HA HA

Word of the day

Nougatocity: A heightened yet fleeting state of accomplishment that makes you realize how unbelievably unmotivated you normally are.

Today's Quote

 "If you can look at absolutely anything without at least a desire to weep, then you’ve lost part of your humanity." - Robert Jordan

Breakfast

I book a flight and look what happens

headlines from just this last week:

 

3 Utahns killed in plane crash in Guatemala
Sheriff: 10 dead in Moab plane crash
Madrid crash survivor says plane lacked power
Emergency landing of Ryanair plane in France
Philippine plane debris found in southern sea
Relatives identify victims of Kyrgyz jet crash

Barenaked Ladies singer in plane accident

 

What is happening to the world. I think that global warming is messing with the electric magnetic field of the flying force that allows all things to fly. Now with it all messed up and the terriorist causing global warming with all their bombs going off. The shock waves are having an effect on the air around the world. I don’t want my band to break up. Save the BNL. Stop global terrorism with bombs in the poller ice caps

not a good month to fly

BNL singer survives plane crash

By CHARMAINE NORONHA – 19 hours ago

TORONTO (AP) — The lead singer of the Canadian pop band Barenaked Ladies and three other people survived a plane crash in rural southeastern Ontario, authorities said Monday.

Ed Robertson's Cessna 206 floatplane crashed in a wooded area near Bancroft, Ontario, on Sunday afternoon as he was trying to take off from Baptiste Lake, Ontario Provincial police Sgt. Bruce Quigg said. Quigg said no one in the plane was injured.

Robertson's friend Gord Peel told The Belleville Intelligencer newspaper that the other passengers were Robertson's wife, Natalie, and their friends Julie and Jeff Jones.

Peel, who said he has known Robertson for about a decade, arrived on the scene shortly after the crash and found the four friends walking on a road, shaken but unharmed.

He said the plane stalled but Robertson managed to set it straight down into the trees with its nose resting on the ground. They had to get out through the windows but did not have a scratch, he said.

"Everyone is fine and that is the important thing," Adam Smith, the band's manager, said Sunday night in an e-mail. "That's all the comment we have at this time."

Spokeswoman Julie Leroux said Monday that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is assessing the accident scene to determine whether an investigation will be launched.

Robertson, 37, is host of "Ed's Up" on the Outdoor Life Network. The show documents his travels by plane. He received his pilot's license in 2005 and is described on the OLN Web site as a "recreational pilot." Episodes involve landing his Cessna on water near cities across North America.

This is the second time this summer that a member of the Barenaked Ladies has made headlines. Singer Steven Page was arrested in upstate New York last month and charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

24 oz of Pepsi. Does anyone really need that much caffeine?

New shoes!

before I forget

A good recipe I learned

1 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 chopped onion
1 can of diced tomatos
1 can of beans (white beans, pinto beans, black beans you choose)
2 cans of chicken broth
1 box of penne pasta (or shells or spirals something fun)

heat olive oil in pot. add garlic and onion until soft. add canned ingredients. bring to boil. Add pasta. Cook until pasta is soft.

That's it. It's pretty good.

more fun with baby names

Boy:

 

Cooper

 

 

Girl:

 

Kitka

Places I'd like to Visit in Seattle

Bill Speidel's Underground Tour
608 First Ave.
206.682.4646
www.undergroundtour.com

 

Science Fiction Museum (on the Seattle Center campus)
325 5th Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

http://www.empsfm.org/index.asp

 

The Space Needle
Seattle Center, 400 Broad St.; 206.905.2100;
www.spaceneedle.com

 

Pike Place Market
Between First Ave. and Western, from Pike to Virginia streets

www.pikeplacemarket.org

 

Seattle Aquarium
Pier 59
206.386.4300
www.seattleaquarium.org

Just my luck.

