maybe it is time to try it again. Except for Glee, no lofty philosophy is making me miss that piece of heaven.

David can pack like Einstein can do math

We've got the pod coming on Wednesday, which we will fill and then send on to Vegas, where we will move it into storage until we get back. After a lot of debate, we decided to only get one pod instead of two (which was recommended for our 1200 square foot townhouse), sell the extra furniture and just buy new stuff once we get moved into another place. Yesterday we decided to get a head start on the packing, taped out the area of the pod on the floor and did a practice run. And thanks to David's savant-level packing ability, we realized are going to be able to bring a lot more of the furniture than we thought. The great thing about adding a dresser (or four) is that all that drawer space is great for packing dishes and things too, so two birds with one stone.

We put our first plant out on the sidewalk today, which someone snagged less than ten minutes later. We are going to lose a lot of great plants, and it is good to know they will be going to a good home. (Forget pets, my plants are my babies!) Gonna be tougher when we get to the expensive plants, our gigantor bird of paradise and the ficus tree.

Rain, rain, go away

Preparations continue. Tuesday I walked 2 1/2 miles to some office to get a permit for the moving company to park a storage cube on the street for us to move the essentials to Vegas. We are going to get rid of most of our furniture, but there are always boxes of yearbooks to save. Unfortunately they have to do some visual inspection of the street to make sure there isn't a bus stop or something in front of our house (there isn't), so I have to go back again to get the actual permit. Due to the holiday yesterday, it may or may not be ready this afternoon. However, it is raining cats and dogs out there, and another 5 mile round trip walk in the rain does not sound very appealing. (I don't drive in the city, parking is awful.) I guess I'll have to take the metro part way. I'm weird like that, the metro doesn't make a straight line to where I'm going, I have to go all the way into the city, transfer to a new train and then head back out again, which isn't hard but just annoys me to have to, map wise, go so far out of the way just to circle back. In the end I'd rather just walk, which I guess is partly what makes me constitutionally inclined to be a backpacker. Thank you New York for bringing that out in me!

Tuesday night our friend Morgan who was in "La Boheme" with us called, he has been living in Switzerland but was in DC for an audition. He had just a little time to spare before his train back to NY, so we walked another 4 1/2 miles to see him and give him a brief run around the Capitol Building. (I never get tired of seeing people see it for the first time, it is always such a thrill.) We had a great time catching up, we are so lucky to know such awesome people that are scattered across the world, and maybe we don't get to see them very often, but when we do we have such a great time. Ditto to the time we got to spend with Jun, my best friend from high school who stayed with us for a few days this weekend. We have great friends!

I can tangent like no one, eh? My point being that I ended up walking almost ten miles that day, and while my legs and body had no problem, my feet were a little sore at the end of the day. Gotta start building up my callouses again to prepare for hiking up all those Mayan temples. So rain, please stop so I can start walking again every day.

Travel health

Our preparations continue. Next up we need to find a place to get a Thyphoid immunization. I had one for my Asia trip, and I was hoping it would still be good but after looking it up it turns out it is only good for about two years. Luckily we've both had our hepatitis shots for work, because those ones are expensive. The last decision concerns the malaria prophylaxis medications. When I went to Asia I decided not to take anything, partly because I'd heard about all the side effects, and partly because I was there for so long the risk/benefit/expense didn't seem worth it. I'm lucky that mosquitos don't particularly like me for some reason, which also helps. We haven't decided for sure yet, but I think we are going to forego any meds this time as well. Which just means we have to be extra careful to not get bit, so we'll be bringing along the DEET and wearing long pants and shirts at night.

Otherwise there isn't too much else to worry about health-wise. We'll probably go to the dentist for a last check-up just to be safe, and I'm going to order some extra contacts to take with me. There are several companies that do travel health insurance, that will fly you back to the US if anything particularly bad happens to you, and we will definitely take out a policy, they actually aren't that expensive. (Which tells you that most people never make any claims, because traveling is as safe as anything else!)

Packing

One thing I learned trying to sell yourself as an actor, is that it is all about spin. So while I could just say I leave things until the last minute because I'm a lazy procrastinator, instead I'm gonna go with something about the glory of spontaneity, or of the importance of living life in the moment. I suppose the reality is somewhere in between. But our plans continue to shift ever so slightly, a few days here, a few days there. As actors we could never plan ahead for anything, and even though it should be easier now, we've just never developed those skills.

By lucky accident, our procrastination saved us almost $150 though. For the move we decide to go with one of those pods you pack up, and then the moving company moves it for you, and somehow our last-minute reservation ended up being cheaper than the quote we got a few weeks ago. Thank you angels! We've been going back and forth trying to decide how much stuff we want to save. I've been at war with STUFF ever since my first back-packing trip, which has been a very rewarding change for this former pack-rat. Once you live out of a pack for a year, you realize how little you really need to get by, and how all the excess crap we collect just drains your energy. However, we did buy a bunch of furniture here, and weren't sure whether it was better to move it, store it and use it again, or just sell it all on craigslist and buy new (or used) again when we finally get to California.

Math to the rescue again! We think we will be able to keep our leather couch (by turning it on end in the pod, I hope it survives shipping like that), and possibly a dresser. Not even counting any money we might make selling the rest, we'll save about $1400 by dumping it now, which to me seems enough to buy new stuff once we settle again. Plus just that much less hassle and worry, and I'm always a big fan of reducing hassle and worry.

We are also getting rid of all our CDs and LPs and lots of books. I'm fine keeping photos (we have a lot of those) and stuff like yearbooks, but lots of stuff is just taking up space. We've been reducing our CD collection for a few years now, and finally have it down to about 600 (from a high of 1400). We are going to donate most of it to a theatre company here in DC, which we feel pretty good about. I suppose we could sell it somewhere, which if we were uber-thrifty would be nice. But time is limited, and I just don't have the energy to go down that road. I'm all about saving money and being cheap, but sometimes it just feels good to make a donation that you know will be appreciated.

Question: should I save things just because they are autographed? I have a CD for "Three Wished For Jamie" (if you've heard of it, then you are a nerd!) that is autographed by Charlotte Rae. I love me some Mrs. Garrett, but I can't decide how long I need to carry this around with me. Ditto "Rags" and Marcia Lewis. Even worse is an LP of "Little Mary Sunshine" autographed by Elmarie Wendell, whom I worked with years ago in a production of "Gigi". She is a neat lady, but packing a single LP isn't easy! What would you do?

