Showing posts with label interesting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interesting. Show all posts

5.12.2012

The Right to Healthcare?

I found the clipping below (for lack of a better word) in my drafts from awhile back. I remember I was looking up something political and came across this post in the comments of whatever the article was that I happened upon (I don't know about you, but I do often enjoy skimming the comments of posts and articles from time to time, to see people's reactions and sometimes even learn something about things the article failed to mention or purposely left out). 

I found this one to be quite interesting though and good "food for thought" on the matter of healthcare.

On an article back in November about Ron Paul, user TheSmallAxe posted this comment:
"No one has a right to health care.  No one has a right to a house.  No one has a right to a car.  No one has a right to food.  No one has a right to clothing.  No one has a right to a cell phone.  No one has a right to a computer. 

No one has a "right" to any good or service that is made or provided by someone else.  Claiming a right to a good or service is saying that whomever makes or provides it MUST give it to you, regardless of whether you do something for them in return or not.  Thus, a right to health care assumes that a doctor is your slave, and that all the various people who work to produce the medicine you need are likewise your slaves.   A right to a house assumes that the builder is your slave, and that the people who produce the 2x4s, nails, pipes, electrical wires, etc. are all your slaves.  A right to a car assumes that everyone who worked to make each of its parts, and everyone who assembled the parts into a an operable machine are all your slaves.  You cannot enter a restaurant and demand a free meal, because the cook is not required to do your bidding; nor are the people who grew the vegetables; nor are the people who raised the animals; nor are the people who transported the food from the farms to the store room in the back.  You cannot enter a department store and demand a shirt or a pair of pants without paying, because the retailer purchased said shirt and pants from the manufacturer, so they belong to him.  The owner of the store did not steal the clothes from the textile mill; he exchanged something of value for them.  Likewise, the owner of the mill did not steal the cotton from the farmer; he purchased it.  Therefore, when you enter the store, and you wish to leave with the shirt or pants, you must first give something of value to the shopkeep.  The same applies to cell phones, and computers, and anything else.  If you want something that another human being had to work to produce, you must give him something in exchange. 

A right is something that cannot be justly taken from you by another person or group of persons.  You have the natural right to your life, your liberty, and your property.  Concurrent with these is the right to defend them against anyone who would seek to violate them.  You own your body, the vessel in which you live.  This is the most essential axiom to understand.  Any and all true rights flow from this source.  You do not own your neighbor's body.  He does not own yours.  The ownership is absolutely exclusive.  You may not harm or destroy that which does not belong to you.  Assault and murder are violations of your right to your body, without which your life on Earth is not possible.  Now, we all know that our flesh and bones are not self-sustaining.  Without food and water, we will die.  Without clothing, our bodies can suffer injury from exposure to the elements.  Without shelter, we risk attack from predators, loss or damage to our belongings, and again, detrimental effects of cold, wind, and rain.  Food, water, clothing, shelter - we must obtain these things if we are to survive for any length of time.  None of them, however, just jumps into our laps.  Humans must work to secure the things our bodies require.  We grow and hunt food, we search for water, we fashion garments, and we find or build shelters.  When a person mixes his labor with useful things he finds in the natural world, the result becomes his property.  Your right to your property is one and the same as your right to your own labor.  Since you must survive by working for what you need, you have the right to keep the fruits of your labor, i.e. the things that you acquire through work.  The right to one's property is essential to the right to one's life.  If this were not so, another person could take from you the things you need to maintain the proper functioning of your body, and thereby deprive you of your life.  The right to liberty is also necessary to your survival.  Liberty is the ability to do as you please with your time, your body, and your property, so long as you do not interfere with the same rights of others.  Without this freedom to pursue your own interests, and spend your time as you see fit, your ability to do those things that sustain and protect your body could be erased.  If another person can force you to do what they want you to do instead of doing the tasks that you deem necessary, that person is basically stealing from you the time that you would otherwise be using productively for your own betterment. 

When you leftist/progressivist/socialist/communist types claim a right to health care, you are actually claiming the "right" to violate the liberty of others.  You are saying that all the people who work to produce medicines and provide analysis of your ailments MUST give you their time.  You are saying that they MUST give you the fruits of their labor, while you give them nothing in return.  There are scant few things you could ever say that could be more selfish and despicable than this.  Now, you can try to argue that you aren't really advocating a situation in which doctors should not be compensated, since what you want is free health INSURANCE, but it's the same thing.  People who are employed in the medical field must be paid for their efforts one way or the other, the same as everyone else.  The money to pay them has to come from somewhere - it does not magically appear from thin air (unless you're talking about the central banking racket known as the Federal Reserve System, but that's another issue entirely).  Well, we can just get the money from government, right?  Hopefully if you have read this far, you should recognize how idiotically naive that is, but in case you still don't get it, let me spell it out for you.  The government is the opposite of the economy.  In the latter, wealth is CREATED through the productivity of all the individuals in the workforce.  In the former (government), wealth is CONSUMED.  Some of the wealth that is consumed is used for valid purposes such as defense against external enemies, law enforcement, justice systems, and various infrastructure projects that are used by all in common.  However, much of what government consumes is used for things that fall well outside the scope of its proper authority.  Either way, every dollar that government spends, it must first collect from taxpayers, who must first produce it in the course of their economic activity.  Thus, the money to pay for health care does not originate from government, but from individuals working to make a living in the private economy.  So, instead of saying that doctors must give you the fruits of their labor in exchange for nothing from you, you are saying that EVERYONE who pays taxes must give you some of what they earned without receiving anything in return.  This THEFT is a violation of the natural human right to property.  It should also be viewed as a violation of liberty, since it allows one person to dictate to the other what he must do with his time (given that money is merely a medium that allows people to easily exchange what is produced with their time/labor).  You do not have the right to command that another human being has to take time and labor that belongs to him and him only, and spend it for your benefit.  That is SLAVERY.  It may work with genies in fairy tales, but in the real world, your wish is not my command.  A need on your part does not constitute a requirement on my part to fulfill it. 

Socialism is the enslavement of every man to his neighbor."

What do you think?

Personally, I think it's a pretty interesting viewpoint, for sure!

11.29.2011

I met Dave Navarro!

At work, when a customer pays with credit we're supposed to request to see an ID with it if the back of their card is not signed as a security measure, as we're supposed to match their signature for the purchase with that on the back of the card.

Tonight I had a customer whose card was not signed on the back so I requested to see his ID.

I went to match the name on the card with that on the ID...

and hey, whadya know, his name is Dave Navarro!

I smiled but no, I didn't ask or make some crack about the guy being the famous rockstar - I'm sure he gets that PLENTY!

And obviously he wasn't THE Dave Navarro - aside from dark hair and a white complexion, he looked nothing like him.

Still, I thought it was interesting enough to share! Have you ever met someone who shares a name with someone famous? We had a few come through the movie theater when I worked there as well (I remember there once being a Will Smith!).

10.26.2011

A Note on Parenting

I've seen this image circulating in the blogosphere lately and decided to repost for myself - it's quite true!

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The "Geek" Zodiac Calendar

Earlier this month, Angie from Lariats & Lavender posted this neat "Geek" Zodiac Calendar she found on Pinterest (a site I hear is VERY addicting and I refuse to join, lol...).

Thought I would share!

I was born in 1984, The Robot.
Hubby was born in 1983, which is The Treasure Hunter.
Little Man was born this year - 2011 - which is The Superhero.

Here's what the calendar says about each.

Robot:
(Optimus Prime, Robocop, Terminator, Voltron)
+ Law-abiding, Dedicated, Logical
- Stubborn, Intractable, Cold
Years - 1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008
Why 1984? The year both The Terminator and Transformers debut

Treasure Hunter:
(Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, Jack Colton, Allan Quartermain)
+ Adventurous, Cultured, Quick-Thinker
- Greedy, Loner, Cavalier with laws/rules
Years - 1899, 1911, 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007
Why 1935? The Year of Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr.'s first cinematic adventure as depicted in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Superhero:
(Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Jean Grey)
+ Selfless, Moral, Vigilant
- Condescending, Pious, Sanctimonious
Years - 1903, 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011
Why 1931? The debut of Superman #1, the first superhero to have his own title

What's your "Geek" Zodiac year??