Ok a quick review before we get to the point of this blog. First, I would just like to remind everyone our luck with cars. Then our luck with traveling places. Now To the point. So I ride front runner for the first time. I get on without any problems. I avoided the crazy yet entertaining kid. I had a friendly couple sit in front of me. The Train starts and we are moving along just fine. Then we stop and wait for 10 min. I expected to wait... just not that long. The trains have to wait at certain parts of the tracks to past each other. Anyway, so we are sitting there and i am thinking this is taking longer then it should. I was my first time though so i thought maybe i am just crazy. Then the train conductor comes over the speaker and says "the switch we are at is not working properly. this could take a while to fix. Men are on their way to take care of it. Thanks for your patience." I couldn't believe it. I break everything. We were there for only a half-in-hour. So i can't complain too much. It could have been much worse. what really upset me is we were right there next to the beck street merger to I-15. I could see everyone flying down the clear roads home. I was entertained by the loud crazy kid in the back of the train. I made it home and had a good evening once Liz got Home. SO my advice is don't travel with me. Or maybe I should just say travel at your own risk with me. By the way I am flying with Liz to Washington. I get to take a whole plane of people down with me HA Ha Ha Ha ha...

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

 

One of the nephews texted me last night asking: Is there a book after the Eye of the World? I laughed and gave him the short answer last night (I was falling asleep at the time) But today I am going to give the long answer.

The Wheel of time series is made up of 11 (soon to be 12) books. All encompassing the world of Rand al'Thor and his friends on their quest to save the world from the Dark One and bring balance back to the One Power.

In the beginning There was Rand, Mat and Perrin and they went on an adventure with an Aes Sedai but that was only the beginning.

I was first introduced to these books by a dear friend of mine named Richard. He asked me to read them and I obeyed and found that I really liked them. When I started reading them there were only six books and I have re-read each of them as each new book has been released. Sadly, Robert Jordan passed away last year on September 16th throwing the Wheel into chaos but thanks to Brandon Sanderson who was hand picked to finish the series book 12 is scheduled to be out in the fall of 2009.

I admit, some of the books in the middle of the series can drag on and you start thinking "why am I still reading these" but one finds themselves pulled into the lives of the characters and into the world that is so full of imagery and you start rooting for the characters you want to succeed. When read as a whole the entire series flows well and even those books that you think you'll never make it through are an important part of how the Dragon Reborn finds himself and *hopefully* saves mankind in the end.

 

The following is a list of the books:

 

1.  The Eye of the World

2.  The Great Hunt

3.  The Dragon Reborn

4.  The Shadow Rising

5.  The Fires of Heaven

6.  Lord of Chaos

7.  A Crown of Swords

8.  The Path of Daggers

9.  Winter's Heart

10. Crossroads of Twilight

11. Knife of Dreams

12. A Memory of Light (to be released fall 2009)

 

prequel: New Spring

 

Companion books: The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

 

Websites I check for WoT information:

 

www.dragonmount.com

www.wotmania.com

www.blacktower.net

http://brandonsanderson.com/portal/The-Wheel-of-Time

 

I love these books. I have read each of them several times and I am sure that I will read them several more times in the future.

 

It's time to start again.

 

I rode Front Runner today.

I'm not a loon!

So... I often have a song stuck in my head that my husband doesn't believe really is a song and I am shocked that as a child of the 80's he didn't have the same opportunities to listen to the fantastic children's music that was out there.

I fondly remember as a child having mom put on the "I Have a Song for You" and listing to the good life lessons of "I'm a V.I.P. in my family, I'm a V.I.P you see!" or "Clap Clap Clap goes the thunder when it rains" or "Grandpa pa Grandpa pa I love my Grandpa pa"

But the song nearest and dearest to my heart is the "Sharing" song:

If I had a penny and you hadn't any
I'd buy a candy stick and let you have a lick
that's sharing sharing
everybody's caring caring
that's the thing to do.
If I had a stick of gum and you didn't have one
I'd break it right in two and give half of it to you
that's sharing sharing everybody's
caring caring that's the thing to do

I may not have the words right, but it really is the thought that counts. I loved listening to these songs as a kid, and as I have gotten older I have desired to have them for my own future generations, so after being mocked my my husband this morning for singing imaginary songs all I have to say to him is ... www.britemusic.com ... So There! pllltttttttt. (that's me giving him a raspberry)

I'm not crazy and I'm not just making up songs as I go. For that, I am buying the complete "I Have a Song for You" set and I'm going to make you listen to it on every road trip.