Best Halloween Costume

Yes, he goes there, keep watching.



I mean, who can compete with that?

Guide books

This kind of a trip is exactly the kind of thing that is going to keep my typing like mad on this blog, so come back every so often if you're interested in how things progress. We have a lot of planning to do of course, from packing lists to itineraries to figuring out what stuff to keep and where to keep it while we are gone and how we are going to do our taxes from Honduras and so on. (Since I am a money nerd, I just spent an hour calculating the difference between storing our stuff in DC compared to storing it in Vegas or just selling all the furniture on Craigslist, and still haven't made a decision.) And heck, this is me and David we are talking about here, so it is always possible that one of the jobs I applied for already is going to call and make an offer I can't refuse which could completely change our plans around again. But hey, it is all part of the ride with us. We might change our minds a lot, but we tend to go full steam ahead with whichever plan we're working on at the time. Sucking the marrow and all that.

Anyway, on Sunday when we made the decision, we got on Amazon and ordered the Lonely Planet Guide to the Yucatan, and The Rough Guide's Central America On A Budget. (We had a huge sack of coins, and at the Coinstar machine if you get your money back as a gift certificate, you don't have to pay the 9% fee. So hello $160 Amazon gift card, which since change is virtually useless by itself was practically free!) To my surprise they just arrived, so Amazon is on my happy list for promptness. Fun reading in store!

The Announcement

So you know how David and I live a rather unconventional life? Like how we move across the country every few years? We've certainly made no secret of our goal to one day live in Hawaii and Australia. And, while we have loved, nay, LOVED our time here in Washington DC, after 2 1/2 years we've decided it is time to move on, to get back to some warmer climates and, ideally, to be closer to the nieces and nephews that are growing up way too fast without us. So we put in our notice at work and started looking for work back on the West Coast.

Then a funny thing happened. Well, first a not funny thing happened, actually, two not funny things happened, but then a very funny and wonderful thing happened. (Holy crap I am a Steve Martin nerd, I bet 99% of you have never even heard of that movie, but I can't resist an opportunity to make David giggle. NOTE: if you want to make David giggle, quote "Mixed Nuts". It works every time.) My job search was progressing much slower than anticipated, but optimists that we are we decided to go with it. Which of course required a Facebook status update: "So we are moving. Like to California. Or maybe Vegas. Or possibly Phoenix. If all else fails, learning spanish in Guatemala sounds nice." For you literary types, that's called foreshadowing.

I've been telling people at work, and the super rad nurse recruiter who brought me here to Georgetown personally got me on the phone with another recruiter from LA, who, though quite friendly and supportive, said point blank, "Do not move here without a job lined up. It is that bad right now." Normally I don't listen to advice like that, because I have angels who watch over me that do things like find me sweet apartments and get me great jobs and all sorts of meddling things to make my life enviously awesome. Yesterday I was talking to one of my bosses who revealed just how well she knows me. Claire had been talking to my other boss, who was hoping that because of the bad job market I might change my mind and stay here longer. Claire just smiled and said "I don't think so, if nothing else he will just do something crazy."

Crazy depends on your point of view, but David and I have decided to take our own partly subconscious advice and do something we've actually been throwing around for the last ten years since I got home from my backpacking trip to Asia. We're gonna take six months (or so) and go backpacking through Central America. Boo-yah!

FOX's Shep Smith Outraged By Bacon Cheese Doughnut Burger

Not everyone on Fox is wrong. LOL

Auto-tune the news

Another way to tell a story

I love that there will always be people ready to find a new way to tell a story.

Fun with post-it notes

Facebook is killing this blog. But this video is still funny!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Un-Broke: The Cribs Edition

I don't know if this is going to be good or not, but I'm definitely going to be watching. Isn't that right Professor Puggleface? Friday, May 29th at 9p ET on ABC

More awesome stop animation

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 12 Recap

Coach needs his own theme song. "And then there's Coach!" He had so many one-liners this episode I should have written them down (more gold with his belief that his alliance is the bestest alliance ever just because he gave it a name). Any time he mentions the words "integrity", "warrior" or "honesty" you can see his brain working triple overtime trying to help him ignore the fact that his actions and his words have nothing to do with each other. I know he believes himself, that is what makes him so entertaining. But boy I'm glad he isn't my next-door neighbor.

I don't even know what to say about the fact that his visiting loved one is...his assistant coach. What they coach together is never mentioned (chiropracty perhaps?), and I'm not sure I'd want to know anyway. It is absolutely something you'd expect, but at the same time I have to admit it made me a little sad for him too. That is, until he bragged to his assistant coach "Did you know they call me the Dragon Slayer?". Um, Coach, no one calls you the Dragon Slayer. You call yourself the Dragon Slayer. There is a BIG difference, not that you would ever understand something like nuance.

While Stephen is arguably the brains behind his alliance (I say arguably only because it hasn't taken much brains to outwit Timbira), he has been a disaster at each and every challenge. So I give him props for his win here, especially because he came from so far behind.

I don't know what to say about Debbie. Stephen keeps saying that he thinks she is a clever player who is "playing hard", but I never saw that. I think his compliments come from a place of paranoia more than anything else, so he is giving her way too much credit for her scrambling. Debbie went home not because her scheming was anything unusual, but only because the boys got paranoid about her somehow doing, I don't know, something. She seems like a terribly nice lady, and other than her ridiculousness with Sierra over the last few weeks, I think she played the best game she was able, and as usual I appreciated her high-road farewell speech. Also I bet she gets a terrific makeover for the final show. But while I was sort of hoping for Coach to go, I wasn't sad for it to be her either. As long as Coach goes next. I mean, I love him, I really do, but the relentlessness of his ego is wearing me down, and I just can't tolerate a Dragon Slayer speech in the finals.

Side note - my Dad was here this week and watched American Idol with us. The rock week theme was pretty hard for him to get over. "I like two kinds of music", he says, "Country, and Western." Still, he watched, and thought Danny would go home. I thought the scream was awesome, in a bad way, but not as awesome as Paula slutting it up with a bunch of young boys. I mean, Paula is like my mom, so that was just disturbing. Good for you Paula, but next time remember that at this point in your career, you should be thinking more Marie Osmond than Cher.

