America Voted....

Bye bye Mr. Chris Sligh. Neat personality, but things just didn't click I guess.

Here is my revised list from Favourite to Least Favourite:

Melinda Doolittle


LaKisha Jones


Blake Lewis


Gina Glocksen


Jordan Sparks



Chris Richardson


Phil Stacey


Haley Scarnato


Sanjaya Malakar


Notice that I have not said a word. I am being tolerant, while biting my lower lip.

Coming to a TV Station Near You

Today is elimination day on American Idol. We all know what will happen. A certain somebody will remain on the show, to irritate us for yet another week. This is not my hope, but merely a prediction. The HWH (Humans With Hearing) group will lose out yet again, and the Fanjayas will rule. pfffft.

So, while on this thread, my fellow blooger and I were discussing the Sanjaya guy, and what will happen, and about the YouTubes that are floating about. We also discussed how some of the past contestants from AI seasons have gone on to appear on various TV shows. I came up with some possibilities for the pony-hawk guy.

I think there would be openings on Deedlebops (he certainly has the hair and the dance steps down), the Red Green show (okay, this one is a stretch, but still a possibility), and possibly even the Teletubbies (oh yeah).

Now, I have to confess something. The kid can sing. He has ability, but his sister was better than he was. AI is just not where he should be. And when he grows up, maybe some nice cruise ship will hire him to entertain at the piano bar.

I Laughed So Hard I ....

I turned on my computer tonight, and began reading through a melange of comments.....and I am laughing.

Now, I managed to get over the laughter that resulted from having viewed Sanjaya Malakar's hairstyle...the seven ponytails, thus defining a pony-hawk....*groan*. He must really be desperate to have to garner attention via the old hairdo trap. Anyway, enough of that. Maybe he'll finally go home tomorrow.

But back to the reason for my laughter. Your comments! About our wee possible mousy friend, who may be a Momma, who may be using our attic as the local rodent drop-in-center, so that she can drop out her litters. My Sweetie heard the tcht-tcht-tcht-tcht noise again last night (I always do that special sound effect for the benefit of Skittles, who seems to really really like it.. I've been spared. But the Pest Guy (actually the Pest Lady) will be coming on Friday to inspect the attic, and find out what kinds of parties have been going on up there. Now, this also gives me the creeps. I am not a big fan of creepy basements (you know the kind...the dark and scary kinds of basements, where no one would ever dare tread OR set up a Sensurround entertainment center...or a couch) and I have to confess that I have never been up into any our our attics, so the thought of this chick coming here on Friday, and braving our attic has me a little freaked. I mean, can you say eee yew! p.s. - I will not be viewing this current attic either. It will just have to remain one of those little unsolved mysteries.

Now, when I was little, I saw a bat. It took shelter in one of our Christmas decoration boxes that we used to store in the shed (not the kind of shed that people use today). When we brought the box inside, we heard scratching noises. My Dad peeked in side the box, quickly closed it up, and took it to the back of the house. He turned the box upside down, and we saw huge wings open up to allow the body to fly away. Creepy. ..bats are pretty freaky.

I also hope it's not a rat. I've handled lab rats in university as part of an Experimental Psychology course, but the kind that live in attic are nowhere near as cute, or trained. Thanks Silver.

Your comments about the Label re-rant also have me tittering. Labels on thongs? Gosh, there's not a lot of places to actually PUT a label, so if there were any they'd kinda be right there, well you know where there is. Itchy or what? Can you say diaper rash!

Anyway, I think I am done here tonight. I am also done with Dancing with the Stars. I watched it last week, and wasn't THAT enthralled with it. But I PVRd it for this week, to see if it would grab me, but it still didn't grab my attention, save for waiting for Heather Mills prosthetic leg to go flying off during the Fox Trot, which it didn't.

I think I'm done here.

Nite.
tcht-tcht-tcht-tcht

All Over My Head: Revisited

The tcht-tcht-tcht noise is back again. See All Over My Head. This time, I am not the one who heard it. The tcht-tcht-tcht animal made its presence known to My Sweetie. In fact, the noise woke him up last night (not I...I who sleeps through earthquakes and thunderstorms). In fact, as I write this, he is on the phone with the pest people to try to determine what type of vicious animal is making the noise.