"You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever." - The Joker [to Batman]

Another one down ...

The Dark Knight

 

I don't really know what to say about this movie. "I was blown away!" seems too strong of a term, but "I loved it!" doesn't quiet encompass how much I liked it. So I'll just settle for "Wow!"

 

I finally got to go see this movie after everyone and their monkey's uncle has already seen it (including John.) My husband's friends decided to go see it in IMAX so it was me and a bunch of guys just like the old days.

 

** SPOILERS AHEAD **

If you haven't seen this movie already, and/or you don't want to know what happens then I suggest you stop reading here and accept my review as it is.

 

First of all, I loved the Joker. He was maniacal, he was nuts, he was perfect. The joker was every bit of the antagonist to Batman that he is supposed to be. His pure evil to Batman’s sense of value for human life. Batman’s “one rule” is that he will not kill, but the Joker kills just to get him all riled up. Health Leger really did a fine job but the Joker character is good on his own, he doesn’t need the stigma of Health being dead to make one appreciate his diabolical genius. His mephistophelian laugh was so contagious, I found myself laughing with him during his evil schemes. I was waiting for him to pop off the line of “where does he get those wonderful toys?” each time he confronted Batman and his arsenal but it never came. The fact that he is constantly making Batman choose between saving one or the other is great. His thought processes and actions are all so calculated. I was very impressed.

 

Batman is Batman. Christian Bale has come a long way from singing and dancing in the streets of New York in 1899 and he is a fantastic actor. At some point during the movie I just started watching the difference between Batman and Bruce Wayne. I always find it absurd that no one seems to be able to figure out who super heroes are just because they wear a mask or part their hair on the opposite side of their head, but the subtle differences between Bruce Wayne’s foppish manner and Batman’s straight forward justice are there. Batman shows more teeth when he talks and Bruce speaks softly in that faint Welsh accent that he has and rarely shows he teeth. Then there is the gravely voice he tries to use – Scrat & Z - I also can't stand the smoker's voice – But it’s part of the split of Bruce and Bats.

 

I am very disappointed that they killed off Harvey Dent (even though Aaron Eckhart is totally ugly with that pencil sharpener for a chin cleft.)  I had a hope that he could come back as the villain in the next movie. – There are rumors that the next movie will have Cat woman and/or the Riddler (Johnny Depp is rumored to be up for that part) – Harvey Dent aka Two Face was great. I loved the animation of his bad face a little creepy, a lot insane. It’s sad that it just made such a short appearance.

 

I’m sorta glad that Rachel Dawes is dead. But at the same time it was nice that Bruce had a confidant other then Alfred. Maggie Gyllenhaal was a much better fit for Rachel then Katie Holmes was I commend the change in that character. I knew before seeing the movie that she was going to die, I just didn’t know when or where or how. How ingenious! Making Batman choose by lying about who was where, again, the Joker is just so clever.

 

Commissioner Gordon … I was surprised that they killed him off for a while, and as John said to me last night when he saw that he was impressed that the writers had the balls to do that when Gordon is such a huge part of the Batman mythos. But he came back so it was all good. I knew that somehow, somewhere he would come back. J

 

What else…. Seeing it in IMAX was awesome but I do think we were sitting too close. I hate having to turn my head to see what is happening on the other side of the screen, but I got over it.

 

I loved it. I may have to go see it again and it will absolutely be added to my movie collection. I think I’ll need to install a IMAX screen in my basement just so I can get the full effect of the movie again when watching it at home.

Wow

The Husband

The Husband
by Dean Koontz

 

Sometimes I just need to listen to my husband when he says "If you're not interested in a book or think it's dumb within the first 100 pages it's okay to stop reading it."