Benny Lava...(WITH LYRICS) Halarious

Some of the translations are a little "R" rated, but it is still just funny. I bet I could spend hours on YouTube watching these things.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 11 Recap

Lame. I mean, clearly the audience has been manipulated to like Sierra more than the people who are all there (all of whom seem to totally hate her, which says something), but still, all I want in life is the opposite of what Coach wants. I LOVE watching him be denied those reward challenges. So, no offense Debby, but I was totally rooting for you to be booted, just because it would have stung Lying Liar Coach. (Do you think he will ever admit that he lied, or has he already convinced himself that he didn't?) I also thought it was a dumb strategic move, you always want to break up alliances before you worry about a solo player WHOM EVERYONE HATES. But then it looks like Debby turns against Coach next week, so obviously the Coach/Debby thing isn't what we've been led to believe anyway.

The one thing I will give Coach credit for is not freaking out about Tyson. I expected a freak out. If I were Tyson I might be a little hurt by their indifference, but I assume playing it cool was a strategic decision that must really hurt. It sucks eating crow, but it was the right decision to make.

Favorite moment of the episode: Coach winning immunity. Not because he won, I hate watching him win anything. But I love that winning a pinball challenge, in his eyes, makes him a Dragonslayer. (Then later to JT "Did you hear me say Dragonslayer?!" He is such a child.) His ridiculous ego gives me such joy (at his expense).

I am curious why Taj voted for Debby, that was a very curious break in the ranks. Erinn voting for Stephen could prove very shrewd. Early in the episode she promised Sierra she wouldn't vote for her, but knowing Debby might get some votes probably couldn't vote for her either. As long as Stephen knew beforehand and doesn't get paranoid about it, it is nice way to cull some favor from Sierra assuming, as I'm assuming, that Erinn has a great shot at getting to the finals. I really don't see her winning, but still, every vote you take away from someone else is a good thing.

So I'm thinking this is going to come down to Stephen, Taj, and Erinn. Coach and Debby will go next, depending on how soon Stephen turns against JT.

And I can barely whistle

How exactly do you figure out you can do this? Must drive his parents crazy.

Watching Susan Boyle

I could write a long post on the cultural significance of how we enjoy watching someone else experience something we have already experienced, but I'm sure its been done by someone smarter than me. Still, interesting.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 10 Recap

Wow. I thought this was going to be a boring episode, watching everyone slowly torture Sierra to death. I had high hopes for her winning immunity, just because I wanted to know what the others would do in that case, but stinking Debbie had to ruin that dream.

I hate Cartman-I-mean-Coach. But then he says things like "I can bench 300 lbs and Brendan was saying the other day that maybe he couldn't" and then I love him all over again. Because he is a joke, and though he totally doesn't realize it (and never will) the joke is on him. My second favorite moment was when Jeff asked him at tribal that if he was really so concerned with taking all the warriors to the end, then why did he vote off Brendan? And Coach had no real answer, but just blabbered on about being victorious or whatever. It doesn't really matter, except to illustrate that the way Coach views his world is only halfway based on the world the rest of us live in. He believes what he says, the end. But I was openly pleased that he missed out on yet another reward challenge. HA!

I should be more upset about Tyson getting booted, because he was really my choice to win. He acts the bastard, but mostly because (I think) he understands what it takes to get screen time. Even his speech at the end he was totally gracious, understanding that it was a game. His only flaw was that he was mean to Sierra. He thought he had her, and he got cocky and was disrespectful to her, which I just don't like. So watching his cocky smile disappear gave me great pleasure. HA!

I don't hate Sierra as much as everyone else seems to. But I'm afraid there aren't that many people that I LIKE left either. People have moments of greatness, but then seem to fade. I don't know what Taj is thinking these past few weeks, she has been pretty invisible. It seems Stephen and JT are running the show, but even they somehow seem like second-tier level players compared to other seasons. Oh well. I imagine Coach or Sierra will go next week, depending on who is the most annoying around camp.

But one question: when will people learn, that when you enter the merge with numbers, you CANNOT get over confident, you MUST wipe out the other tribe before turning on your own. Otherwise you doom yourself to failure. It seems to me that Erinn, of all people, is the only one with a prayer of seeing the final four. (Or farther, depending on how tight JT and Stephen and Taj really are, because she is a safety net at final tribal for not getting any votes.)

I can't wait to see how Coach reacts to his assistant Coach getting axed right under his nose. Deliciousness is coming, I can smell it.

PS - Yay for Allison not getting booted on Idol. Whew! I like everyone, but Matt should go next.

Do as I say, not as I do

Besides just the basic human decency required to admit that torture is, you know, bad, here is yet another example of the incredibly frustrating double-speak the pro-torture crowd likes to employ, by way of a Presidential Proclamation issued by President Bush in 2003.

The highlight:

The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture

The italics are mine. The mortifying disgust and horror are also mine.

Oh My God, I Am Linking To Fox News

I never thought I would post a link from a Fox "News" program, but here goes.



I am amazed and hugely saddened by this debate over torture. It makes me so angry because it seems like such a no-brainer to me, and for anyone to defend such an evil thing simply for partisanship is, well, staggering. Whether it works or not (and I would say that it doesn't) is totally irrelevant. IRRELEVANT. It is an act of evil, period, the end. I've been to the S-21 Torture prison in Cambodia, and decades later you can still feel the evil that was done there. One of the few survivors was a painter, and there is a prominently displayed painting he made of a person being waterboarded. When I was there nine years ago, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was clearly torture.

I believe our actions set a precedent, and no matter how badly Peggy Noonan wants to "just walk on by" and not pay any attention, I don't believe we have the luxury of ignoring the fact that this happened under our watch just because dealing with it might be uncomfortable and hard. And I'm not talking about Lynndie England. But we have to clean this mess up in no uncertain terms before we can move on and get it behind us.

This is America. We are better than that. And props to Shep Smith for breaking the partisanship line and saying it.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 9 Recap

Coach is a buffoon. I suppose this was the episode when the scales tipped a little though, and instead of loving to hate him, I actually started to get annoyed by him. The problem was that, while I was all set to root for Brendan, whom I think is nice if boring, but then he said something like "If I can get JT to win then it will feel like I won." Uh, what? I'm suddenly getting mad at the camera crew for never capturing JT on film working his voodoo magic that makes everyone around him fall madly in love with him. I mean, he seems nice and all, but it isn't like he is Susan Boyle or something. So then I'm stuck rooting for Brendan as the anti-Coach, but not because I specifically want Brendan to stay either. I think this show has gotten too soft on the quitters, if I were Jeff I'd throw Brendan's torch down after a comment like that.