8.25.2011

We have an escape artist!

That's right folks - Jay has become a little escape artist!

This afternoon I decided to leave him parked in his walker in the living room (it doesn't move on carpet) with some toys and PBS Kids shows on while I went around the corner to get myself ready to go for the day. I came back after brushing my teeth and checked on him and he was sitting there, watching TV and playing with toys, so I went to go get dressed.

I wasn't even gone 5 minutes, finishing up what I needed to do and went to go get him to get him ready to go as well (and change his diaper as it was quite stinky!).

I come around the corner and see the seat of the walker lifted upward like it often is when we pick Jay up out of it... but yeah... Jay wasn't in his walker!

I looked around and there he is, on his tummy on the floor next to his walker, playing with the toys he had dropped!

I have NO CLUE how he got out of his walker! You'd think if he fell I would have heard a thump and obviously the walker wasn't tipped over... craziness!

Guess this means he's getting put in the pack n play from now on when I get ready - no more unsupervised play in his walker, even if it's only for a minute!

5.16.2011

Just like Cinderella...

I'm sure by now you've all seen this image comparing the recent Royal Wedding to Disney's Cinderella, but I thought it was worth posting.

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I *still* can't get over how Prince William's attire is soooo similar to that of Prince Charming's! I'm curious if it was planned, to be honest, as I recall during the ABC coverage they were commenting about how he wasn't wearing a different military branch dress outfit and some were disappointed by that. But after seeing the photo... makes you wonder!

And yes, I watched part of the Royal Wedding. I wasn't planning on getting caught up in it, figuring I might catch part of it just to say I saw it as it is a bit historical and I recall my mom recalling watching Princess Di's wedding all those years ago. Anyways, coverage started at 3am our time which is around the same time hubby gets home from work on the weekdays and if Little Man is still up he's usually getting his last bottle before bedtime then too. So I flipped over to ABC and started watching... and got glued to the TV til 5am. Luckily it started on time and I got to see Catherine's 4 minute walk down the aisle (OMG how nerve-wracking that must have been!) before we headed to bed and I saw the highlights of the rest throughout the day.

I must say, Catherine's dress was so pretty on her and her sister Pippa looked gorgeous! Also, I think Harry has surpassed William as "the cute one," as I remember growing up William was always the hot one while Harry looked a bit goofy! William is starting to look old now, in my opinion!

Toddlers and the Discipline Affirmation Conundrum

So I mentioned briefly in my previous post that this week's sermon was really insightful as a new parent.

Last week at church our pastor - Rusty Hayes - started a new series called Generations and kicked it off with the topic of mother's for Mother's Day. This week the sermon was on toddlers and discussed bringing them up and "training" the right. While it was called toddlers, he said it can apply to kids up to ages 8 and maybe even 10.

Anyways, he talked about what he called the Discipline Affirmation Conundrum and how as a parent you need to find the balance between the 2 for each of your children as each child is different.

If you give too much or only affirmation and not enough or no discipline and never say no to your child, your likely to end up with a kid who is a total spoiled brat and thinks the world revolves around them. However if you give your child too much discipline with little to no affirmation then you're like going to to have a child who's an overachiever when they're young, doing anything they can just to get any sort of praise from you, and then they're likely to rebel and go wild with their newfound freedom when they go off to college or move out on their own. So as a parent it's your responsibility to find that balance for your child. Some children are a bit out of control and need a little more discipline than others, other kids may have low self-esteem for whatever reason and need more affirmation.

So many parents today are more concerned about being their child's friend than being their parent and are afraid to tell their child "no" and/or discipline them, which looking in general at society and the teens we have today, clearly there's a problem. As a parent though it's your job to teach your child right from wrong, disciplining them when needed so that they understand that bad actions are wrong.

As far as disciplining goes, he pointed out that there's really 3 options or "ouch factors" that work with toddlers, the 1st being spankings and pointed out that the Bible even mentions using "the rod."

So many parents today think of spankings as child abuse or don't do it, however, a study from very liberal college UC-Berkeley showed that spankings in moderation (ie: when necessary) actually are effective, as they did a study that lasted 10 years and looked at several kids who were disciplined differently - the ones that did get spankings from time to time ended up growing up best (for lack of better terms). Now our pastor pointed out, you never want to spank your child while you're in a rage as your likely to lose control and take things too far, and really it should be more of a last resort and only done when the situation warrants it - if you're spanking a child multiple times a day then something is clearly wrong, either your child isn't getting it or you're missing something.

Another "ouch factor" is the lose of privileges, such as putting your child in timeout, and by timeout we mean somewhere away from toys and distractions where the child can have a few minutes to sit and reflect on what they did wrong. Don't send them to their room or they'll just see timeout as a time to get away and go play and not learn anything. In my parents house, the timeout spot was on the bottom landing of the stairs that go upstairs. My sister was quite familiar with that spot, as they would have her sit there for several minutes at a time (my mom would set the timer on the stove so my sister would know when she could get up off the landing) until she cooled down and was ready to behave. As the kid gets older this would be more in the terms of grounding them or "no TV or video games for x-amount of time."

The third "ouch factor" is to make amends. The example our pastor used was say Billy throws his little sister's favorite dolly out in the trash, just for fun. Well then Billy would have to give one of his favorite toys to his little sister to make amends. If they break a sibling's or a friend's toy on purpose and get an allowance, have them save up to replace it. Teach them that if they wrong someone it is their responsibility to make it right.

As far as affirmation goes, he reminded us of 4 points.

Be sure to have fun with your kids - laughter is the closest a person can get to each other. Be silly and have fun, do fun things together. Have a weekly family night where you all watch a movie or play a game together (we used to do pizza and board games when I was little).

Make conversation with them, talk through stories. Say you know your kid got teased at school but doesn't want to talk about it. Have them help you come up with a story where you act out what happened and get them to discuss it. For example, use their stuffed animals and incorprate them into the story - let them come up with the names in the story, point out that one of them (say the bunny stuffed animal) got teased, ask your child how they think bunny feels. Try to get them to talk about how they're feeling.

"Date" your child - make time for some one on one with just them. Dad's take your daughters out one on one for something as simple as McDonald's for a meal, same goes for moms.

And of course be sure to make your child feel blessed - make them feel good about themselves, show praise and affirmation when they do good things.

Overall, I thought it was a really good and insightful sermon, especially being a new parent who's soon going to be dealing with a toddler before you know it! I look forward to the rest of the series.

1.01.2011

2010: A Look Back

*note* I started typing this up last night but didn't get a chance to finish and post before we had to head out for dinner

Since tonight is New Year's Eve and tomorrow marks the beginning of a brand spankin' new year, I figured I'd take a quick moment to reflect on my 2010.

In 2010, I...

Went to my first hockey game (January)

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Hubby and I attended the Pink in the Rink Icehogs game with my Mary Kay unit as all proceeds went towards breast cancer awareness. It was neat because the players were wearing pink shoelaces and they dyed the ice rink pink too. We won the game - it was pretty cool and I'd like to go again sometime in the future!

Earned us a Wii (February)
I was fortunate in the months prior to be lucky enough to get VIP of the Month on my VH1 focus group forum multiple times within several months. The prize each month is Amazon.com giftcards - the VIP gets a $100 giftcard while 5 Honorable Mentions get $20 giftcards. I had decided that rather than get a bunch of smaller stuff, I'd save up my giftcards and get us a Wii along with some accessories (ie: a 2nd controller and a dual charging dock) and extra games. Nothing like free stuff for just sharing your opinions!

