lundi

So, French, I guess this week. I won't bother with BabelFishing it. Please feel free to do so on your own. Since I don't read French, I'd have no idea what the funny mistakes are.

Today felt like the Friday I didn't have. I had no meetings and only a couple people came by to chat. I've been working on the budget workbook all day and am feeling a bit fried but I wanted to get it done so I can work on the magazine layout tomorrow. I'm not sure the budget's all cleaned up though and I'd hate to send it back to Steve without spending a bit more time with it.

I had a good weekend. Sallie and I met up for a movie, lunch and Costco. There wasn't much out in the theaters so we ended up seeing Appaloosa. It's a western starring Ed Harris (also directed), Viggo Mortensen and Jeremy Irons. I hadn't realized it also starred Renée Zellweger and I'm not a fan of hers. I also worried that it would be too brown for me. I don't like movies that make themselves brown to show age as if we couldn't tell the movie was taking place decades ago. Anyway, it wasn't that great but it wasn't horrible either. It kinda felt like a play once in a while and moved very slowly. I wasn't sure when the ending was coming so it was unpredictable in that sense. Also, Renée's character wasn't all good so I was okay with her (I could hate her if I wanted).

We had lunch at Chevy's since Sallie had a coupon and then we went shopping at Costco. I was looking for an umbrella but they didn't have any. I ended up buying way too much stuff but the madelines are delicious!

The NHL season started in Europe on Saturday so I finally got to see some hockey. I was going to watch the baseball playoffs on Sunday but I ended up spending the whole day watch the DVD I got out of the library last week: the first season of Torchwood. Man, what a great show. I'm not that much a fan of Doctor Who so I probably didn't catch all the references but I really enjoyed the gritty urban feeling of Torchwood as well as the lovely relationshippy stuff with Captain Jack. I was crying so hard at the end of the episode where he and Tosh go back to 1941 and he meets the real Captain Jack. What a sad, sad parting! I have the second season at the top of my Netflix queue.

lunes

I stayed up last night until after midnight so I could listen to the last Midnight Baseball re-broadcast of the year. I do love going to sleep listening to a baseball game. I'm more a fan of the A's than the Giants but KNBR replays every Giants game at midnight so I listen to the Giants. I enjoy their broadcasters too, especially Jon Miller and Dave Fleming, though all of them are good.

I'm a bit sad the regular season is over. Having two teams in my area means there's a game on almost every night. I don't get that much hockey coverage especially with the NHL not being on ESPN anymore. I do get the NHL channel now though so I get to watch the Canadian hockey shows. That's almost as good. I should see if they're ramping up to the season with any preview shows or training camp reports. I bet they are.

I wonder how soon I can sign up for NHL Center Ice. I had purchased it a couple seasons ago and when baseball season started in the spring I got to watch baseball for free. The two packages share channels in my system. Somehow the channels never got turned off. I made the mistake of actually ordering Center Ice last season and they found out I was getting Extra Innings for free so this baseball season I was blocked out. I didn't need it this summer anyway with my favorite pitcher not playing anymore and both the A's and Giants on all the time.

I'm watching Monday Night Football right now and I love HD but I really don't need to be looking at some guy's eye injury that closely. Thanks. It's just gross.

As a special bonus, I'm translating this week's posts into Spanish using Babel Fish. Enjoy the fun mistakes!

No me fui a la cama anoche hasta después de medianoche así que podría escuchar la retransmisión de medianoche pasada del béisbol del año. Amo el ir a dormir escuchando un juego de béisbol. Soy más un ventilador del A' s que el Giants pero KNBR juega de nuevo cada juego de Giants en la medianoche así que escucho el Giants. Gozo sus locutores también, especialmente de Jon Miller y de Dave Fleming, aunque todos son buenos.

Soy un pedacito triste la temporada he terminado. Tener dos equipos en mis medios del área allí es un juego en casi cada noche. No consigo a eso mucha cobertura del hockey especialmente con el NHL que no está en ESPN más. Consigo el NHL ahora acanalo sin embargo así que consigo mirar las demostraciones canadienses del hockey. That' s casi como bueno. Debo ver si ramping hasta la estación con cualesquiera demostraciones de la inspección previo o informes del campo de entrenamiento. Aposté que son.