Personally, I don't want to know, or see, the evil being. I can hear parts of the conversation, to the tune of 'have you gone up in the attic?'....are they stupid or something? I wouldn't go up there if there was a million dollar reward waiting for me....wait...on second thought, I might. But, seriously, does either of us really want to go up there and view dead bodies strewn around the attic floor? i think not!

I'd much prefer flinging holy water or something up there, or performing a demon eviction.....exorcising ....of said animal.

hmmmm...a horrible thought just crossed my mind. What if the tcht-tcht-tcht is the same tcht-tcht-tcht that I heard back in November, except now the beast has had babies???


eeeeeeek!

Label Rant: The Sequel

Many months ago, I posted pseudo-rant about Those Little Labels. Well, I am here to revisit that rant once again.

The other night, we were frequenting one of our favourite local places. I had worn one of my favourite turtlenecks, which I had thought were itch-free. I was wrong. It was not. Part way through the evening, I started to feel this little picky itch at the back of my neck. Picky itches are not my favourite. They seem to flare up and then disappear, but they don't totally disappear. They recur and recur, like an annoying fly that wants to have a chunk of your dinner. So, the picky itch starts, and you scratch it. Then the picky itch starts again, and you again scratch it.

So, for the most part. I tolerated as much as I could of this picky itch thing. I even had My Sweetie perform emergency surgery on my sweater to eradicate the nervy little bugger.

When I arrived home that evening, I got out my stitch riper, and tried to remove the remaining edges of the offending label. Do you know that I had a dickens of a time trying to grab a piece of the stitching which would then allow the remainder of the label to separate from the sweater? It was a task and a half I tell you.

Now, I can understand that companies have to get their brand on articles. That's okay. But there are some pretty nifty companies out there who have mastered the art of the picky itchless label. It's like a label that is ironed into the fabric, but there is no stitching or actual label that you can feel. It's like an invisible label, sort of. Very cool, and itch-free....invisible to the touch.

Anyway, I think I need to go and spend more time with my stitch-ripper, and continue eliminating my clothing of those irritating labels, because as sure as God made little green apples, one day I'll be out somewhere, and the old picky itch will return.



p.s. - I have never had this problem with underwear labels.....now why is that I wonder?

Friday's Feast - One Hundred and Thirty-Six

Friday, March 23, 2007
Feast One Hundred & Thirty-Six

Appetizer
Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter? Why?

Peter Mansbridge, because he's always cool, calm, and collected. Here's a linky (because I liked La Tomate's linky.....Peter Mansbridge

Soup
Name 3 foods that are currently in your freezer.

Weight Watchers meals, frozen fruit, frozen bread.

Salad
If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it?

Tinsletown

Main Course
What will most likely be the next book you read?

Odd Thomas by Stephen King Dean Koontz (DOH...and mercis to Selena and Joseph)

Dessert
What's the first thing you notice about the opposite gender?

Now, we'll be 25 years married, and I always notice My Sweetie and his associated parts. But, if by chance there is something interesting to look at in the way of the opposite gender, and sometimes that happens (ie the gym), I notice the butt and legs...then I look at the whole package to see if the definition is spread accordingly.

Seriously!

ABOUT THE FEAST
While our questions may sometimes be related to food, the main idea here is to feed your mind by asking thought-provoking, mind-stimulating questions. Each Friday when you visit this meme, you will find 5 enticing courses for your mind to gobble up:
Appetizer
- a quick, tasty morsel to get you started
Soup
- smooth and warm to soothe your mind
Salad
- a nutritious blend of "veggies"
Main Course
- a hearty portion that is sure to satisfy
Dessert
- light concoction for your sweet tooth

Oooo That Tongue!

Tonight will host another American Idol boot-off. Who will it be? Let's all scratch out heads in unison, shall we, or at least pull our collective thoughts together in an attempt to think the lucky person 'off'.

Now, granted, they all stepped up, and as you will see at the end of my post, I have my ultra-faves, and they haven't let me down yet. But come on...that tongue on Sanjaya! And the low slung halter top on Haley? My my!