I still think Coach and all his shenanigans are funny, but I just can't ignore the arrogance any longer. His tall tale about almost getting eaten in the Amazon was, well, I don't know what it was. Maybe he is just the worst story-teller in the world. Or maybe he is like Cartman and with an extra-size ego actually believes his schtick. Also, I want to give him a boot to the head every time he calls himself a dragonslayer. Peter MacNicol made a better dragonslayer than he does. Seriously.

Anyway, thanks to the editing, I was sure Coach was leaving, just for the satisfaction of it all. And I'm still ticked off that he didn't, because that is the way Hollywood is supposed to work, with me getting satisfaction watching villains getting their deserved due. Now we'll have to endure him gloating, which is so terrible that I'm actually feeling sorry for Sierra. Sierra!

My only solace was the realization, afterwards, that JT had just, in fact, won the game. We'll see what they say next week, but going into the vote I figured it was much smarter for Taj, Stephen and JT to stick with Brendan and Sierra, because in the end they would be three against two and could do what they wanted. (Or four against two if they kept Erinn, which they could do easily.) But now I'm thinking, the got rid of Brendan because it was easy to do. But now that they've split up the other team, they are totally in control, whatever Coach might think. They could string Coach along and vote out Sierra next week if they wanted to, and still have the numbers to vote out Coach and Tyson next. And I see no reason why they won't. For someone who was in imminent danger for so long, Erinn sure has done well for herself.

I loved the rope challenge, almost as much as I loved Coach not winning the rafting challenge. I also love winners, and Tyson is making an impression.

I will forever wish Brendan had outwitted Coach, rather than the other way around. And why didn't Brendan, when he stood up to leave, just hand the idol to Sierra? That would have been awesome, and would have saved her for at least one week.

Spring Break

I know I haven't been blogging so much lately. Call it part of my overall winter hibernation. I suspect as the weather gets better and I find myself outdoors more often, I'll have more to say.

For the moment, the good news is that we are going on vacation today! Flying to Las Vegas to see family, where we will borrow a couple of nephews and drive them down to Disneyland. The best part is that my entire family, minus one brother-in-law, will be in Vegas, at least for one night. That doesn't happen very often, so I hope we can get pictures! (I'm sure Mom is planning something.)

So I gotta go finish packing, then we are going to try and figure out this bus to Dulles thing. We were going to drive, but then thought, I'd rather take the bus and use the $100 it would have cost to park on Disney swag. :)

Pics to come.

Animals are awesome

Since I Tivo, I only watch commercials on YouTube

Who cares about what they're selling, I will never look at a power line the same way again.

32 Songs in 8 Minutes

I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did, but it turns out to be very compelling. How many of the songs do you know? (He had me at "Eye Of The Tiger")

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 4 Recap

I wish I had more to say, but this was a typical early episode, with some decent challenges but without much defining character. I mean, there was some fun stuff for sure, and Coach continues to impress as the least self-aware self-help personality the show has perhaps ever seen. But this still seemed like a placeholder in what I anticipate is going to be a much more interesting season.

Cause, let's see, we have Erinn on the one team, who says she can't talk to people without crying about her recent breakup, so she just doesn't talk to people. Yeah, that is a great strategy for Survivor. While I'm pretty sure that Coach not liking someone means that I probably should, I just can't get into her, and won't be sad when she gets voted off, which I'm assuming/hoping will be very, very soon. Also, ruffles? You wore ruffles for Survivor?

On the other side we had the Old Crazy vs Hot Model going on, which was only marginally more interesting, as Old Crazy definitely qualifies as interesting. But the arguments and rationales are old, and didn't really matter either way at this stage in the game. I'll miss Sandy because she was interesting, but not because I thought she should have done better.

Then there is Team Secret. Now this, obviously, has the potential to be one of the best things ever in the game of Survivor. And I hate to say I just have this sinking feeling that it is going to fall apart before we get to the goods. Taj was awesome in reeling in City Slicker. "How would you like to be a part of Survivor history?". It doesn't get better than that. Brendan, on the other hand, just what, lost track of time or something and never bothered to let Sierra in on the plan. Too busy whittling a toothbrush out of fish bones or something I imagine. Taj sticks with the plan and picks Sierra for Exile, and by a stroke of luck Sierra still picks Taj to go with her (well, not just luck, but she still could have picked someone else on a whim and then what would have happened?) I can't believe Brendan almost threw it all away right there, but whatever. Taj talks Sierra into it though (like that would be hard), and on paper it seems like a brilliant move.

What worries me are that I'm not sure either Taj or Brendan are worthy of the power. The previews for next week show Taj flipping out, which is NEVER a good sign. (With Sandy gone, she is an obvious target in a team of young boys, though she is at least very strong.) And that Fake Mormon seems to figure things out indicates that either Brendan or Sierra are being bad actors on their own as well. I dunno, maybe I'm just trying to lower my expectations, but I'm worried I'm going to end up more disappointed than excited.

I fully expect things to pick up again soon. General rule of thumb is that the first four episodes are prologue. We've definitely had more fun than usual so far, but there are still just too many people around to get really good I guess. Fake Mormon tried to liven things up with a loin-cloth, not to mention another scripted line about wanting to see Erinn cry at Tribal, but both attempts fell rather flat. He's better when he is being spontaneous.

Oh, and what was up with Taj voting for Joe? If he finds out it was her she is in big trouble. If she is able to keep it secret, it might be interesting if he suspects someone else or if it just puts the idea into people's heads. But can you keep it a secret? I mean, people recognize their handwriting. Anyway, I can't wait to hear her rationale. Cause if she falls, Team Secret is in trouble, and Tom Sawyer is sitting pretty again.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 3 Recap

Let's just get to it: Coach may be my favorite villain in years. I love that he comes in a shiny, new-agey wrapper. I love that he speaks in pithy metaphor. I love that his ego is so big that he can turn a smile into an expression of pure evil, and then turns it into a crisis of conscience to allow himself to even be near her. And I LOVE the bad Fabio hair. This is the kind of guy that gives aging hippies a bad name. (You KNOW he loves a good drum circle.)