Me pregunto cuando puedo firmar para arriba para el hielo de centro del NHL. Lo compré un par hace estaciones y cuando la estación de béisbol comenzó en el resorte yo conseguí mirar el béisbol para libre. Los dos paquetes comparten los canales en mi sistema. Los canales nunca consiguieron de alguna manera apagados. Incurrí en la equivocación realmente de pedir el hielo de centro la estación pasada y encontraron que salía los turnos adicionales para la esta de béisbol estación libre así que que me bloquearon. No la necesité este verano de todos modos con mi jarra preferida que no jugaba más y ambos los A' s y Giants encendido todo el tiempo.

Estoy mirando el balompié de la noche de lunes ahora y amo HD pero no necesito realmente mirar alguÌ�n guy' lesión de ojo de s que de cerca. Gracias. Es apenas gruesa.

Como prima especial, estoy traduciendo los postes durante esta semana a español usando Babelfish. ¡Disfrute de los errores de la diversión!

Thursday

Today has been a bit crazy with coming in late from my eye appointment and having to process payroll and get a cash flow report done for our Board Treasurer. Tomorrow morning we're having the first monthly conference call with her since she started in this role. It's one of those things that I don't think I need to be involved in but my boss likes to get me involved in. It's not like he can't answer any questions I can (and more).

So, new glasses. I have to say I love my new optometrist. She is awesome. We're the same age even. She went to see Journey last night so was tired and husky-voiced. She answered all my questions and didn't mind me asking them. They took a digital photo of my retinas which looked super healthy. Now we have a baseline to check against for the future. It turns out that my prescription actually has decreased a bit in power since the last time I had an exam (which was over two years ago). Dr. Atkinson said that that is typical and normal for someone my age with myopia.

I picked out some new frames that are half rimless. I was thinking I wanted metal frames all around but this will be better since I've been wearing rimless ones for so long. I'm no girly girl who likes patterns and pretty things much but the frames I picked have a subtle pattern at the corners near the hinges. They're by Sigrid Olson (SO116 in graphite).

We had a bit of a kerfluffle with our internet service today. Someone made a change on the router and, whoops! we were all less productive for awhile. I actually got a bit scared because I do payroll online. I actually could've waited and done it tomorrow, I suppose. It has to be done two days before payday which is Tuesday. We pay once a month on the last business day.

I got a call from my credit card company yesterday asking me to confirm some recent charges. Turns out someone had gotten a hold of my card number and was somehow using it to make purchases at Office Depot and Wal-Mart. I had to use my ATM card to pay for my glasses this morning since they cancelled my Visa. Good thing I didn't fall in love with some fancy designer frames. Actually, I was surprise how reasonably priced the designer frames were. I really liked some Juicy Couture ones that were less than $200 until I saw their little label on the temple. No, thanks. The most expense ones I looked at were at a bit over $300 (Calvin Klein). The two I ended up choosing between were $135 (Revlon) and the $150 ones I got.

I did get to the library before my appointment so got the books. I can't wait to sit down and start reading them. I'm on a romance kick right now, specifically Regency romances. I checked out a bunch of eBooks but then had to reserve some actual physical books to fill in the holes of series that weren't completely available electronically.

Were you sad that Ted McGinley got eliminated from Dancing? Me, either. Good riddance. Survivor starts tonight. They say it's going to be on in HD but all the ads I've seen have not been. If they mess with the proper proportions I'll have to watch it in regular definition on the regular channel. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Wednesday

My boss works at home on Wednesdays so it's a free day for me. Well, not really but sometimes it feels like that. Not that he's always looking over my shoulder or anything. But I don't have to worry about it if I'm surfing the web for iCal calendars for my favorite hockey teams.

I really should stop getting distracting by new software. I just wanted to provide a bit of support to our IT guy since he's the only one who really knows how to use iCal and it's dragging him down a bit. Trying to persuade people that switching is a good thing is hard. Nothing will be the same so we have to find out what's good about it and try to ignore what we'll be missing.

Today was the monthly meeting of what we call the Money Squad. It includes the people most involved in dealing with the nitty gritty of incoming funds. Because we enter every check, money order and credit card charge into our main database, we often deal with issues related to how information is entered, not just money-related items. It's a good place to work out the best way of collecting and tracking that info. Not only am I involved in the finance part of the equation, but I'm also the resident FileMaker expert. The two go pretty well together for me but I wish I had more time to really concentrate on making the database the most functional it could be.