This book I plodded through because I hate leaving books unread if I start them. I hear that this book is really good and it's a quick read and so interesting and Dean Koontz is such a great author... um... I'm just going to say I was unimpressed.

the story was too descriptive for me, the names of plants, the phases of the moon, the color of blood dead guy here, dead guy there. Too much!

 

I'll admit that the story was okay I didn't truly mind reading the parts about Mitch (the main character) but when the author diverged to Holly's (the wife) point of view he lost me.

I'm not a big reader of suspense and realistic novels I prefer to live in the fantasy worlds that other books offer. I think this is the first suspense novel I have read since I was a pre-teen and Nancy Drew.

The cure 4 only two hrs. of sleep. Scarlet taught me well.

today's quote

"To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time." - Elie Wiesel

Insane tiredness calls for drastic measures

Breaking Dawn (Twilight Series Book 4)

What a stupid ending. ugh!

 

I'd actually only give this book 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

 

I enjoyed reading it because I cared what happened to the characters and needed resolution... but to get it that way... I really might as well have been reading a trashy romance novel for all the plot, thought and sex that goes into it.

 

Honestly I just couldn't wrap my head around such nonsense (and believe me I deal with a lot of nonsense) to even have the ending be close to good enough.

 

I'm sickened that EVERYONE gets a happy ending, except Irina of course, but no one was attached or liked her anyway. I think that even fiction should have some reflection of real life, and as Bella pointed out in Twilight, "Life is not fair" so why should everyone get what they want in the end.

 

I think the whole book sounded like Stephenie Meyer read all the fan fiction that people have put out there and mashed it all together. I think I have read ALL those story lines on fan websites.

 

That is all I will say about this book.

movies movies and more movies

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - I was so disappointed with this movie I find it hard to write a non-angry review about it. I went into this movie with very low expectations (I.e. the mummy has been done why drag it out a third time, Brendan Fraser has the SAME jokes and one liners in every movie, blah blah blah) but this movie didn't even reach my low expectations and it was so bad it hurt. Good Parts: The fight sequences were awesome battling with mummies and yetis that was good. the story... okay. The characters ... well. Lets just say that Rick O'Connell was fine. The son, Alex O'Connell, was... well he was a better lead in the love story then his parents. and Evelyn O'Connell.... couldn't they just say she had died somewhere instead of replacing her with Maria Bello. The actress that took over that position was horrible. She tried to hard to be the other Evelyn that it was rather pathetic and made me sad. For me the Mummy story ends with The Mummy Returns this film will not be added to my collection.

 

Logan's Run - 197's view of the future. All life has been pretty much wiped out and the remainder of human civilization lives in glass bubbles and to save space and resources everyone is killed at the age of 30. Everyone is born with a silly crystal in their palm that changes colors as they get older. yellow green blue red and then your crystal starts flashing when you're nearing 30 and then it turns black and everyone is killed in a big arena called "Carrousel" where they are told they'll be renewed but really they're all just killed. . . Anyway Logan is a police man who is sent on a mission to find Sanctuary, the place where the "runners" have gone instead of going to Carrousel. Low and behold he meets up with Jessica and together they make it outside the bubble and the world is beautiful and their crystals don't blink anymore. So they go back and save the rest of civilization and they all live happily ever after. I liked this movie. Yes, Cheesy but for 1976 it was ingenious. The people who came up with stuff had great visions of the future and I love these retro flicks.

 

Kull the Conqueror - About 20 minutes into this movie I asked John if we could just watch Logan's Run again. This has to be the dumbest movie I have watched in quite a while I think this movie takes the #1 spot of stupid movies I have watched. Oh My! We had seen this movie (or bits of it) on Saturday afternoons and John has told me several times that we need to rent this and watch it at least once in our lives so we did. Here is the description of the movie from IMDB.Com: A barbarian named Kull unexpectedly becomes a king after an old king (whom Kull has just killed in a battle) gives his crown to him. But direct heirs of a killed king, trying to topple Kull and regain the throne, bring an old witch-queen Akivasha back to life. Their plan backfires, however, as Akivasha is going to allow their lords - demons - to rule the kingdom. The only thing that can stop her now is a breath of the god Volka.