I'm also digging on Fake Mormon. I'm pretty sure I will dislike him by the end, as his "I will laugh as I crush your dreams" speeches come across just a little too rehearsed. But his "relationship" with Coach is just delicious. Coach benevolently christening him "assistant coach", and his subsequent mockery that he will soon demand to be called Coach too? Priceless television entertainment. Thank you!

Otherwise, let's go for a little chronology. All the post-tribal hating on Erinn was pure filler. She was buddies with Boobs, now she is scrambling to save herself. Duh. So for people (i.e. Coach) to feign offense by that is just theatre.

The first challenge was notable only for the blue team to get crushed. It is always hard in these kinds of challenges to assign blame. The caller girl didn't seem like she was slacking or anything (and we've certainly seen people fail mightily at this position in the past.) They just sucked. Coach lets out a few "primal screams" (his words) at the end, that both annoyed and delighted. Annoyed because I HATE people who act like that. Delighted because I HATE people who act like that. Back at camp he starts out complaining, then goes all Deanna Troi and orders everyone else not to go off in little groups and complain about other people. Cue silly music, and cut to Coach going off in a little group and complaining about other people. I LOVE THIS!

Then Coach says that he doesn't care about comfort, and if it meant staying around longer he would bury himself in the sand and get attacked by tarantulas and bitten by spiders. Please, please let that be foreshadowing.

Brandon (Brendan?) and Taj go back to Exile together. I love that these two are playing a new game with this alliance. Stupid Jeff has to call them out on it, although I bet he does that a lot, so hopefully no one takes it too seriously yet. My spider-sense is worried that the show is playing its hand on this alliance too early, and that it won't end up playing out, which is a bummer, cause I'm always in favor of new twists. But maybe I'll get lucky. My problem - I don't trust Sierra any more than Taj does. (And I don't mean that in a bad way. She is here to play the game, which I totally respect. Her dismissal of Coach's stupid vendetta against Erinn was refreshing sanity. Just not sure I can trust what decision she would make if presented with this unusual opportunity.) But we'll see what develops. I was surprised when Brendan found the Idol, I thought it would be harder than that. If they don't send him to Exile next week, he might be forced into an alliance with someone besides Sierra anyways.

Challenge Two was good I usually like the muscles + brains challenges. I usually don't like it when one team starts to dominate, but so far I'm fine with it, cause that keeps the attention focused on Coach. And he continues to deliver, as noted above. Also great was when he reenacted the suspicious smile for his Assistant Coach. "Wait, I've been practicing it." he says. Really. YOU ARE A FREAK! A delicious, finger-licking good freak.

The Tribal banter is a little more pointed than usual, and I love the battle between Erinn and Coach. I mean, Erinn is stupid to engage him like that, I don't care how much you hate him, it is just stupid to give everyone else so much cover to vote for you next time. That said, she is totally right. I seriously doubt Brendan had any motivation to be the group leader, so Coach gets him off the hook. And while everyone besides Erinn seems content to laugh Coach off for now, that won't last forever. I can only imagine a spectacular set-up for his demise, although I'm sure nothing will ever be as satisfying as Randy's ouster from last season, so I shouldn't get my hopes up I suppose.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 2 Recap

Ok folks. Prepare for a fast and dirty edition of Survivor: Tocantins. I'm working 12 hour shifts the next three days in a row, over which same time my dad is going to be visiting, so if I don't get this blog done within a half hour of the show being over (at which time I have to go to bed to prepare for my 5am alarm) then it just isn't going to get done. It won't be quite a live blog (which I tried once before) because I can't watch and think and type all at the same time. I'm starting this before the show even starts, and at this point I have to admit I'm getting my reality show contestant mixed up, with Idol and Amazing Race also starting this week. (Speaking of which, can you imagine the fun if Tatiana Del Toro came on Survivor??? Can't you just see her at the first Tribal Council, with her hand over her heart begging Jeff not to snuff out her fire of dreams? I actually feel a little bad for her, the Idol machine chewed her up in a way she wasn't ready for and she is reeling trying to find her balance again. That said, I'm Gokey all the way.)

Strep Throat Blondie enlists help to find the idol. I guess she sort of had to, it is hard to go off by yourself for too long. Also, it is a good way to get an alliance going, which she desperately needs at this point. But of course they get caught. So if they build a fire over the spot the idol is buried, how will they ever keep looking?

I'm never a huge fan of this challenge. Too violent and angry. It isn't as bad this time around at least, and no one seems to be hurt. And good for the Football players wife, who has some brute force on her side if nothing else. Her and the lawyer were an interesting pair. lol Until the very end when I saw that Crazy Lady was on the winning team, I had no idea who was on which team. Not that I have a favorite yet anyway, but it is nice when things are relatively even.

I like the idea of pairs sent to tribal. I feel like this has happened once before (was it Fans vs. Favorites?), but to have it happen every week could get very interesting. I'm liking Brendan, anyone who has their hand in searching for two different idols in two days is definitely in the game. And I'm liking The Football Players wife too. I identify with the city slicker guy, cause I have no idea who her husband is either, but she is just charming. And that they can switch teams? I usually hate it when the force the teams to change, but voluntary switches could add in a whole new layer.

City Slicker is bromancing on Tom Sawyer. Well, he says he is "smitten" by his "pretty country ways". Again, you can't write this stuff.

OK, so when I said this wasn't the most attractive cast, I'll admit I hadn't gotten a good look at Candace. She is striking, and I'm not even talking about the boobage. However, she is also a bitch. Now I think Coach is smarmy, and I'm even more convinced that he's gonna have an uphill battle to survive. Demanding a kiss was creepy enough, and then he licked her face! First off, gross, secondly, isn't that harassment? But it rarely pays to be opinionated. That is two in a row now. (And in the end even her friend in the ruffles voted for her. Ouch.)

All in all, not a huge episode, but it has set up a lot of fun potential. Cross-team alliances, team switching, idol-hunting, the eventual takedown of Coach. Oh, and perhaps a bonfire on the grave of Barbie's now dead idol! Yes indeed, there is some fun to be had.

Survivor: Tocantins, Episode 1 Recap

I was dragging my feet about blogging this season of Survivor. Let's be honest, last season wasn't exactly one of the best. There were some moments of brilliance for sure (Crystal yelling to the camera while voting off Randy comes to mind, or Bob making not one but two fake idols), but overall it just never seemed to pull itself together, much less rise to the genius of previous seasons. Feel free to disagree, but I know I'm right.