We are constantly reminded that this is a singing competition, and by all rights it is, but I don't think that anyone doesn't watch the show. What I mean by this is that no one listens to the show without the visual. Let's face it....we need that visual. I tried to actually listen to some of the competitors while not looking at them, and it's pretty darn hard to do. In fact, it's somewhat painful, and I kept peeking!

Try it...you won't like it!

So, with that, I leave you my Faves and Fave-Nots (in no particular order):

FAVES
Blake Lewis

Chris Richardson
Author's Post Show Comment => Chris should NOT have been in this week's bottom 2!

Gina Glocksen

Jordan Sparks

LaKisha Jones

Melinda Doolittle

Stephanie Edwards
Author's Post Show Comment => Stephanie should NOT Have GONE HOME tonight! She shouldn't have been in this week's bottom 2 either! What were those 30 million voters watching last night?!?


FAVE-NOTS
Chris Sligh

Haley Scarnato

Phil Stacey

Sanjaya Malakar
Author's Post Show Comment => What is this guy still doing here?!?


p.s. - that sobbing little girl in the audience is lucky that someone doesn't vote her off.

Your Cell, My Cell, Which Cell??

A real conversation which took place the other day. I was trying to place a call on my cell phone.

ME: 'Hello?'
THEM: 'Where are you?'
*notice there was no 'hello'*

ME: 'Pardon me?'
THEM: 'Where are you?'
*again note the lack of hello or any other excused niceties*

ME: 'What do you mean where are you? Who are you?'
THEM: 'What?'

ME: 'Who are you?'
THEM: 'Why?'

ME: 'Because I think you have the wrong number AND I think our cells got crossed as you and I were both dialing out at the same time.'
THEM: *click*

Ain't the world such a polite place these days?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Chilly Willy wishes everyone a fantastic Top O' the Morning to all! Wee hee it's here! One of my favourite days of the year!

I love this time of year. Always have. I get to celebrate the Irish side of my ancestry, and that is always special for me. Ever since I was a little girl, my Mom would send me to school with green ribbons and bows. Each year, I get to reflect on St. Paddy's Day of years gone by. Like the following little story.

Way back in the dinosaur years, I was a studying engineering in Montreal, thus hanging with the engineering crowd (a totally crazy bunch). It was getting close to St. Patrick's Day, and I mentioned how cool it would be to enter the engineering mascot car as a float in the parade. It was a flip comment, but someone picked up on it and actually entered the car as a float.

A little background.

The mascot car was a 1957 Studebaker chassis....no body, no doors, no windows...stripped to the inner workings. Sometimes the thing ran and sometimes it didn't, but it was always used at hockey games etc. Oh....there was one other thing. On the back of the things was an outhouse.

So parade day arrived, and so did we....dressed in hard hats and lab coats. We had green streamers, green toilet paper, green everything....and the outhouse was completely filled with beer.

The parade got started. Now, before the floars actually entered the main street, they all had to pass by the Parade Marshall who would review each float and sing high praise.

We arrived at the Parade Marshall.

We didn't hear high praise.

Instead we heard that we were being thrown out of the parade. To quote 'An outhouse has no place in the Saint Patrick's Day parade....you're out!'.

We were stunned. We had more green on us than anyone else. We had high spirits (pardon pun) and were having a blast (pardon pun).

But now we were out.

And the car wouldn't start.

So, we had to have the chassis chained to the truck that transported all of us, and the beer, to the parade, and get towed off the street.

With a little tinkering, someone was able to get the car started again. We dodged the marshall, and got onto another street, and told someone that we were lost. We bypassed the Parade Marshall and got back in the parade....for a bit.

We were thrown out again by a policeman who noticed that the car wasn't licenced (did I forget that little detail?).....'OUT!' he said.

So, we were out again....but not down. We went around another street, and managed to get back into the parade again. This time we stayed until the end. People knew of the university and the outhouse on wheels, and were cheering and happy to see it in the parade. We were thrilled to be back.

All was good.

Then , at the end of the parade, the Canadian reserves were regrouping, and the Head fellow, maybe Sargent or whatever, looked at us and said...quote 'a fine lot of dirty looking buggers you are. Couldn't even get dressed up for the Saint Patrick's Day parade!'

