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March 31, 2007: Our Newest Additon To Our Private Art Collection
Little People (Les Petits Enfants) by Lydia, March, 2007 4/1/07 UPDATE: Since I posted this yesterday, a reader has asked me if I would consider selling this artwork because this person’s really interested in buying it!
March 25, 2007: Saturday In The Park
March 22, 2007: SAMOA. THIN MINT. SHOWDOWN. Remember: There’s no such thing as one blogger, one vote. Oh no. Not this year. VOTE. Poll closes this Sunday on midnight.
March 19, 2007: Reason #18 I Should Listen To My Wife It’s 8:32 p.m. I’m waiting in line for my food. I’d be in the drive-through lane now, but that resembled a parking lot when I entered this restaurant. I knew when I went inside this would happen. But I’m impatient. I should have heeded my wife’s suggestion and gathered some takeout from our local Rio Grande. But I didn’t listen. That’s why I’m ordering food here tonight. This wasn’t the plan. It’s never the plan. Nobody plans on ordering fast food as their special meal on Sunday night. And if someone does, he’s not going to admit it. No, the plan was a nice, family dinner somewhere that serves a nice salad and a decent dessert. That plan failed sometime around 6:30 p.m. when our daughter--all thirty pounds of her--pitched the mother of all fits at the home improvement store. Our daughter may be only two,and she may not have mastered martial arts yet, but when she doesn’t want to leave the premises, it takes all the strength my wife and I can muster to place her in a car seat. And, to be honest (as if I would ever not be honest here, but I digress) I don’t think the law enforcement personnel who removed the protesters from the governor’s mansion--er, sorry, I mean the “people’s mansion”--would have had an easy time placing our daughter in a car seat tonight. Come to think of it, I think it might be an excellent idea to let our law enforcement practice on placing our daughter in a car seat when she pitches a fit. It might provide them with some good practice when real emergencies present. After I place my order, I watch the employees prepare food. I notice a sign on one of the walls that reads “Never Walk Past A Spill.” At least one employee assigned the task of preparing my meal leaves the area for several minutes, which is sufficient time for my noticing the car that was ahead of mine in the drive-through pulling through with its driver’s order. I hate Murphy’s Law. The employee who took my order approaches me at the counter. The employee announces they’re out of meat. And here is an artist’s rendering of my reaction:
I muster all the intestinal fortitude I can, and in my most polite voice request the employee to substitute a similarly-priced item. Then I drive home, devour my food, and go to sleep. But I don’t sleep well. I hate diarrhea. I guess I need to muster more intestinal fortitude next time.
March 18, 2007: DBET FINAL FOUR
March 17, 2007: From The Andy Warhol Was Right Department “If Daddy’s in the computer, how is he going to get home?” --Our son’s reaction on watching my oral presentation of a case via webcast earlier this week.
March 15, 2007: The “I Eat Eight” If I do this again next year, maybe we should hold a pick ‘em contest? Choose up to four. Choose wisely. (Voting closes tomorrow at 11 p.m.)
March 14, 2007: Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet? No. Select up to five. Hurry. Voting closes at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
March 12, 2007: DBET 2007 UPDATE! Chocolate Chip crushed the Sugar Wafer, and the Mint Cookie had the last laugh over the Snickerdoodle--no surprises here. But the Shortbread came up. . . uh. . . well, short, in its bid against the lower-seeded Vanilla Wafer. This is the equivalent of West Virginia winning its first round match in this year’s NCAA--if, of course, West Virginia hadn’t been snubbed. Sure, WVU couldn’t win against top-ranked teams on the road, and, yes, they lost eight (nine?) games against Big East opponents. But doesn’t that WVU victory against UCLA count for something? Argh! Let’s get back to the real tournament. Sugar Cookie spun a victory over Marshmallow Pinwheel. Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake (try typing that a few times) trapped the Animal Crackers. Although voting closes tomorrow for the Girl Scout matchups, I think it’s pretty obvious that Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Cookie, and, of course, SAMOA (SAMOA! SAMOA! SAMOA!) will advance. That leaves us with the following ten cookies, of which only five will advance to the “I Eat Eight”: Oreo™ Fudge Cookie Fig Newton Peanut Butter Cookie Macadamia Nut Cookie Chocolate Chip Vanilla Wafer Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Sugar Cookie Mint Cookie Keen DBET observers will note that this still leaves open the possibility of matches between those Mint and Peanut Butter cookies manufactured by the Girl Scouts versus those baked by non-Girl Scouts and/or their affiliated bakeries. I’ve said all along, of course, that the score between Thin Mints and Grasshoppers calls for a vote. And that might just happen in this year’s DBET. But something tells me the Samoa may have something to say about that.
March 11, 2007: What’s The Best Girl Scout Cookie? You know the drill. Choose your three favorites. Click here if your browser doesn’t display this poll. Results from this weekend’s pairings will follow soon. And the Girl Scout Cookie poll closes on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to play along with this silliness!