Experienced jury duty for the first time (February)
It was an interesting experience to say the least. Spent a February morning sitting around in a large waiting room at the courthouse with a few hundred people. They would call us in groups of 40 to go to different courtrooms. I got called shortly before lunchtime and made my way to the designated courtroom where they swore us all in and then began the jury selection process - I was one of the first selected (as they needed 11 jurors plus 1 alternate). They dismissed us for lunch and started the case later that afternoon. The first witness kept making references to another case that the defendant was involved in and I quickly realized that the other case he was involved in included relatives of my good friend. I mentioned it to the bailiff and the next morning they dismissed me from the case, afraid I might be biased towards the defendant knowing what I knew.

I made a whopping $26!

Attended a Mary Kay conference (March)


I went to the annual Mary Kay Career Conference which is held in March. My unit went to the location just over the Illinois/Wisconsin in Madison at Monona Terrace which was built by Frank Lloyd Wright and is located right on the lake! It was really neat experience and helped get me pumped up for my Mary Kay business. I also enjoyed the overnight with the girls as I got to know some of them a lot better and really enjoyed our dinner at the Great Dane Pub and Brewery. We also had an awesome hotel room too!

Decided to Quit my Mary Kay Business (April)
As inspiring as Career Conference was, it motivated me to put more effort into my business as I had been a slump after the holidays with hardly any sales. I tried and tried and it just seemed like it was getting me nowhere despite my best efforts. It was a hard decision to come to, but I really felt like maybe it just wasn't for me and after 6 months I decided to give it up and move on. I miss the weekly girl time, but I still feel like this was the best decision to make. Don't get me wrong - I love the products, and the company and it's foundation is great (I've seen and heard testimonies of how it changed some women's lives) however it just wasn't for me.

Got excited over the latest Sookie Stackhouse book (May)

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Book 10 came out in May and having gotten caught up on both the book series and TV show near the end of 2009, I was sooooo excited to get my hands on the next book in the series. Okay, so it was mostly a filler book wrapping up things from book 9 and bridging the way to events that are going to happen in book 11, but still - it was a fun and entertaining book!

Checked out Chatroulette (May)
Here's a detailed post about my "adventures" with this particular online chatting fad (do people still use it? I haven't hear much about it in months!). I didn't have a webcam so it made things even more interesting as not everyone likes to "chat" with a green box, lol...

Made it past the 1 year mark (May)
Something happened in May 2009 that totally turned my world upside down. I refuse to publicly go into details about it as it was/is a personal matter between me and the other person it involved but it really shattered and hurt me deeply. But, a year later, we made it through that. I still struggle occasionally with what happened and the emotional issues it caused - even a year and a half later - but only when something triggers that particular memory and emotion. They say time heals all wounds and while I try to keep this one covered, it's one of those wounds, or scars if you will, that will ultimately just take time for me to be 100% completely over and moved on from - when you have years and years of trust built up with someone very close to you and that trust is completely broken by a major act of "I wasn't thinking", things don't just "go back to normal" that easily or quickly. It takes time.

Tried Sushi (May)

http://www.nogisushi.com/image/Sushi/Sushi11.jpg
Hubby and I both had never tried it before and were curious so we made a lunch date to finally cross this off our bucketlists. It was alright - I was more hesitant than he was (he ended up eating most of the sampler platter we ordered) but I did LOVE the California rolls!

Got a Smartphone (May)

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Hubby got his his a few months prior and while I was hesitant at first and didn't see the point, I quickly fell in love with the idea of a pocket computer (as I dub smartphones). I was originally thinking of waiting until Verizon got the iPhone, but after playing with hubby's for a good bit, I fell in love with the originial Motorola Droid and ended up getting myself one as soon as we had an upgrade available on our family plan with share with my parents and sis. I can't imagine having any other phone!

Attempted to Walk Tiger on a Leash (May)
Yeah, we've tried it twice and neither times were successful! The first time we got her out our hallway and up to the stairs towards outside, but when we opened the door she freaked out and did backflips down the stairs to get back to our apartment! The 2nd time we got her outside and she freaked out - she didn't like it one bit! Seems she got a bit traumatized from outside when she had her little adventure out there in 2009!

Announced Our Pregnancy (June)

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After talking about it when hubby's biological clock finally kicked in around early April, we decided to start trying to have a baby. I started charting my cycle and doing the temperature thing and it would seem we conceived at the very end of May. We found out via 3 positive home pregnancy tests just over a week before Father's Day and waited until then to break the news our families (via "Grandpa" Father's Day cards to our dads and a "Grandma" birthday card for my mom since her birthday was 2 days before Father's Day).

Started Playing WoW Again (July)
While I technically quit playing at the end of 2009, I didn't actually cancel my account until January. I picked it up again in July and a few weeks later I got a Beta invite for the upcoming expansion. I started playing the Beta a good bit, and then returned to play my Boomkin some... it was a love-hate thing as some months I'd play more than others. I've been enjoying the new expansion though - everything seems "fresh" and "new" and "fun" again, although I'm playing more at my own pace, taking my time and enjoying it for once than rushing through it.

Turned 26 (August)
The only thing really "memorable" about turning 26 is that it means I had been driving for 10 years... which means I not only had to get my license renewed but I had to retake the written test too! I aced it, after having read through and did the quizzes in the Rules of the Road handbook the week before. I got a lot of fun stuff for my birthday though - a few books, movies, Wii games, and the super cute WoW Windrider Cub from hubby.

Got my 1st Pedicure (August)
I had never gotten one before and my mom treated me and my sister to one with her (mom and sis were going to an out of town relative's wedding over labor day and decided she'd take me to get one too as part of my birthday present!). It was a neat experience and I hope to go a few times throughout the year as a seasonal thing.

Celebrated our 2 Year Wedding Anniversary (September)
Considering how rough our 1st year of marriage was, year 2 was A LOT better!

Found Out We're Having a Boy! (September)
We found out at our 18 week appointment (a whole 4 works prior to our scheduled "big" anatomy ultrasound) that we're having a boy - Jaydran Alexander. It was during one of my cervical ultrasounds, where they were checking on my cervix length since I had the LEEP done at the end of 2008 and wanted to make sure there wouldn't be complications. The ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know the gender in the event she could see anything and of course we said yes! And kiddo was cooperative enough for us to find out! We're calling him Jay for short and it's been nice knowing as it's made bonding with him already a neat experience - I *hated* referring to him as an it.

Went to the Apple Orchard (October)
I honestly don't recall having gone to the big local apple orchard since I was just a young kid in grade school and we took a field trip once upon a time. It was neat to go though and I hope to make it an annual thing for us. A few years ago it had gotten destroyed by a tornado (there was an area campaign to get Extreme Makeover involved as it's sort of a community/area landmark) but they had rebuilt it just a year or so ago and reopened recently.

Became an Aunt Again (October)
Hubby's older brother and his wife gave birth to their 2nd son, Lucas Sky, in October - Jay's going to have a cousin close in age, how neat!

Went to Dallas, Texas and saw a Dallas Cowboys game at Cowboys Stadium (October)

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It was a really nice, relaxing and fun trip! My college roommate had moved down to Dallas in summer 2009 and she had mentioned having friends from Illinois come visit her down there. I've always wanted to visit Texas and hubby's been a huge Cowboys fan since way before I met him in December 1997. When we talked about doing a vacation to visit my former roommate hubby was game, so long as we went in the fall during football season and could catch a Cowboys home game at their stadium. We made it happen! We drove down there (which wasn't a bad drive at all considering it took us about 16 hours) and had a relaxing time in our hotel, fun hanging out with my former roommate and her now-fiance, seeing some sights down there and going to Cowboys Stadium. The game we went to was the Monday Night Game against one of our major division rivals - the New York Giants - and just happened to be the game where Romo broke his clavicle. It was still a fun experience though, especially for hubby as the tickets were his birthday present and he had never been to an NFL game before. We did the stadium tour too which was really neat as we got to go to all different areas including Jerry Jones' private suite, the Cowboys locker room, the cheerleader's locker room, and got our picture taken on the field too!