But he was wrong. We were dressed up. This was our regular garb....lab coats and hard hats. Tools of the trade.

I guess none of them 'got it'.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day.....erin go bragh.....

I Missed Potato Chip Day....and Pi Day

Like the pic? If you click on it, it will take you to where I found it. A gorgeous little site really.

So, what the heck am I talking about again? Well, remember the other day, when I wrote about these daily ideas that I get in an email, and I wrote about Alfred Hitchcock Day, because someone decided that the day was deemed as such? Well, yesterday was Potato Chip Day / Pi Day.

I have no idea how that day came to be PP Day, but I'm a sport and will go along. Perhaps you'll play along with me.

Potato Chip Day is not something that I would celebrate anyway. Normally, these little greasy, fatty, artery encrusting morsels don't enter my shopping cart or my home. But, every once in awhile, a little bag of Miss Vickie's might whisper my name. Never one to ignore a whisper, I respond....but only for that moment. Then I am back on plan. I would have gotten that out of my system. Now, it could be Crispy Minis Day, then I would celebrate....especially if it were the popcorn flavoured Crispy Minis. I adore those. My ultimate favourite.

The best time to eat these tasty little low fat snack is during the time that I travel home from the gym. This is the time just before dinner, so I have worked out and am always famished.....in fact shoe leather sometimes looks interesting to eat (and that is what My Sweetie refers to Crispy Minis as....shoe leather, cardboard). Nonetheless, that little container filled with 28 grams of minis is enough to keep me sane until I can get home to eat.

Pi Day. Hmmm. My best recollection of Pi is from my old Advanced Engineering math days, and earlier Calculus days. Remember Pi times R squared, where Pi had a value equal to 3.14 or, to be more exact, 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679. There is also a neat little link that I found which has 70 interesting facts about Pi Fun and Interesting Facts About Pi

Oh, and for anyone who watched Beauty and the Geek last season, one of the geeks could actually rattle off all of the Pi digits. More information that you really needed to know, right?

Zowie Batman!

I am over the 4000 mark on my side ticker. Yay! You sure wouldn't know it from the number of comments that I receive. Must be a large number of blurkers I assume.

That's ok too.

Not much to blog today. Had to work on some HTML for my volunteer stuff, and it was a number crunching day at work.

However, I certainly didn't miss American Idol tonight, nor did I miss ANTM (glad Diana is still in though).

But, I have only these words to say regarding the American Idol vote:

I don't believe it.

Alfred Hitchcock Day!

What's that you say? You didn't know it was Alfred Hitchcock Day today? What's the matter with you? Everybody knows it's Alfred Hitchcock Day today! Right?

Wrong!

Somebody made that up, and I received this in an email, so, because I am utterly idealess today, and suffering DST adjustment, and because my Guest Blogger is fretting about posting, I am going to go with the Alfred Hitchcock Day idea.

Now, I don't have a fancy icon or logo for this extra special day. All I have is a neato cool picture of Alfred Hitchcock, and a list of his movies. Actually, this link is probably the most comprehensive collection of information available Alfred Hitchcock on IMDB

Now, I remember watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and being scared out of my pyjamas. He also produced some memorable movies, and for me some of those were The Birds, Psycho, Marnie (and he always appeared in each of his movies). Now, I believe, Alfred Hitchcock Presents still runs on some select TV stations.

And, all of this can be yours on DVD!

Happy AH Day!

Customer Service is On Lunch Break

Warning to readers! This is a mini rant. Read at your own peril.

Customer Service does not exist in my world. There are no Customer Service reps in my world. They don't exist anymore. They have gone the way of the dinosaur. Customer Service hasn't existed for quite some time. At least such was my experience the other day which left me scratching my head in wonderment.

A little background.