I just checked my library account and 5 of the 9 items I have on hold are ready to be picked up, including a book that wins my Best Title Ever award, By Schism Rent Asunder. Too bad the library would be closed by the time I'd get there. I wish they were open until 8 every night instead of just Mondays and Tuesdays. I guess I should be happy for that much. Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow before my eye appointment. It's at 10:30 and the library opens at 10.

Yes, I'm finally getting my eyes checked and getting new glasses. We changed insurance two years ago and I never made the effort of finding an optometrist. I used to just go down the block to Site for Sore Eyes. But now our insurance doesn't cover them. The real reason I'm getting new glasses is that mine are about to break. They're rimless and there are big cracks radiating out from the holes they drilled to attach the nosepiece. I'm afraid they're going to fall apart at any minute. I'm still seeing great so I don't think my prescription will need changing much.

Who was sad that Jeffrey was eliminated from Dancing last night? You? You? You? Anyone? I didn't think so. I'm definitely still loving Lance and Lacey with the blond kids a second fave. I have no prediction who will be gone tonight. I hope it's not Mark and Kim only because he's hot and I like how he dances with his mouth open so much!

Tuesday

Wasn't Dancing with the Stars awesome last night? I just have so many favorites to choose from. Should I be for the two blond kids, Cody and Julianne? Or Kim and Mark? Or Brooke and Derek? Hmmm, I liked them all but my favorite last night had to be Lance and Lacey. I loved her on So You Think You Can Dance.

I got distracted today by reading about FileMaker Pro. We've been limping along with FMP 6 for many years because it's such a huge cash investment to upgrade. I think we'll still need to do it even if we choose to move our main contacts database to another system. While reading about FileMaker Pro 9 and doing the tutorial, I felt a bit sick to my stomach as I discovered all the added functionality and fixes they've built in over the last few upgrades. My job would've been much easier if we had upgraded and converted a few years ago.

I really shouldn't be working on FileMaker anyway. I still have Peachtree to conquer and July and August bookkeeping to finalize. I'm late going on my bookkeeping because of the audit and switching over to Peachtree. I'm very close though.

Another distraction is our transition to using iCal for our office calendar. Some of it is good but there will be plenty of things to miss from our Now Up to Date system. My pet peeve of iCal so far is that in Month view you can't scroll week to week, you're stuck seeing the entire month no matter what day it is in the month. For example, today is the 22nd so I'm only allowed to see one week ahead though I can see three weeks behind. That's not very helpful.

I'm sure you've all been wondering if Enid did discover her husband wasn't really her husband and he wasn't. He was his cousin! She ended up with him anyway once she discovered her estranged wastrel of a husband had died in the explosion that damaged the laird. Now I'm wondering when Caroline will discover that Jude, Lord Huntingdon is actually a spy instead of the fop he appears to be.

TV Updates

Dancing with the Stars
I’m having trouble getting behind any of the contestants this season. It was quite disappointing to see that Julianne was paired with that creep Adam Carolla. He just doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously enough for them to improve. They’ll be gone sooner rather than later I expect. Kristi and Mark are by far the best this year but she seems a bit dead in the face to me. I hope she can kick it into another gear.

American Idol
If David Cook would shave more often, I would get behind him 100%. His style of music is right up my alley. I have really enjoyed his performances. I really like Carly as well. I was so worried that week she was in the bottom. And I don’t care what clothes she’s wearing, Simon. I have absolutely no use for Kristy Lee. She should’ve been out of there a while ago. I think the most impressive this week was Michael Johns. His performance was spot-on and he’s just so hot.

Survivor
Can you say boring? Is anyone still watching this show? Does anyone still care? I’m just tuning in for Jeff at this point.

Deal or No Deal
After all the excitement with the Million Dollar Mission, things have quieted down over Howie’s way. This week a contestant was offered a family vacation but was required to say goodbye to one family member each time she said No Deal. Good thing she had some in-laws and a niece to choose. I love it when people go a long way into the game but if I were giving advice, I’d say as soon as the offer get close to a quarter million, take it and run.

Ace of Cakes
My new favorite DVR recording is FoodTV’s cake meisters at Charm City Cakes. Mary Alice is too cool to be real and the other employees in the bakery are characters right out of your favorite funny novel. Geof has to be my fave though for his understated style and amazing aptitude in creating architectural masterpieces out of sugary foodstuff.