Anyway, so I just wasn't sure I was gonna find the time this season. I mean, there's seemingly going to be a great batch of singers over on Idol (the laughing girl is fun for the producers, but they'll never advance her to the top 12), and LOST has finally gotten good again. Really good. So how much TV can I watch? We had some couchsurfers from England staying with us on Thursday night, so I didn't watch the show until yesterday. (OH, and if you haven't been paying attention to my blog and don't know what couchsurfing is, you are totally missing out. We had the best time, even if Sharon was under the impression that my hatred of clowns was somehow funny, which it totally isn't. She did, however, agree that the doll my mother has standing in the corner of her bedroom is totally "Blair Witch" evil, something I've maintained for years. For reals Mom.)

But I have to say, I'm rather excited about this new season. This is probably the least attractive cast they've had in a while, generally speaking. Which isn't to say they are unattractive, but still, they seem to have been chosen more for personality than for looks, which I take as a good sign. Also, there are only 16, so we don't have to suffer through quite so many early rounds where you can't quite get a grasp on whom everyone is.

I didn't watch the episode with the intent to blog, so I may forget some details, but here is why I'm seeing a lot of potential for a great season.

The vote right off of the truck ticked me off. They've done this once before, which I thought was stupid, and was mad they were doing it again, although Jeff's careful wording did have me suspecting something was up. So, the two weak players were not eliminated, but instead sent up ahead, losing crucial bonding time with their tribe. Interesting. When they got to the camp, they had to decide whether to set things up or search for a hidden idol. Very interesting. Crazy Lady (sorry, I'm bad with names) decides to look for the Idol. Good move. Except I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be very easy, so had I been her I might have at least made a casual effort to do something around camp. But whatever, she searches. And then doesn't know what the word "pace" means. This is why I love reality TV, because you can't make that up.

Strep Throat Barbie, who seems too bitter to ever recover enough to get people to like her again, actually makes what I think was a smart move. The chances you would find an idol quickly is slim, but if you can get back in good with your team, it might buy you a tribal or two and give you more opportunities to search. So I'm down with that.

We meet a few other players. One thing, I don't care what he says, the naked guy is not a Mormon. Trust me on that one. Maybe he grew up Mormon, and maybe he was Mormon for a while, and probably did if he grew up in Utah. I can see how it is a fun label to claim, but our Survivor mormons are getting less and less actual Mormon. The boring girl with the weird name, Neleah or something, that almost won Marquesas, she was a real Mormon. (And she should have beat Vecepia, but then original Crazy Lady Kathy should have beat both of them. Remember when she peed on the guys leg after he got stuck by a sea urchin? Undiluted awesome, especially since pee is good for jellyfish, not sea urchin spines.) Then we had Rafe, the gay Mormon. This guy seems even less Mormon than that. Anyway, this hardly matters at all, I'm just saying. Anyway, Fake Mormon Guy was kind of creepy when he was naked, but then he had the line about wanting a Man Tiara, and I instantly forgave him everything.

I agree with Coach's sentiment of wanting the strong players to go to the end together, but I'm not sure anyone will trust him about that. With his demeanor, I bet he becomes pushy and will be an early target as soon as they don't need his strength.

So yeah, there were others, but they were almost all blonde and I can't remember who was who. I'll get better about that. I can't give everyone fake names, thats just annoying.

The challenge was a good one, and both Crazy Lady and Strep Throat Barbie seemed to perform well under the pressure. Loved it that the strong guys sprinted out to the water, and then just had to sit there waiting for everyone else to catch up. Dude, you know the rules, how about helping the slower players go faster? Less glory, but you might win.

At first I was hoping Crazy Lady would go, but I have to say she has totally charmed me. I suspect the charm won't last, but when Jeff asked her straight up if she was crazy, and she just smiled and said "yeah, I get that a lot", again, you can't script this stuff. (And my fanboy crush on Probst continues.) So sorry Cowgirl Who Went Home First. You seemed interesting too. Not like someone who had a shot at winning, but someone who was at least interesting and nice to boot. Speaking of boots, I guess you could make an argument for wearing cowboy boots into the Amazon, but I'm still glad I at least won't have to look at that anymore. Just not a good look with the swimsuit.

By the way, earlier in this posting when I sort of intimated that there was a possibility that I might not watch this season of Survivor? Yeah, that was a total lie. If I could only watch one show on TV, it would be this. I don't really know why. Too much Gilligan as a kid? Or the fact that one of my favorite books is an autobiography of a guy who moved to a deserted island and built himself a life there, living alone for a couple of years with a duck and some chickens. (Tom Neal, "An Island To Myself". Get yourself to the library, you know you want to read more.) I love the fantasy of doing it myself. Yeah, yeah, there is too much fighting and bickering and stupid farts like Randy. But it is worth the pain. Let's just hope Tocantins has more of the fun intrigue and less of the meek shall inherit.