 

Stargate SG-1: Continuum - The continuing adventures of Stargate. This movie was great. it's supposed to be the last StarGate SG-1 movie and it was a good end to it if it is. This movie brought back tons of old SG-1 characters and extras. It was fun to see old faces and who was there and who should have been there. All this movie was missing was Jonas Quin I think he deserved to be there as he had spent several episodes fighting Ba'al as well. So the plot of the movie... one of Ba'al's clones (or maybe Ba'al himself) travels back in time and prevents the Stargate program from being started. People start disappearing and Sam, Daniel and Mitchell jump through the gate and jump over the change of time and reemerge in an alternate 2008 and then they have to restore history. This was great as the show has periodically touched on time travel and the peril that would come from changing the time line. but SG-1 always gets it back together in the end ... mostly.

Mmmm just what i wanted

TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE !!!!

Twisted ToyFare Theatre: Transformers @ Yahoo! Video

I love fruit pies.

WWC 2008 - Twisted ToyFare Theatre: Star Trek @ Yahoo! Video

And today is....

MY ONE YEAR ANNEVERSARY AT MY CURRENT JOB!!

(and I still like it)

Quote for the day ...

"Your randomness makes my OCD hurt." - Myself

161 days

Things I wanted to accomplish before I turn 30:

 

Then:

Own a Home

Have 3 Kids

Be a stay at home mom

Publish my writing

Be a spiritual giant

Learn how to crochet

 

Now:

Finish my novel (I may not ever have it published, but I'd like to finish it)

 

 

I'm going for realistic.

 

A Man After My Own Heart

So there was a woman at my last job. My pet name for her was Incompetent ______ I'll spare the name because if you know her then you know her name, if you don't then it's better this way. She was the flooffy-est person I have ever met. She didn't do anything very well and my personal favorite was her lack of the ability to take a phone message. Argh! Many hours I gnashed my teeth over her incompetence.

But there was one thing about her that really got to me... I mean REALLY got to me was her endless obsession with the ugliest item known to man. Crocs. Ugh! She had a pair in every color and an outfit to match. Need some thing Hot Pink or Lime Green?? She had it in crocs and clothes. Worse still. She had red hair so she shouldn't have been wearing some of these colors anyway.

This is where I first began my HATE of crocs.

Now that we've had that background story of why this article is so funny to me I shall share:

Make. It. Stop.

The case for ending our long national nightmare.

By Steve Tuttle Newsweek Web Exclusive

Aug 1, 2008 Updated: 12:42 p.m. ET Aug 1, 2008

boy, do I know how to pick 'um ...

A Walk To Remember

 

Lets just say this was the cheesiest movie I have seen in a long time. It surpasses the "Chick Flick" mark and goes into the territory of absurd religious preaching. This movie was loaned to me by a lady at work because I had mentioned one day that I had no idea who Mandy Moore was. I still don't. So I watched it because I had passed it by on rental store shelves for years.

 

Spoilers Ahead ...

 

After starting the film I realized that this is a movie that is usually shown on Saturday afternoons on the ION channel but we have always just seen the end or some random part in the middle that really made no sense without watching the rest.

 

This is the story of a bad boy who gets caught doing bad things and then has to do all sorts of community service and ends up in the high school spring play as punishment and he is constantly being thrown together with the preachers daughter and he turns his life around and turns into a good person because he has fallen for her. During the whole movie the silly bible girl has this list of things she'd like to do in her life and boy helps her accomplish many in the course of them falling in love one of her goals is to witness a miracle... well it turns out that she has leukemia and is dying but they get married and live happily ever after until of course she dies and the boy goes to her father years later and says "I'm sorry Jamie didn't get her miracle" and the father pauses for dramatic effect and then says "She did, You were her miracle" and then tears and hugging ensue and there is joy and praises yada yada yada.

 

I could have just gagged! I don't know how I sat through the whole thing, let alone stayed awake through it.

 

Watch it if you want to, but I'm not recommending it to anyone. This movie gets an UGH! vote from me.