Most Satisfying

That had to have been the most satisfying conclusion to a Project Runway season ever. I loved Christian from the start and was so so happy to see him win. His garments were amazing even with all the black. He really lucked out that Victoria Beckham was the guest judge because she loved loved loved him. I hope she does wear him sometime. What a coup that'd be for him.

I was sad to see that Jillian didn't come through. Her stuff was terrific separately but it was kind of all over the place. I'm sure she'll find success though; she is so talented. I especially love her coats.

I was never a big fan of Rami and when Tim visited him on the next-to-last episode the mustard color of some of his designs was so scary. I noticed that none of them made his final collection but I agreed with the judges that the colors he did choose were questionable. I didn't really like some of his dresses either. It's just not to my taste.

I'm kinda sad this season of PR is over. I guess I'll just have to hope that one of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars will strike my fancy. This season's crowd doesn't look too promising.

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you're excited about the new Survivor! The series starts February 7 with a new Fans vs. Favorites format.

I was looking forward to this season until I saw that Jonny Fairplay is one of the "favorites" then I wasn't so sure I even wanted to watch it. I can only hope that he gets voted off early and doesn't make the jury so I don't have to see his smarmy face very long. Perusing the list of returning castaways makes me wonder whose favorites they are. Certainly not any of mine.

The most intriguing fan just from reading a few bios on cbs.com is Chet. He describes himself as "magical" and is a pageant coach for Miss America!

TV for Tonight

Project Runway

You know it's not gonna last long when the designers are excited about a challenge. You can just sense that soon Tim is going to be gathering around the designers to throw them for a loop. Chris was so thrilled about creating a look inspired by a hair style. Plus he was partnered with his mini-me, Christian. This challenge was right up their alley. Their avant garde look was amazing. I was a bit surprised by their choice of color. It wasn't really that pretty, you could even say boring. No one was happy about having to come up with a ready-to-wear version but C&C did an okay job. I was happy to see Christian win, especially after his scare last week.

I found it very painful to watch Victorya and Jillian try to work together (V kinda gives me the willies), but their final product was awesome. Jillian's coat was my favorite creation of this season so far. Pairing a satiny punk trench with riding boots and jodhpurs was inspired. Of the last-minute, surprise ready-to-wear dresses, I think Sweet P's was the best of the lot. Rami needs to lighten up on her.

Ellen DeGeneres Show

Poor Ellen. She's sick with a cold but she's still doing her show. For her monologue (currently sans writers), she stretched out on a sofa with an afghan and had a couple of her audience members dance around the set since she couldn't.

In one of the oddest segments I've see on her show, a crazy guy with a brush in each hand (then later with no brushes at all) slapped various colors of paint on a huge rotating canvas all the while dancing to some tunes. At the end he flipped the painting 180º and all of a sudden it became Ray Charles. They got some great reaction shots of the disbelieving audience as they rose in a standing ovation. I guess he's huge on YouTube.

Tonight on My Telly

American Idol: Dallas Auditions

I have a new favorite for Hollywood Week: Kyle, the Politician, with his red tie and adorable smile and curly brown hair. Right, that Simon is confusing sometimes. I couldn't believe he immediately said yes to this college boy. I guess what he admires is when people are themselves and Kyle was genuine and really didn't have that bad a voice.

Oh, dear. The teaser for this commercial break just made me pee my pants. A guy in a wig and floral print says, "Just give it a try. Pants can be restricting." Yes, you guessed it, a man in a dress. Can't wait to see Simon's reaction to this guy in pearls... .... .... ... Rats, he was just part of a boys-as-girls montage. Oh, well.

Wow, there's a guy from Edwardsville, Illinois, auditioning in Dallas. The rocker with eyeliner. Oof, he's horrible. Plus he has a really fake tan. The judges vote no.

Man, I love those montages when they have everyone singing the same song. Of course, since we're in Dallas, they're singing Kelly Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone. Such funny editing.

Deal or No Deal

Awhile back Howie was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and they showed a clip of her guest spot on DoND. Well, tonight was that episode. Strangely enough on Ellen's show today I didn't hear mention of it. Maybe I just missed it. Sometimes when the heater's running it's hard to hear.

Like I said on Monday, Howie's on a Million Dollar Mission so tonight's contestant has seven cases each containing one million dollars. Let's play!

The case models come down the stairs but there's one spot missing so Howie has to call out for the last model and Ellen comes out (so to speak). She's wearing a green, sparkly, spaghetti strap dress. Don't have a heart attack! She's also wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and black trousers and sneakers. Of course. Take a deep breath. When Howie starts explaining the Million$Mission, Ellen has to sit down on the stairs and call her mom. While they're taping!