Got in a Car Accident (October)

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Unfortunately our awesome vacation had a not so awesome ending, as we were making good time on the drive home but ended up hitting a buck at about 1130pm just as we were nearing St. Louis! It did about $7500 worth of damage to our car we had gotten in early 2009, but fortunately insurance took care of us (yay Progressive!), hooking us up with a tow and rental car first thing the next morning. I went to the ER as soon as we got home just get checked out since I'm preggo and all, but everything turned out to be just fine and we're all okay!

Got My Hours Cut at Work Again (November)
Found out soon after vacation that I was getting my hours cut at work again, this time down to 1 day a week and I'd be paid hourly. Kinda bummed me out, but there's not much I could do about the situation - we've had little business most of the year and didn't have anything on the calendar for the rest of 2010.

Got a Seasonal Job (November)
In light of getting my hours cut at work again, I immediately went and started applying for seasonal jobs just to give myself something to do and contribute a little to our income still. I ended up getting hired right away by The Children's Place, which I love all the cute clothes they have for kids and have used my 25% employee discount several times already. Unfortunately though, the mall hasn't been all that busy this Christmas shopping season so I've had at most 2 actual shifts a week, some of which they even called and canceled on me because it was so slow out there, and lately all I've been schedule for are "call-in" shifts where you call an hour before the scheduled time and see if they're going to need you or not - so far, I haven't had to go in for any of my call-in shifts. Kinda bummed about that, as I'd prefer to be working more, but again, not much I can do about it - it's the economy.

Found Out We're *Very* Close to Being Homeowners (November)
This has been an ongoing thing since fall 2009, as we first went to the bank to get pre-approved for a home loan back then, only to learn that hubby had *really* bad credit. We've spent a good bit of 2010 cleaning it up, paying some old stuff off and it weren't for a glitch with my Mary Kay Chase Visa card we would have gotten approved this last time we went in in November. We made a few purchases on it this past month that we'll have paid off in January so we should be able to go back in the next month or so and get it!

Got a New Laptop (November)

http://www.laptop-enews.com/images/Dell%20Intros%20New%20AMD-based%20Inspiron%20Notebooks_0.jpg 
I got a Mac Powerbook back in spring 2004 and since then it's been through a lot! In 2009 I started having issues with the part inside the laptop where the powercord plugs in not reading it half the time. We've tried ghetto fixing it as it would cost around $300 for the part and labor, but it was just getting annoying and I knew it was time for a new laptop - it was pretty out dated too as far as the drivers, videocard and OS. Hubby got himself a new "toy" (the Samsung Galaxy tablet) and I decided to apply for a Best Buy card and get myself a new "toy" as well, however I figured a laptop would be a good purchase as it's something we (me, hubby and eventually Jay) could all get use out of. I love my new laptop though - it's a Dell Inspirion AMD and it's fast and snazzy and plays WoW and surfs the internet just great!

Waited in the Cold for Black Friday Sales (November)
Yep - hubby thought for Christmas this year, instead of gifts for each other, since we needed a new TV anyway, that we'd get ourselves this 40" LCD flatscreen HDTV that Target had on sale for $298 on Black Friday morning. Since it was pretty much one of the best Black Friday bargains out there, we had to camp out for it, taking turns in the cold for nearly 4 hours. But we were able to get one, so it paid off!

Found Out I Have Gestational Diabetes
For those not in the know, gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that isn't uncommon for pregnant women to get. Turns out, I have it. If left untreated it can have negative affects on baby (such as him being huge/fat, as well as possibly be born with hypoglycemia and develop diabetes), so we tried controlling it with diet and exercise by putting me on a low-carb diet and monitoring my glucose levels by pricking my finger when I first get up and an hour after each meal. Recently they put me on medication to help with it as my fasting numbers were a bit high.

 ***********
And there ya have it - my highlights of 2010. I must say, in retrospect, it was DEFINITELY a MUCH BETTER year than 2009 was... sure we've had a few mishaps this year, but it was like one thing after an other like it seemed to be in 2009 - we had a lot of good, fun times and just rolled with the punches. Everything seemed to work out.

2011 is here now... while I know there's plenty of exciting things already in store for us, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared or nervous as we have some pretty big life changes coming up this year! But here's to hoping it's just as good to us as 2010 was, if not even better!

12.30.2010

Doc Brown is the villian in the Back to the Future trilogy?

Right now, AMC is finishing up an evening-long Back to the Future marathon that I've been watching since about halfway through part 2 (it's currently at the end of part 3).

Growing up, I didn't watch the trilogy until the early 90s when I was a kid and by then all 3 parts were on VHS. I particularly enjoyed part 3 the best as it had the whole Western element to it - part 2 always confused me as it jumped around a lot. I also grew up watching the Saturday morning Back to the Future cartoon which takes place after part 3 and focused more on Doc and Clara's sons Jules and Verne

A few months ago, the Back to the Future trilogy was re-released in as a 3-disc 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray/DVD set and in response, Sci-Fi and Pop Culture site io9 posted an article stating and pointing out how Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd's character) is actually the villain in the trilogy. Pretty interesting way of looking at it, if you really think about it.

Below are key points from the article, which you can read in full here.

He's a Terrorist
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/10/doc-sitting-in-car.jpgIt's hard to call a lovable character from our childhood a terrorist, but he was. The DeLorean was electric but he needed a nuclear kick to generate the 1.21 gigawatts...again, 1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!...to shoot through time. Since you can't buy plutonium at the corner drugstore he had to steal it from Libyan terrorists. He takes the toxic and deadly substance for his own personal use and makes a bomb for the Libyans out of used pinball machine parts. This proves he knows how to make a bomb and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. When they realize he made them a fake bomb they want revenge so they drive their van down to the Twin Pines Mall—later the Lone Pine Mall—at 1 AM looking for some payback. He then promptly gets shot in front of his dog and a teenage boy, who's then forced to jump in a time machine and destroy the space time continuum. This all happened because he was working with the enemy. More like Doc "Taliban Al Qaeda" Brown, right?

Let's face it: He deserved to get shot. That's what happens when you deal with terrorists. They kill you. However, in the process he put a teenager and his dog at risk. Doc was on his way to the future moments before the terrorist van tore into the parking lot. What if he had remembered to pack the plutonium, left for the future, and then the terrorists arrived while Marty was still there and took out their revenge on the happy-go-lucky teen who was drawn into the mad scientist's web of deceit? Or, worse yet, what if the terrorists killed Doc, Marty, and took the time machine for themselves? Plutonium is nothing when compared with a machine that could take over the world. Biff had a shot to run the world and made it sleazy; terrorists would travel back in time and run over George Washington with the De Lorean. If there's no George, there's no Great Satan. But what if the terrorists killed them all and didn't realize it was a time machine, you ask? Well, genius, Marty made a videotape detailing every aspect of the DeLorean. It even shows how to fuel the damn thing. If they can find a guy in a mall parking lot in the middle of the night they can probably operate a VCR.

Even if everything went according to plan, Doc still contaminated a mall parking lot with plutonium, poisoning a helpless community for decades to come. You really think those thin hazmat suits or plutonium chamber in a jury-rigged DeLorean are safe protection against nuclear fall-out? Well, they're not.

He's an Old Man Whose Best Friend is a Teenage Boy
Let's rewind to the very beginning, when Marty first walks into Doc's home. That's weird to begin with: A teen having access to a much-older non-relative's house. Then the phone rings and Marty is comfortable enough to answer the phone in a house that isn't his own.

It's Doc. How did he know Marty would be there at that precise moment? He should have been in school. Does Marty always stop by Doc's house before school? Does he ever spend the night? Doc tells Marty to meet him at the mall at 1:15 AM and Marty's totally cool with that. Later on he wakes Marty at around 12:30 AM to make sure he'll be at the mall in time. He also reminds him to stop by his house and grab some condoms...sorry, the video camera.