My Facebook 25 Things

One of the reasons I love Facebook is because you spend time reconnecting with old friends. One of the reasons I hate Facebook is because you spend lots of time reconnecting with old friends. I got tagged with this "25 Things About You" meme by about ten different people, so in the end I couldn't resist. Here are my 25:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I used to be embarrassed of my inner-nerd. Now I love the freedom embracing the label gives me.
2. I hate clowns. Mostly because I know they are evil and will kill me if given the opportunity, but also because they are stupid. And ugly.
3. I have never seen "Grease" or "The Breakfast Club", and didn’t see “The Dark Knight”. I'm lucky if I go to the movies a half-dozen times a year. Usually the movies I do see in the theatre involve singing or Angelina Jolie brandishing a weapon.
4. I hate talking on the phone. Hate. It. I almost never answer unless it is my mother, and much prefer email if I can’t just talk to you in person. Last month I used just 46 anytime minutes, and that was over the holidays. Despite this, I feel naked if I don’t have my phone with me, even if it is just buried in my backpack on silent.
5. I don’t feel guilty about the fact that I love reality TV, especially Survivor, Amazing Race, and the Idol. I'd never want to compete on any of them, though I am jealous of Cady Huffman's judging job on Iron Chef.
6. Guilty pleasures include pancakes for dinner, sudoku, and Suze Orman's "Can You Afford It" segment. Denied!
7. Last year we discovered the couchsurfing community, which I’d encourage all of you to check out. www.couchsurfing.com Basically when you travel you can find fun people who will let you stay with them instead of having to get a hotel. The best part is then you have a local to tell you how to get around and what to see, not to mention have fun dinner conversation with. We stayed with two different people on our trip to Canada last year, and now have hosted a dozen or so people from all over the world, which has been excellent. As I write this we have a couple from England asleep upstairs.
8. I'm a morning person, and hate sleeping when the sun is up. Except for an hour nap in the early afternoon, which is the greatest pleasure known to man.
9. A favorite memory from the past: it was dawn, sitting on the bow of a small boat with the warm water splashing my legs on a five day journey to see Komodo Dragons, eating fresh pineapple jam toast while dolphins, flying fish and eventually huge whirlpools (yes they really do exist!) surrounded our boat on all sides. Later that night the water glowed with phosphorescent algae. Indonesia rocks.
10. I have a goofy yet irresistible compulsion to climb any outdoor staircase I come across. This has gotten me into trouble with more than one tour guide. Reason #742 that I love David is that he always goes with me.
11. I do math in my head. For fun.
12. I am a gypsy at heart. Some places I’ve lived: LA, NYC, Albuquerque, San Diego, Singapore, Sacramento, Taiwan, DC. (And a shout out to Pasco Washington!) Some places I will live: Hawaii, Anchorage and Sydney, Australia for sure. Probably more. Weird opportunities tend to present themselves to me, which I am grateful for.
13. The last book I read was Jules Verne’s “Journey To The Center Of The Earth”. It was different than I expected style-wise, but I love the story. Next on my book-list: “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” and “Treasure Island”.
14. Someday I will learn to speak Spanish at least semi-fluently. ¿Es verdad? Si, es verdad! (Our plan is to do a relatively long-term immersion course in Guatemala.)
15. David and I watch “Mixed Nuts” every year at Christmastime. If you are ever around us and we start giggling at some inside joke, it is probably because we’ve just quoted it, which somehow never gets old. (“Get me free, or hit me in my face!”) I will always love Michelle Brooks for sharing that movie with us. (I also love you for making me look good in front of Uta Hagen, but I digress.)
16. I once played softball with Tom Wopat, otherwise known as Luke Duke from the original “Dukes of Hazzard”, and before the game even started he heckled me. Getting ribbed by a childhood idol was amazingly satisfying and enjoyable. His team won on the field, but our next competition was on stage, and my hip-high leather boots totally trumped his dress and pearls.
17. My favorite book is still “The Power Of One” by Bryce Courtenay, which despite the title is not a self-help book but actually a novel about a South African boy who wants to be a boxer. Read it if you want to be as awesome as me.
18. I do think I’m awesome. Not any more awesome than anyone else is, but just totally awesome in my own dorky way. I didn’t always think that, but life got a lot better once I did.
19. I love my five siblings more than I can possibly say. I want them all to be wildly happy. That, I believe, is partly due to a lot of good parenting.
20. Pet peeve - when people confuse “their” with “they’re”, or “your” with “you’re”. Drives me absolutely nuts.
21. What is the opposite of a pet peeve? A pet delight? Nothing makes me happier than when a cashier counts back my change. Most of them are lazy and just read back the number it says on the register while handing you a wad of bills and coin. So when someone counts it back, I know they are awesome and I wish I could hug them. Of course, I rarely use cash anymore, so I have fewer and fewer opportunities to discover these delightful people.
22. I’m good at saving money. Really good. In fact it is probably my greatest skill of all. Believe me, that has come in handy many times over the years as a (formerly) starving artist. We’ve got a lot of ground to make up, but I’m very optimistic about it.
23. I just had a salad with almonds and grapes in it, which I thought was awesome.
24. Performing on the 2003 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall with David at my side was one of the proudest days of my life. I will never forget it.
25. David and I are just past our 16th anniversary, and I can’t believe how immeasurably lucky I am to be with him. I couldn’t have imagined a better partner for this adventure of life. And somehow each year we share is better than the one before. I can’t imagine what I ever did to deserve this, but it must have been GOOD.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

Awesome!!

Broadway Today at the Kennedy Center

Yesterday there was a special free concert at the Kennedy Center. [Side note: because I am retarded, I have a malingering tendency to refer to the Kennedy Center as the Lincoln Center. I can't keep my Presidential centers straight, it is quite annoying, so forgive me if I mess it up unintentionally.] The Kennedy Center has a free concert every day of the year, but this was some big special anniversary of free concerts or something, so they got a bunch of awesome Broadway singers to come in and a bunch of awesome Broadway composers to play for them. Or so I thought. Anyway, David and I got there early to stand in line for the tickets. and much to our surprise were only about 100 people back or so. I think the cold weather worked in our favor, and most people came much later than usual, so we ended up with Orchestra front and center which was awesome. Our friend Christina called after we were there and came over too, but by the time she got there she was probably close to 1000 people behind us. However through some twist of fate she ended up with a seat not too far away from us, so that was nice.

The concert started with Stephen Schwartz (who wrote Pippin and Wicked), and as he sits at the piano the moderator starts asking him lots of questions, how he got started in the business, who were his role models, how does he go about writing a song. Then he sang "The Wizard and I", but prefaced it with two early versions of the song, and told us why they didn't work and why they made the changes they did. And suddenly I realized I was in for much more of a treat than I'd expected. This wasn't just a quickie concert of some greatest Broadway hits. They had four composer teams (Schwartz, Jeanine Tesori, Flaherty/Ahrens, and Frankel/Korie) who all gave anecdotes and talked about their work while an amazing lineup of singers gave us examples. So we got Brian Stokes Mitchell singing "Wheels Of A Dream", Adriane Lenox singing "Lot's Wife", and Carpathia Jenkins singing "Spark Of Creation". As a bonus Jeanine Tesori sang one of her songs from the recently opened "Shrek: The Musical", and in addition to having a few cast members singing a song from Frankel/Korie's about-to-open "Happiness" (at, of course, the LINCOLN Center), Scott Frankel also sang a song from a show they are writing based on the Johnny Depp movie "Finding Neverland". In short, it was totally freaking awesome. The highlight, for me, was seeing the incomparable and still in perfect voice Liz Callaway sing "Meadowlark" live with Stephen Schwartz at the piano. And this was free people! I love living in a big city.