I needed information regarding the type of information that a certain field required. The form had contact information, who I assumed would be able to assist with my question. So, the first conversation went something like this:

"The First Call"
Customer Service #1 (CS1): "Hello can I help you?"
Me (ME): "Yes, I need assistance with something on the xxx form."
CS1: "What kind of help do you need?"
ME: "Well, I am trying to find out what type of information should be entered into one of the fields."
CS1: "I'm sorry but I cannot tell you that information."
ME: *stunned by this answer*
ME: "You can't tell me what kind of information is supposed to be entered in the form?"
CS1: "No, we are not allowed to disclose that information."
ME: "But how am I supposed to find out? I am not expecting you to tell me what dollar figures to enter, but I'm looking for clarification."
CS1: "I'm sorry but I cannot help with this. You need to call this other company."
ME: "So you don't know what the field requirements are? Or you can't tell me."
CS1: "You need to call this other company."
ME: "Okay, fine...give me the number."
CS1: "Here's the number x-xxx-xxx-xxxx."
ME: "Thx" *sighing, fuming, and still stunned*

The subsequent conversation went something like this:

"The Second Call"
Customer Service #2 (CS2): "Yes, can I help you."
ME: *here we go again*
ME (ME): *for sake of brevity, I proceed to recount my previous conversation to THIS rep. I hear a lot of dead air, and wonder if I have been speaking martian language. So I wait.
CS2: "You need to speak with a financial advisor for that information. We need to open a file for you."
ME: *still bewildered, but I agree*. "Okay."

Now, here is where it gets bizarre. She starts asking for my vital information, and account password information. My antenna went up (as did my blood pressure).
ME: "Excuse me, but why are you asking for all of this information?"
CS2: "This is to better serve you. A financial advisor will contact you."
ME: "But I am not asking for financial help. I need someone to explain the requirements of a field on a form. That's all. The field has no guidance or explanation. No user help."
CS2: *air*
CS2: "Oh"
CS2: "I am sorry. I did not understand you. You need to call this other company."
ME: "I just did and they sent me to you."
CS2: "Then I am sorry. No one can help you."

So, to sum it up, no one could help me. They were forbidden to disclose information. They plainly didn't know. So I left both of these calls, having wasted about an hour of MY time, AND not having received any sort of assistance.

However, before I was able to hang up, I was asked to complete a customer sat survey.

*stunned* - why would someone ask for a customer sat on something where the customer wasn't satisfied?????

So I replied in the affirmative, and completed the survey.

Judging from the above conversations, how do you think they ranked??? hmmm????

ARGGHHHHHH!

American Idyll Voters Do It Again

Well, I think it's going to be a trying season on American Idyll if the voters continue to vote the way they did tonight. Sending Antonnella and Jared home was expected. Antonnella probably should have gone home last week, but what's a week more or less.

But, sending Sabrina and Sundance home, and keeping Sanjaya and Haley to make it to the Top 12?? What was with that? (I think I said that in another Idyll post). What program were they watching the past two nights (the past two weeks for that matter)?

As Simon said, the volume wasn't turned up......

.....and the elevators don't reach the top floor.

Today is International Women's Day

Happy IWD to all of my lady bloggers!

This is our day to shine. Our day to stand up and be counted. Our day for us tigresses to scream the Helen Reddy song 'I Am Woman Hear Me Roar!'.
*BEWARE EAR WORM*

So, what does this mean to you?

Too Many Things

Too many things going on....things that are distracting me from blogging. Didn't want you to think that I have run away to Italy or England or Cuba or something. No, no. Still here. Now, there's a few things going on here.

First, I woke up yesterday with a stiff neck. Grrr. I hate that. Throughout the day yesterday, I was trying to loosen it up, but nothing worked. I managed to go to my BodyPump class, which I love, but the class was totally harder than normal, especially the squats, lunges, and clean-and-press...because I was having difficulty getting the loaded bar up and off my shoulders. So, when class was over, and I arrived home, I remembered that I had this neck soother (no, not My Sweetie, although he did try the old Vulcan death grip to try and release the knot of pain)......a little cushion, filled with scented herbs, and shaped to fit around the neck. You pop this sucker in the micro for 2 minutes, place it around your neck, and it works wonders. I did that throughout today, and the neck is much better...even had a good BodyAttack class.

........and CoCo kitty now thinks the neck soother is a great thing, because she is resting on it....*sigh*.

Secondly, TV has a grip on me. Let's go through the list with a star rating, shall we:
American Idol (* * * * *)
=====> This season is totally 5 star...especially the ladies....and, as Randy would say, the ladies blow it out the box....and they did tonight, again.