He's a loner in 1955 as well, living on the outskirts of town, on the precipice burning through his family fortune to make a machine that could destroy the world.

In Part III they give him a love interest. Director Robert Zemeckis and Producer Bob Gale say in the Blu-ray special features it was time for Doc to stop living with his head and start living with his heart.

Likely story, Bobs.
He Unnecessarily Puts His Dog's Life at Risk
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/10/3-dog-in-delorean.jpg
When he first tests the machine he puts his Dog Einstein in the DeLorean with a stopwatch around his neck. He then sends the poor pooch one minute into the future. What kind of man tests something this dangerous on his unknowing pup? What if it did what Marty thought had happened and it disintegrated him. The car was set up to run on a remote. Why didn't Doc just put a stopwatch in the driver's seat? He would have gotten the same result. The clock would have skipped over the minute regardless. His excited reaction when the DeLorean disappears proves this was the first time he tested it, so there was a chance something catastrophic could have gone wrong. Risking Einstein's life and not testing it himself first proves our next point...
He's a Selfish Coward
Near the end of the original Doc rips up the letter where Marty tell him about getting shot by terrorists.

He says no man should know his own destiny, space-time-continuum, blah, blah, blah... But what's he do at some point between 1955 and 1985? Tapes the letter back together!

When Marty asks about the whole destroying the universe thing Doc responds: "I figured, what the hell."

So it's wrong for Marty to make a few bucks from the future with a sports almanac, or for other people to not know their fate. But when it comes to his own ass it's "what the hell." Really brave, man.
He's a Thief
He burns through all his family money to make the time machine, yet he still has enough to fill a suitcase with different denominations from every possible era.

Plus he upgrades the DeLorean with a Mr. Fusion machine and visits a rejuvenation clinic (took out the wrinkles, did a hair repair, changed his blood, and replaced his spleen and colon) adding 30-40 years to his life. Where's he get all the cash?


Clearly he stole it. Moving on...
He Destroyed the Space Time Continuum
He ruined time. He takes no responsibility over his unholy invention. He proclaims over and over again that it was a mistake and must be destroyed, but he kept on using it. Like a junkie who's always prepared to quit tomorrow.

The Back to the Future logic says time is not set in stone, or self-correcting, and the future can be changed. With each trip they take he destroys time that much more. George McFly, his father, was a weak peeping-tom loser. Biff was a strong Alpha-male, most likely raised in an abusive home (did you hear how much his grandma screamed at him in Part II?). That's how things were supposed to be. That's nature. But it's okay to change things if the results benefit Marty and Doc? Biff of the alternate 1985 world would strongly disagree.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/10/6-doc-standing-next-to-car.jpg
Speaking of which, wouldn't George and Lorraine remember Marty? Marty took a nap in his future mom's home, got his dad to hook up with his mom at the dance, and played an integral part in their lives. And then they just completely forget him? His mom was infatuated with him. At no point do they say: "You look a lot like this guy you're named after. I was gonna bang him in a parked car but then Biff came along and almost raped me before your father got up the stones to punch him out. Then you played guitar on stage and we kissed and fell in love." Also, as Marty is leaving them at the dance Lorraine says she likes the name Marty. Well, not enough to use the name on her firstborn son. Instead they name their first son Dave, then they have a daughter named Linda, then they wait to named the youngest Marty. That's cutting it kinda close for a name you really like.

This is just the tip of the destruction caused by Doc. Even when he goes into the future to save Marty's kids he could have done more harm than good. When he's toying around in the old west he's inventing items that shouldn't be in existence yet. We're not saying Doc is responsible for global warming, but it's a definite possibility.
He's a Big Fat Liar Who Plays God
How many times does Doc say once they get back to 1985 they have to "destroy this infernal thing" referring to the time machine? At least twice. He also says he wishes he never invented it. When Marty arrives back in 1985—alone because Doc was too busy thinking with his Lil' Emmett by saving the damsel in distress (a woman who was supposed to die in a ravine)—the DeLorean is pulverized by a train. Whew! It's over. Everything is in place, Doc is stuck in the old west with his true love, and Marty can get back to his life. He goes home and it's the 1985 where his dad wasn't a loser and he has his own truck. He gets his girlfriend and takes her to see the destroyed DeLorean.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/10/500x_7-doc-family.jpg
Then WOOOSH!

A big f-ing old west steam train appears with twirly things on top almost killing them.

Who's it in? Hey, it's Doc, his wife, and two young kids, one of which he won't let take a pee.

What happened to the whole notion that traveling through time is wrong? That he should have never built that infernal machine? Since his eldest son Jules doesn't appear to be older than five he must have been building it shortly after Marty went back to the future. Why would he do that? Did he build it so he could show up in the future—almost killing Marty and Jennifer—and tell them in person that the future is up to us? He also said he had to come back for Einstein, but we proved above that's a crock (i.e. using him as a guinea pig to test out the time machine). Couldn't he have just sent a letter like he did at the end of Part II? Or maybe his great-grandson could have approached Marty and told him of all the good his great-grand pappy did to benefit humanity and given instructions on taking care of Einstein. At least we know Marty wouldn't try to vaporize him. But no! The devious Doc decides to start the whole process over again, only this time dragging a wife and two young kids into his madness.

From a Hollywood perspective this ending made it clear that if Zemeckis' career went in the tank he could always return to this franchise. But success smiled on The Zemeck and he never needed to make another BTTF. But somewhere, shooting through time, is Doc, addicted to the power of controlling the universe, wielding his infinite power over three hostages he calls family. Great Scott, indeed.

What do you think?

12.10.2010

A moral argument for the insanely wealthy

An old friend of mine wrote this as a note on his Facebook last night.

Feel free to disagree, but I thought it was interesting, very well put and definitely worth sharing!

A moral argument for the insanely wealthy

People making more than $250,000 should not have their taxes increased as Obama and the far left desire. For too many people I believe it is natural to feel that wealthy people are undeserving of their high net worth, and I think that is unfortunate.

Take for example a person that “has” 100 million dollars. When we say “ has”, we really mean their net worth is 100 million dollars, not that this individual has a gigantic treasure chest full of cash. This wealthy individual will only keep that amount of money in their checking account that they need to cover life’s expenses. For many multi-millionaires this may mean that only a few thousand dollars are in their checking account at any given time. So what about the rest of their net worth? Is it sitting away in a secret cave for them somewhere, kept out of the hands of the very poor due to our nation’s unjust capitalist disposition? Absolutely not! The rest of their net worth is invested with banks, in the stock market, with various funds. These investments are to the betterment of our society as these funds make their way to people who need loans to buy a car, buy a house, start a business, or any number of things! This wealth isn’t just sitting around rotting. Every person reading this has, without a doubt, benefited from such wealth, perhaps without realizing it.

Individual high net worth does not hurt anyone. Many people are emotionally turned off or disgusted by wealthy people, but let’s clarify that this is EMOTION, not logic. The truth is that there is no zero sum game here. If this person with a net worth of $100 million dollars has such wealth, it absolutely does not mean that it was taken from the less fortunate. Wealth is NOT transferred (unless Obama gets his way), it is either created or destroyed. Think logically here. Pretend there is a brand new capitalist nation and no businesses ever existed prior to this fictional nation’s founding. New markets and companies will emerge thanks to entrepreneurs which will yield fruits, vegetables, and probably iPhones. As a result, the nation’s inhabitants will have new jobs. As all of these new companies do business with each other wealth is created and more and more people will have jobs. As these new companies grow it is likely that their founders will be the wealthiest, but why shouldn't they be? They took the financial risk to start their company and worked hard to grow their business. If they amass wealth, who could they have possibly taken it from? As this fictional scenario began there was no one for these terrible, greedy entrepreneurs to take money from as wealth did not even exist in the beginning. Yet companies grew, people had jobs, and wealth was CREATED, not transferred or stolen from anyone. This is what happens in America! Companies are created, they grow, they employ more and more people, and the nation as a whole is better off.