Since this was a special concert, it was held in the big theatre. As we sat down and looked around, I recognized it from watching the Kennedy Center Honors, which for some reason was kind of exciting. The stage itself is ginormous. Maybe this year we will try and see an actual production there.

cool commercial

I can see my nieces and nephews doing this, which (for me) is even funnier.

Yes We Can (eat you)

I'll have a post up a little later about my Inauguration fun, but I have to say, one of the best things about going to an event like this is the swag. Obama magnets, Obama shot-glasses, Obama lifesize cutouts. Stuff is everywhere. On the way to the event people along the route were selling homemade t-shirts and buttons from their porches. I think it is awesome, I mean, why not? Our NY couchsurfer said she had been seeing t-shirts that said things like "Baby Seals for Obama!". I sadly didn't see them, but at the event there were a couple of girls in French Can-Can dresses with a sign that said "Yes we can-can!"

David and I found the best one though. At the Safeway, no less. Obama cookies. We bought some for all our guests (there were nine of us total), and believe it or not they were much better tasting than they look. I wonder how long they will keep selling them?

I wish I had a Great Aunt Gladys

Free book!

Now here is a deal I just stumbled across. If you want to hear some great financial advice from a true expert, Suze Orman is a great place to start. She was on Oprah this week (or so I hear, I can't say I'm in the Oprah demographic). The great news is that for the next week you can download her latest book, "Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan" for FREE off the Oprah website. This book will cover a lot of the same issues that I've been talking about recently, with obviously a lot more detail and examples. I just read it myself (well, at least the sections that apply to me, not having any credit card debt or owning real estate), and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is ready to start planning for their own financial future.

And I hope anyone reading this is ready, you can never start too early. Click the link. Click it!

Your savings account as an emergency fund

It might seem a bit early to be jumping on the finance theme, as we are all trying to pay off our Christmas debt. But with any luck, you are indeed paying off your credit cards, not just making the minimum payment. And it is never too early to start saving money.

Actually, this is a pretty simple post. Once you've paid off your credit cards, your next goal should be in getting your savings account up to snuff. This concept kind of surprised me, because I'd never really thought of my savings account as anything except as a place to save up for vacations or Christmas or other things I wanted to buy. It turns out it should really be more than that. I'm sure you've at one point or another considered your monthly budget, if not down to the dollar, at least a rough estimate of how much money you spend on living every month. Rent/mortgage payments, utilities, food - the essentials. Take that number and multiply it by eight - and that is how much money you should really have in your savings account. Rather than just being a vehicle for saving for that special something, your savings account should really be a liquid cash emergency fund. As I recently found out, having a very stupid accident at work that almost caused me to miss some work, bad things can happen when you least expect it. That eight month emergency fund should be sitting there for you when you unexpectedly find yourself out of work, to give you a cushion to pay your bills while you are searching for a new job.

The first goal should be to get that number where it should be. I'm currently pretty short, but one of my three financial goals for the year is to get it up where it should be. Once you've got it in place, then you can start to think about ways to maximize earnings. Regular bank interest isn't generally that great, especially in an economy like this one. My credit union offers some more attractive vehicles than a plain savings account, so I'm making something like 2.75% interest, which isn't terrible in this economy, but isn't great either. I'm thinking what I might do is start opening up short-term CDs, maybe 6 months or possibly a year. I wouldn't want to put everything into the same CD though, locking the money away for a year. As an emergency fund it is critical that I have access to the money should something happen, and not have to waste it on early withdrawal penalties. But I could, say, put small amounts in a 6 month CD each month for six months, staggering them so that every month I have at least some money at term that I could use if I needed it. If I'm still employed and don't need it, I can roll it over into another CD. Returns on 6 month CDs certainly aren't going to be all that great either mind you, but with a little research it could be better than just sitting in a savings account. And, at this point, when planning for your financial future every dollar counts.

I guess this brings up another point, but I'd look very carefully at your bank right now. We often pick banks for convenience, but there are differences between them and what they offer. If you have access to a credit union, either because of your job or where you live, it is very likely to your advantage to join that rather than the default local bank. Credit unions almost always offer better interest rates, higher to pay you and lower to charge you. If you move a lot, it can be a bit of a hassle, believe me I know. But still I stay with my New York-based credit union, because the benefits far outweigh the annoyances of trying to find shared branches in other cities. Now, credit unions are as different from each other as anything else, so be sure to do your homework. But I'd say, at least anecdotally speaking, they are almost always better than their bank counterparts as far as saving money goes.

I couldn't blog because I was too busy Sudokuing

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, but the Christmas genie decreed that I must spend all my time eating fondue and opening presents and hanging out with David, and that I couldn't blog until after the new year, and who am I to argue with the Christmas genie?

Also, a post just went up I started writing on December 10th, so you have to scroll back past the Survivor stuff to find it, cause it got dated when I started writing, not when I finished.

A few thoughts:

The holidays have been nice here, with no snow to report, so my perpetual Christmas wish came true, although David was a bit sad at that. But it is coming, my luck surely can't hold too much longer.

We've had some new couchsurfers, mostly international exchange students, hailing from China, Taiwan, Austria and the Czech Republic, and they were all a lot of fun. We have six more scheduled to be here for the Inauguration, so that should be a lot of fun. I'm sure I will have plenty more to say about the Inauguration when the time comes, it is going to be a madhouse here.

David got me a book of Sudoku for Christmas, and I'm actually doing them. Such a time waster, but strangely satisfying. I'm not really much of a puzzle person, but I keep doing these. Surely I am victim to some Asian warlock who has cast a spell over us all, because I have no rational explanation, but there it is.

I'm also reading those stupid Twilight books. Thanks a lot Tiffany for the recommendation. I'm through the first two, and so far there have been, generously speaking, maybe 100 pages of good story. The rest is all high-school girl romance mush. However, I am a total sucker, and am completely unable to just walk away, so I'm waiting for the last two to come in to the library. (Thank goodness I had the foresight not to actually buy the books.) I did save David from the misery though, and I'm just telling him the story so he doesn't have to read it himself. One of our first exchanges, after I told him the vampire was going to high school.

David: "But, what happens when he is in the sunlight?"
Me: "Uh, well, he...he sparkles."
David: (unable to speak because he is laughing too hard)

It isn't the worst writing I've ever read, I'm just not the target audience. Harry Potter spoiled me into thinking I could read young adult fiction, but clearly that isn't always the case. But Brenda, Breanne is going to LOVE this stuff in another year or two.