March 9, 2007: More Big Eats! As expected, the Oreo™ creamed the Danish Wedding Cookie. Fudge Cookie smeared the Graham Cracker by over a 25% margin. Fig Newton chased away the Gingerbread Man Cookie. The Peanut Butter Cookie beat the spread in its match with the Butter Cookie. And, of course, the Macadamia Nut Cookie--Film Geek’s favorite--really pounded the Milano. I would post this weekend’s matchups, but I’m experiencing technical difficulties with the poll. Really. Severe. Difficulties. So here’s the deal: Choose up to five of your favorite cookies from the following and vote in the comments. Or send me an e-mail if you’re shy about expressing your cookie preferences in public. Here are this weekend’s ten cookies: Snickerdoodle Mint Shortbread Vanilla Wafer Sugar Wafer Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Animal Cracker Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Pinwheel Sugar Cookie This weekend’s vote opens now and closes at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 11, 2007. I’m sorry you can’t vote more than once this time.
March 8, 2007: Somewhere, Sometime, In An Alternate Universe, Some People Named Randy, Paula And Simon Watched Last Night’s Lost, Then They Offered Their Following Critiques About The Program Randy: (Laughing, places hands together as he begins speaking). So, Lost, how ya’ feelin’ tonight? Lost: Ok. I’m a little nervous maybe. I know there are lots of viewers, and I really don’t want to disappoint them. Randy: Yeah. I can tell. Look, dawg, on a positive note, you were much improved over last week. Your story was tight, you had a good mix of humor with the drama, and I really dug how you used Locke and the chess game. But it’s still not your best performance, and I’m still looking for that Lost we saw last year. Paula: (Smiles). You know we love you Lost. You’ve already proved you’re a winner. But I agree with Randy that we’re all waiting to see that Lost that we all fell in love with in seasons one and two. Simon: (Turns his head toward Paula). So, Paula, are you saying you liked the episode or not? Paula: (Glares back at Simon). I like Lost. Simon: But did you like last night’s episode? Yes or no? Paula: (Still glaring at Simon) I said what I think. I don’t have to talk to you. Simon: Look, Lost, if I’m being perfectly honest, what we saw tonight was a great program airing a mediocre show. You and I both know that you’re capable of better, and each week, we keep waiting for you to deliver us that incredible episode. And I think what Paula was trying to say to you rather inartfully is that we’re not seeing your infectious energy that prompted us to anticipate watching you each week. Ryan: (Turns to Lost) Lost, do you think you’ve lost your infectious energy? Lost: I have no idea what that means. I’m just trying to do my best to entertain people. [Cue that commercial for the big truck. . . .]
March 5, 2007: DBET VOTING IS NOW OPEN! Round one features matches with the Gingerbread Cookie and the Macadamia Nut. Vote for the five you think taste best. The cookie with the most votes wins its head-to-head match. Vote early. Poll closes on March 8, 2007 at 10:02 p.m. West Virginia time. [Note: If the poll does not display with your browser, vote here.]
March 3, 2007: DBET 2007 Tournament Pairings
1) Vote for the cookie that you think tastes best--not the most popular cookie. Not the most attractive cookie. Not the best-dressed cookie. And not the cookie that has the most technorati buzz. We’re trying to pick the best tasting cookie here. 2) Vote as often as you like. The poll will open soon pending any whining, complaints and other associated snark about the pairings, seedings and/or cookies not included in the tournament. 3) Voting is free. You’ll need to pay for your own cookies. 4) In the event that the cookie voted as the winner should be declared ineligible for any reason and is unable to fulfill its duties as the DBET 2007 winner, the Hamantash wins.
March 1, 2007: Ok. I Watched Last Night’s Lost, And Now I’m Getting A Little Worried Dear Jedi Jawa: Thanks for granting me permission to post this e-mail from me about last night’s Lost. I’m glad you’re still watching the show and I really dig reading your posts. I don't have much to say about last night's Lost. No. Strike that. I do: It stank. STANK. Stank as in Worst. Episode. Ever. The truth is that I shouldn't have to rely on a tagline from a popular, enduring animated series to describe how awful last night's episode was. What I'm trying to figure out is how you can have a Hurley-centric episode with Cheech Marin as your guest star and manage to screw it up. The show wasn't about anything. I know Hurley has bad luck. I know he likes chicken. I know he won the lottery. Yeah, the meteor crashing into the restaurant was neat (but, then, not as surprising as the bus accident a few weeks ago). But who cares if Hurley can start a car? I mean, was getting that car started before it crashed into the rocks the major water cooler event that we can't miss this season?!? Sorry, but I'm callling bullshit. I dig the character of Hurley. But the writers totally wasted him in this one. They also wasted Cheech Marin. And as if this weren't bad enough, they gave more speaking lines to minor characters on the island than they did to Locke. Not giving Locke more than two lines of dialogue is like letting Albert Pujols pinch run in the eighth inning. It ain't logical, and it certainly ain't right. Of course, if you enjoyed last night's episode, I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on it. Later, Hoyt
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