The terrible politicians in Washington are the one’s that have power over you. However, Bill Gates, with his billions of dollars, has absolutely no control over you. He can not harm you, and the fact that he is very wealthy does not hurt you or your neighbor at all. His extreme wealth is helping people, even as his investments increase his own wealth.

I see things a bit differently than many people do. I look at millionaires and billionaires and I don’t feel disgust, I don’t feel jealousy, and I certainly don’t want their tax rates increased as this will stifle economic growth. Instead I see their success and I am motivated and inspired. I am not a rich man, but I want to become successful and make a lot of money over the course of my career. Thankfully I live in the most innovative and free country ever to exist. I am not guaranteed success or happiness, but thanks to America's founding documents I am provided the right to pursue happiness which I do every day. While it is possible I could fail and be poor my entire life, it is also possible that I could be successful and wealthy. It comes down to my innate skills and my motivation, and for that reason I reject Obama, socialism and the premise that everything should be equal among all people. If I become wealthy one day it will mean that I contributed to society, not that I took from those less fortunate. That is the case for all people who have high wealth, even a movie star that you “feel” is over paid.

I would not detest Tom Cruise being paid $20 million for his next starring role in a film. Because of him hundreds of thousands if not millions of people would be employed and working at any given time.Thing about the jobs this would create: He has his publicist, manager, film crew, a marketing agency, an advertising agency, and everyone working at movie theaters across the county. Then there are the companies that manufacture DVDs, the companies that supply the raw materials that make DVDs, and everyone that works at Red Box, NetFlix and Blockbuster just to name a few. He wouldn’t have stolen the $20 million. Should Mr. Cruise choose to not accept the starring role in a future film opportunity, all that means is that wealth will have been prevented from ever existing, not that it was stolen and placed in his pocket. Go ahead, single out any NBA athlete, rock star, movie star, or CEO of any major corporation. There are many people that pull in millions of dollars each year, and if you think they don’t deserve it you’re wrong. A person is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay them.

Even inherited wealth is not evil as we have established that another person having wealth absolutely can not hurt you. Inherited wealth is going to be invested which is good for the economy which means it is good for you. Many times inherited wealth is invested in a new business which will create new jobs and new wealth, or invested in an existing family business to grow that company which will also create new jobs and new wealth.

The rich are getting richer, but the poor are getting richer too and that is an indisputable fact. The truth is that everyone’s standard for living including the poor, middle class, and wealthy has increased steadily throughout our nation’s history, even while considering income gaps which do not harm anyone anyway. We live in a nation where the “poor” have a roof over their head, air conditioning, cable TV, internet connectivity, a cell phone with sweet apps and two DVD players. This meets the definition of poverty, quite illogically. And somehow the wealthiest people in our nation are to blame despite the fact that they are the job creators. Increase taxes on the job creators and it has been proven there will be less jobs which means there will be more poor people.
 -Matt Willer, president and owner of a small business


About the author:
Matt is 20-something president and owner of a newer small business. His company, Sinclair Imaging, is a nationwide supplier of premium refilled and remanufactured printer cartridges operating out of the St. Louis area. Considering his company hasn't been in business for a full year yet, they seem to be doing quite well!

10.11.2010

Amusing things that happen at work #3 & #4

I'm sitting here at work, on a Monday - Columbus Day to be exact.

Normally I work Tuesday and Thursdays, so why am I here today?

Well... my bosses are all out of town and I guess we're supposed to be receiving some important check in the mail that needs to be deposited in the bank as soon as it gets here. They said it might arrive last Friday, but they would call me and let me know if it did, otherwise, if it didn't they wanted me to come in today (Monday) instead of tomorrow so I can get it in the mail and deposit it.

Fine and dandy, right?

Well... I forgot about Columbus Day being today and when I was at the Post Office the other day shipping off baby Lucas' gift, I overheard them mention no delivery on Monday.

Doh!

My bosses never called me on Friday so I'm assuming the check didn't arrive yet and that they were hoping it would arrive today... however, it's nearly 3pm and still no mail and from what I gather, the banks are closed today too.

I think my bosses forgot about Columbus Day too!

I'm going to have to call them before I leave and probably have to stop by tomorrow to take care of all that.


Also, sitting here by my lonesome at work, playing around with bursts and ads like they requested I do, I can hear an angry black woman outside screaming and ranting and raving! It lasted for a few minutes or so and then stopped... and then she started up again. (I don't mean to stereotype by pointing out that she's black, but you know how stereotypical angry black women get when they're, well... angry? Yeah, think that and that's pretty much how this woman was - there's not really another way to describe it!)

Curious, I went around to all our windows (we're in the corner office on the 2nd floor of the building), trying to see if I could see where this woman was at. I ended up in my boss's corner office - turns out she was sitting on the picnic table down below his office, right in front of my car! I couldn't see much, as she was partially sitting in the blind spot, but I could see a bunch of her stuff strung out on the table, including a light blue jacket and she was doing something with a bag of Wonderbread. I also saw an older man around the corner, who seemed like he was trying to calm her down, as she was really quite loud! (I could hear her a good bit over 2 radios!).

Her ranting/screaming/raving died down briefly again, but the new neighbor guy who's renting the suite across the hallway stopped by, asking if I knew her at all. I said I didn't, other than I could hear her carrying on a good bit out there! He seemed frustrated - he said he walked by her to get something from his vehicle, and in passing just said "It's such a beautiful day out!" and I guess she near bit his head off, screaming about how she's worked for 57 years with nothing to show for it... I'm guessing she lost her job recently... maybe? He said if she started up again he was going to go down there and ask her to leave if she has no business here and then call the cops if she still doesn't leave the premises, as it's not professional for his clients to have to hear a random person carrying on outside the building like that. He didn't think she was all there in the head either... I mentioned it seems she's sitting right in front of my car too and that I would be leaving in a bit and wasn't sure if I wanted to walk right in front of her like that - I've been checking and so far she doesn't done anything to it, yet. He mentioned if I wanted, he'd walk me out when I went to leave if she was still there.

Seems like she left though - she hasn't been carrying on for a bit now and it looks like her stuff is no longer on the picnic table, unless she moved it all over the side that's in the blindspot...

Ah, never a dull moment! Too bad my bosses aren't here today - I would have LOVED to see their reaction to her!

9.25.2010

Twitter and celeb encounters

Awhile back I mentioned the first time I ever had a celeb (or at least someone I've watched on TV) Tweet a reply back to me.

I love when people who are famous or at least semi-famous take the time to interact with those of us not on TV that follow them.

Summer Sanders' Prenatal WorkoutEarlier this week I ordered a Yoga/Workout DVD for pregnancy by Summer Sanders off Amazon.com. Summer is an Olympic gold medal swimmer and in addition to her hosting duties in the late 90s/early 2000s on Nickelodeon's Figure It Out game show, she also does specials and such on ESPN and was a contestant on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice 3 that aired this past Spring. In the DVD, there's 3 different workouts - one for each trimester you're in - and Summer is 7 months pregnant in it so it helps to see a fellow pregnant lady doing the exercises and being able to watch how she gets into these different positions so you don't hurt yourself. Each trimester workout has 2 versions - a full length one that lasts about 50 minutes or a shorter "express" version. I tried the full length version yesterday since I had the time and wow! What a workout! I felt pretty good afterwards too!

Anyways, impressed, I decided to look up Summer on Twitter and just give her props for doing a great pregnancy workout DVD:


And to my surprise, a little while later, she Tweeted me back!
It was a nice surprise! I never expect celebs or sem-famous people to response back to me on Twitter.

Also, awhile back, I had an amusing conversation with Ambre Lake - the winner of Rock of Love 2 - regarding the Shake Weight. She made a mention of it and I just simply responded:
And then she Direct Messaged me back:
However since she doesn't follow me, I couldn't Direct Message her back so I had to respond to her like normal:
In which she responded back:



It was pretty funny!