America's Next Top Model (so far * * * *)
=====> I don't know about this season yet. The marine boot camp thing was kind of strange, and Tyra doing the boot camp thing was kind of strange. I hope things get better though, because I really like this show. Oh, and that Natasha chick is driving me a little crazy. And Renee.....complain, complain, complain. But, I'd like to have all of those hair products...and that pool.

Survivor: Fiji (* * * * *)
=====> Always Excellent.....I am a die hard Survivor fan...no matter what.

Amazing Race: All Stars (* * * * *)
=====> So, Rob and Amber are trying for another million, or rather, Amber is trying for another million, and Rob will at least have earned his share this time, rather than marrying the million. Oh, Charla and Mirna....aieeee!

So that's the way it is....catch you tomorrow night for AI elimination round....and Survivor.....ciao.

Manic Monday - My 2nd one - Blow

Manic Monday Word for Monday March 5th, 2007:

Blow!

Winter in Ontario. Enjoy!




MANIC MONDAY INFORMATION

What is Manic Monday?
A multi-blogger meme, in the spirit of Wordless Wednesday, Thursday 13, Friday Feast, and Photo Hunters Saturday.

How to participate?
Visit It's A Blog Eat Blog World any time between 5pm Friday Evening and Sunday night to discover Monday's theme word. This will be a word with multiple definitions.

Use one of the definitions to inspire your Manic Monday Post (perhaps a photograph, a story, a joke, or a stream of consciousness paragraph inspired by the word).

Be creative, and have fun with it.

Linking back to It's A Blog Eat Blog World and using Mr.Linky boxes are encouraged!

Remembering

In memory of my loving Mother and best friend,
who was united with my Father two years ago today.
Always in our hearts, thoughts and prayers.
Lovingly missed and remembered.
3/4/2007.

No More Tales from the Trenches

There was a little book that I read many years ago called Who Moved My Cheese . It was written in the days when big companies were just starting to become more involved in reorganization and outsourcing (and we all know how that turned out). So, after I read that book, I knew that the moving cheese could be applied at any time.

You can get reorged out of a position.

Your favourite aerobics instructor leaves, and you are not very happy with the replacement.

Your hair dresser packs it in, and leaves you high and dry without a hair dryer.

You get the picture.

Well, the cheese has moved once again. Mairin, who has (had?) a blog called Tales from the Trenches and Other Musings, has decided to take a wee break, and put her blogging activities on hold for awhile, and I am sad. We had developed a rapport, and I will miss reading her stories.

Now, I can't even leave her a message, because her blog is closed, so I have to leave her intended messages at my own blog....*sniff*. Almost like writing to myself. But that's okay, because that is what I used to do in my paper journal....write to myself. Who else was going to read it?

answer = NOBODY

The good side to this is that she said that she would still visit from time to time, and I hope that she does.

We share the same first name.

We share a love of fitness.

We share a home town.

So, Mairin, please take all the time that you need, and I hope that you return to the blogging world.....soon.


Á bientôt....I'm keeping you on my sidebar...just in case....k?

American Yodel

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge American Idol fan (and yes, Canadian Idol). I never miss a night (thanks to my Beloved PVR). But I'll tell ya, tonight I am a person left stunned by one of the results. If I recall, this happened last year too, when some of my favourites unbelievably got voted off, and I was left in dismay.....didn't matter in the end because TAYLOR won it, and so I was immensely thrilled.

But tonight? AJ?

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHAT WERE THESE VOTERS LISTENING TO? They couldn't have been watching American Idol! No way!

yodel

Maybe I was tuned into the wrong show or something.

Sanjaya stays and AJ goes......hrumph. Not happy.

The show had been going a little strange all evening, so I should have known that things were going to go down a strange path. The Alaina sniffle fest was the beginning of the end. Then Kelly Pickler (who I also used to adore) came out looking like Dolly Parton! Holey moley.

I don't know how the rest of the show is going to end up, but I guess that's one of the risks when the public gets to have their say.

Bye AJ....you were one of my top picks.
*sniffle fest*