And last week, to those that follow me on Twitter, you know I've been hyping/promoting I Love Money 4 with a bunch of others as VH1 isn't promoting it, despite the large fanbase for the show:


Sorry for the spam!

Surprisingly, a few days later in my email, I get this message from Twitter:


Kinda cool and I felt obliged to follow her back. She also Retweeted one of my I Love Money 4 plugs the other night and other people were Retweeting it too!


How cool is that?

Twitter's made me feel special this week =)

9.14.2010

30 Days of Me: Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy II

Another "Whatever Tickles Your Fancy" post in this meme... last Spring I posted what's "In my bag" and thought it would be fun to do an updated one since I've since cleaned out my purse and reorganized things since then.


Starting at the top  left and working across...

1. My Bag
It's black faux leather (I think) and hubby bought it for me from Target for my 25th birthday. I also have a little black and red ribbon attached to it that some students were passing out at Walmart days after the shooting on campus.

2. My Wallet
I got this at Gordman's a few months ago and I love it - it matches my bag and it's got a side for my cards and ID and checkbooks and then the other side zips and holds money among other things. I also store my portable 2g USB drive in here too.

3. Motorola Droid
I love my phone! I never saw the point or need in a smartphone until I got one and I just love it! It's basically a mini-computer as I can do pretty much anything I need to - check email, Facebook, Twitter, blog, read blogs, go on the internet, watch videos, listen to mp3s, etc.

4. Mace
I'm female, I sometimes run out to the store after dark or come home after dark if I've been out... could come in handy!

5. A pocket sized thing of Kleenex
I have allergies so these sometimes come in handy

6. A hairclip
Just in case I need to put my hair up for something, this is a temporary fix

7. Wipes
I got these from some restaurant and thought they might come in handy...

8. Tampons
I have no clue why I still have these in my bag - I haven't needed them for the last 4 months and I most likely won't need them for at least another 5-6 months if not longer... I keep forgetting to take them out! lol...

9. 5 React Gum
It's yummy and yeah... I always have a pack of gum on me

10. A reminder card for my next preggo appointment, some random business card, an NIU Huskie 2010 Football schedule, movie ticket to The Expendables

11. 2 pens, a mini-Maglite, and a Tide to Go stain remover pen

12. Pink and Black makeup pouch which houses items 13-17

13. Mary Kay small compact that holds 3 eye shadows, 1 blush, applicators and Garnetfrost lipstick

14. Mary Kay Satin Hands hand lotion

15. 3 Mary Kay Nourishine Lipglosses in Berry Sparkle, Sugar and Cream and Beach Bronze

16. Round Compact mirror with pouch

17. 2 bottles of Clear Eyes eyedrops - one is for contact lenses, the other is the Triple Action Relief

18. Pill container which I store my prenatal vitamins
I take them daily with dinner since they say to take with food and sometimes we go out to eat so I figured it'd be smart to keep some on me.


What's in your bag?

9.02.2010

30 Days of Me: Day 09 - A photo you took

For Spring Break my senior year of high school my parents took my sis and I to Washington DC to see all the sites and monuments. We went when we did because my mom wanted to go when the famous cherry blossoms were in bloom.

Here's a really neat photo I took of them:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs172.snc3/19947_735327016909_30800316_40852980_1748485_n.jpg

Did you know that it's illegal and against the law to pick the cherry blossoms, break a branch off or climb into the trees

They are really pretty to look at if you get the chance ever visit Washington DC in the Springtime!

8.30.2010

Birthday Weekend 2010

As some may know, yesturday I turned 26.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:3Hutz4TAkM5kuM:http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Anganilwen/birthdaykitten.jpg&t=1
I'm kind of indifferent about 26, as it's a number of no real importance. All it means is that I'm 1 year closer to 30 (yuck!). It also doesn't help that it's an even number and unless the number is 24, 54 or 72, I don't really like even numbers - weird, I know, but it's just one of those strange little things, lol...

I decided I'm going to be like Fran Fine from The Nanny and just stop keeping track of my birthday after 29, lol... afterall, 29 is my golden birthday (which is also the same year as hubby's, as he'll 30 on the 30th of October the same year I turn 29 on the 29th of August - big party that September? I think so!)

Anyways, I mentioned in this past Friday's Flashback Friday that I had to get the sticker on my plates and my driver's license renewed, as my license expired yesturday and my sticker expires tomorrow, so Friday I went and spent a good hour or so doing that.

I got there and there wasn't a line for either, so I went up to the main line and told them what I needed to get done. The girl asked which I would rather do first, and I asked what she would suggest. She looked around the room - there was already a ton of people waiting for renewals and other stuff on the one side while the line for the sticker only had 1 person in it. She suggested I quickly go get my sticker first, that way if the renewal took awhile I wouldn't have to worry about not getting my sticker today. So I did that and came back and got a number to wait for the renewal. I was #83, they were only on #69 when I sat down. Fortunately I have a Moto Droid so I sat around and did Facebook, Twitter and played Sudoku while I waited.

While waiting, I saw 2 Asian girls being helped - one must have been a slightly older relative while the one must have been a teenager, as it appeared she was getting her license for the first time - she also didn't seem to speak English very well or understand the process as the other girl kept having to ask her stuff and verify. Anyways, I noticed later, while the one getting her license is sitting at the computers along the back wall, taking the "written" test, the other it sitting in the row of chairs behind her, turned around, helping her! One of the staff that works there came over and told the older one that she could not be sitting anywhere near the other one while she was taking the test, not to mention there were signs up all over the place saying that if it appears you are cheating on the test and are caught you will have to wait 30 days before you can take it again - this girl was lucky she got a warning! The other one moved across the room, while the younger one had this horrified look on her face like "oh no! What's going to happen?" Oops!

Anyways, when it was my turn the process was pretty simple and the guy was thrilled that I had everything handy and was promptly answering his questions - he said it made his job go much smoother. He had me take the vision test and then move over to the cashier who told me which computer in the back to go to for the "written" test, which should really be renamed the "touch screen test" as all you do is select an answer on the screen now. It was mostly signs though and about half the other questions had the correct answer of "all the above" - I aced it, 28 out of 28, woot! I think last time I took it I missed 3 - 2 actual questions (both of which I chose the "more cautious" answer) and 1 sign (in which they show you the color and shape of the sign but there's no text on it).

In the past when they took my photo it was always from the neck up so they got a good profile, but not this time - no, it was basically a close up of my face from the chin up, so basically my photo box is just a blob of skin with some hair, my eyes, nose and mouth. It looks HORRIBLE! And I actually took the time to make myself look good too, but with a close up like that, it just isn't possible, lol...

So that was my time at the DMV on Friday afternoon.

http://whi.s3.prod.lg1x8.simplecdn.net/images/3421089/sem209_39_large.jpg?1282065018Hubby worked til 9pm at the Verizon store Friday (which by the way, he is now officially THE manager at the store he works at, which means a minor pay raise and he gets more bonuses to work towards), so we took a late dinner. I had coupons for both Chili's and TGI Friday's, granting me a free dessert for my birthday, but since I didn't have a preference I let hubby make the call and we went to TGI Friday's and split the Brownie Obsession dessert for free. It was really good - it's a warm moist brownie with Godiva chocolate syrup on it with vanilla ice cream... so yummy, we devoured that!

Sunday we spent the afternoon with my family, having a birthday lunch cookout since my dad had to leave by 230 to catch a plane for this week's business trip and hubby worked all day Saturday.

It was fun, casual and relaxing with hubby, my parents and sis and my aunt, uncle and cousin who all live in town. We had barbeque chicken and mom's awesome potato salad, plus there was fruit and brats. And we had cake and ice cream too - they actually put 26 candles on the cake too, it was a bit amusing!

I pretty much got everything that was on my birthday list - my aunt and uncle gave me the live action Alice in Wonderland DVD while my cousin gave me Disney's Cinderella on DVD (score! Now I just need Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast on DVD). My sister got me the Hot Tub Time Machine DVD, with the intent that I'll let her watch it with me as she hadn't seen it yet and wants to. My parents got me both the Lego Indiana Jones game for Wii (the first one) and Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 for Wii, as well as "A Touch of Dead" which includes all the Sookie Stackhouse short stories (minus "A Tale of Two Blondes" - a short story with Sookie and Pam that came out last month). Mom also wants to take me and my sis for pedicures either tomorrow or Wednesday too, as they're going to a wedding this weekend (at Gettysburg! I wanted to go, but hubby's boss at UPS wouldn't give him Saturday off and I didn't want to leave him home alone for the long holiday weekend). I've never had a pedicure before (shocking, I know!) so I'm excited to finally get one - mom says they do all this massaging stuff too and the seats have massagers in them... sounds great and relaxing! Hubby also ordered me the WoW Windrunner cub - it should be here tomorrow! Yay!

I came home, hubby did laundry and I took a nap and then we had usual Sunday night pizza while watching our regular shows.

All in all, it was a pretty good birthday!

8.18.2010

I'm part of a statistic

While referencing Wiki to help myself update my movie review blog, Movie Bits, I came across this cited piece of information regarding the new movie The Expendables:

"Though the majority of moviegoers were men, Lionsgate was surprised to find that 40% were women, giving "Expendables" somewhat broader appeal than expected."
Source: The LA Times


I get the impression that Lionsgate under estimated the sex appeal that some of these action stars have and that they forgot that, like men, many women will almost always see something that their favorite piece of eye candy is in!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/76/Expendablesposter.jpg/220px-Expendablesposter.jpgI was one of the 40% of female moviegoers that saw The Expendables opening weekend (opening day to be exact!).

Hubby and I went and saw the 11:40am Friday show at our local AMC, as on the weekends movies before noon (and all day Monday-Thursday) are only $5 and we both wanted to go see this one - hubby for the action and the cast of action stars together, and well, I have a huge celeb crush on Jason Statham.

Being a huge Jason Statham fan (he's hot, British and makes action look good while wearing suits and sports coats!), I had been looking forward to seeing this film all summer as he hadn't been in anything since Spring 2009's Crank sequel. I was a little worried, with a huge cast, he wouldn't get much screentime, but to my delight there's a reason he's got 2nd billing under Stallone - he's one of the main characters and not just a smaller supporting role. I only wish he took his shirt off!

Hubby doesn't mind me gushing too much over Statham and these guys, as he's the same way about Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, Milla Jovovich and Scarlett Johansson.

For those under a rock, The Expendables is the new summer action flick written, directed and starring Stallone and has an impressive who's-who cast of other action stars, such as Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, and Steve Austin with amusing cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger thrown in. It is also a throwback to the 80s and 90s action movies pre-CGI, as all the explosions, fights and gunfire are real - what you see on screen was achieved through real, physical means and not computers. Also, as many of these stars are known for doing in their films, the majority of the cast did all their own stunts.

You can read my review of the movie here.

8.05.2010

ArcAttack!

http://cdn5.mattters.com/photos/photos/2309099/ArcAttack-Tesla-Coil-01-2010-06-02.jpgI haven't gotten too into the NBC summer show America's Got Talent, but I do watch it from time to time when there's nothing else on in the evenings. It's kinda like American Idol, as there a host and 3 judges and people from all over the country have to audition, only it doesn't feature just singers. The winner of the competition gets $100,000 and becomes a headliner in a Vegas show, so there's all kinds of different people auditioning from dance groups, to magicians, to odd random performers and more! Ever since the audition round, the performers are divided up into groups of 3 acts and each week 3 or 4 groups of 3 perform again and then America gets to vote by call and/or text and decide who the winner is in each group and that group then gets to head to the next round in the competition.

Anyways, one of my favorite groups I saw during the audition rounds is called ArcAttack.

From their website:
        Creators of the original Singing Tesla Coils, the crew of ArcAttack uses their high tech wizardry to generate a truly 'electrifying' performance. Two custom engineered hand built Tesla Coils throw out electrical arcs up to twelve feet long, each one acting as an instrument with a sound reminiscent of the early days of the synthesizer. A robotic drum set accompanies the spectacle, it's high power LED's flashing bright colors with the stroke of each mechanically actuated stick, while ArcAttack's six members churn out rhythmic instrumental melodies. Live instruments meet drum loops and samples to produce rock, electronica and indie with a splash of punk and a dash of metal served with a side of pop. During the show, the MC engages both the crowd and the Tesla Coils by walking through ½ Million Volt sparks wearing the relatively thin layer of his chain mail Faraday suit. This high power performance is unique in it's elements and energy, being at the same time mesmerizing and energetically thrilling. 
For their audition round, they did the Imperial March from Star Wars and it looked REALLY COOL! For the round that aired this week, they did Iron Man which was just as neat.

I *really* hope these guys go all the way and win this season - their act is so different and unique from all the others and it's got the element of danger too as they are basically playing with electricity - they really have what it takes to headline a Vegas show. I know would I definitely pay to go see them if they're out there the next time we go to Vegas - the judges keep saying, TV doesn't do their act justice, which I would believe as it seems like it would be a great live experience!

Check em out in the videos below.

Here's their audition performance of the Imperial March from Star Wars


Here's this week's performance of Iron Man

6.15.2010

Ever wonder if fictional characters have real names?

A friend just posted this CNN article recently on Facebook, where it lists 23 characters, known by their nicknames, and what their real names are along with extra trivia.

http://hoofin.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/guy-smiley.jpgFor example, did you know...
  • Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and Ken's last name is Carson?
  • Macguyver's first name was Angus?
  • Snuffy from Sesame Street's full name is Aloysius Snuffleupagus?
  • Guy Smiley's real name is actually Bernie Liederkrantz?
  • The Pillsbury Dough Boy's name is Poppin' Fresh and he's married to Poppie Fresh and they have 2 kids named Popper and Bun-Bun?
  • Monopoly's Rich Uncle Pennybag's first name is Milburn?

Check out the rest of the article on CNN, gathered by the folk at Mental Floss - a strange but fun trivia site.

6.10.2010

Hey! We were there!

Tuesday night I got to hang out with 2 of my favorite people - my former college roomie, as I mentioned in my previous post she's up visiting from Dallas this week, and my former co-manager at the theater I worked at near my college.

We went and saw the movie Get Him to the Greek (which my review of can be found here- go see it, especially if you liked Forgetting Sarah Marshall - it was funny!) since managers still get to bring in 2 guests for free and it was Stimulus Tuesday, where you can get popcorn and drink for $1 each (it used to be BYOB -Bring Your Own Bucket- Tuesdays, where you could get a container filled with popcorn for .50cents). Afterwards, we went and got dinner at the best diner in DeKalb - The Junction! We sat around and chatted for a good 3 hours too - it was fun.

Anyways, the point of this post...

In the movie, Russell Brand reprises his role as larger than life rockstar Aldous Snow from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as this film is a spin-off of that one. Anyways, the plot is that Jonah Hill's character Aaron has to pick Aldous up in London, stop him by New York for an appearance on the Today Show, then get him to the Greek Theatre in LA for a big performance and he's got 72 hours to do it. Well, after the stop in New York, Aldous decides he wants to make a detour in Vegas to visit his dad who is a musician in the band for The Plaza's Rat Pack show. Afterwards, they sit in and have dinner at a restaurant, which so happens to be at The Dome sports bar on the 2nd floor of the Plaza.

How do I know this and what's it have to do with this blog?

Simple - hubby and I went to Vegas for our honeymoon and we stayed at the Plaza hotel. The Dome sports bar is where we spent the first evening of our honeymoon, as the Cowboys were playing Monday Night Football and hubby couldn't miss it.

What's even more funnier/stranger is that the booth they're sitting in in the movie is either the same one we sat in or the one to the left of it, as in the scene you can see the Rat Pack sign behind them to the left and the lights on Fremont Street to the right.

How funny is that?