Okay, on with the game.

1. Round 1: My first deal is $55k and Shaquilla, after sadly opening two million-dollar cases, gets a record-breaking first offer of $145k. No deal! *
2. Round 2: Another million-dollar case exposed for our contestant, but her offer goes to $166k. Mine dipped slightly to $49k. No deal!
3. Round 3: Ellen has now removed her dress and left the stairs to stand with the supporters. I guess the stage manager couldn't let her case remain un-modeled so they brought out a replacement model. But then the contestant chose her case (why?) so Ellen ran back to open it. She gave loads of different hilarious faces and finally opened the $300 case, then left (bye, Ellen!). My offer went up to $67k and after opening another million-dollar case, Shaquilla's offer went to $181k. No deal!
   
4. Round 4: Man, another million-dollar case gone for our contestant. Her offer goes to $197k. I still have my top two cases, so my offer increases to $78k. Two cases to open in the next round. I think she should take the deal but she doesn't. I'm refusing mine too. No deal!
   
5. Round 5: Ouch, my million is gone and my offer drops to $56k. Shaquilla opens both her remaining million-dollar cases. I told her! Her offer plummets $15k. Her highest case left is $75k. No deal!
   
6. Round 6: S's offer: $18k. My offer: $67k. No deal!
   
7. Round 7: S's offer: $27k. My offer: $107,730. Do I risk one more round? Hell yeah. No deal!
   
8. Round 8: Paid off for me. My offer is $154k. I gonna take it. Shaquilla's offer went to $36k. Everyone's telling her to take it. So she does. Deal!
   

Did I have the $750k in my case? Nope. Surprisingly enough we both had the $25,000. So we both made good deals. Tune in Monday for eight cases filled up with one million dollars. Should be fun.

*OMG, did I just see a Knight Rider promo??!! Get out! I will be all over that show.

Tonight on My TV

Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann

Ooo, I'm so glad my two faves were picked by Bruno. I did so want to root for his team. I admire Carrie Ann but I just luuuv Bruno. Zack is my favorite guy. He's got it all. He's good looking but not too pretty. He can really sing and he's got the moves. Bruno also picked my favorite girl, Kelsey. She's the one who came to auditions with her two friends both of whom didn't make it into the top 14. She's a really strong dancer and has a lovely husky voice. Bruno got to go first for the last two and picked my other favorite guy, Phillip. Carrie Ann had earlier picked my second favorite girl, Elizabeth, who is not a trained dancer but has an amazing voice and incredible green eyes. Drew Lachey is the host and is doing a great job. He got some practice when he filled in on Dancing with the Stars when Samantha Harris was out having a baby. I'm hoping Tom and Len show up sometime on Dance Wars. That would be hilarious.

Deal or No Deal

DoND has fast become my not-so-secret obsession. I love it so much. I'm even taping all the re-runs on CNBC. Howie Mandel is a perfect host for this show. Lately he's been on a Million Dollar Mission where if a contestant doesn't win a million, the next contestant gets that million in one of their cases. Tonight's contestant had six, that's SIX, cases with $1,000,000. Crazy.

1. Round 1: Her first offer, even after opening one of the cases with a million, was a record $131k. Needless to say, she refused that deal. I love to play along online (yes, I'm a nerd) and, without having so many million dollar cases, my first offer was only $50k.
2. Round 2: Her $170k second offer (she knocked out another million dollar case) was also refused, as was my $65k second offer (I still have my million dollar case in play.)
3. Round 3: My third offer was just under $65k after knocking out the $300k case (but I still have my top four cases). This time she didn't knock out another million dollar case so her third offer was again record-breaking -- $268,000!
4. Round 4: I opened my $400k case in the fourth round so my offer went down to just under $59k. Margarita opened another million case with her last choice so her offer also dropped to $239k. She only has to open two cases in the next round and there are still three million dollar cases on the board.
5. Round 5: Her husband had to use his inhaler. He is so stressed. Wow, after opening up two more cases, I still have the top three in play so my offer went up to $79k. Margarita opened up another million dollar case and the penny case so her offer was $284k. We both said, "No Deal!!" She has two million dollar cases left.
   
6. Round 6: Only one case to open: Ouch, mine was the $500k case; even ouchier, hers was another million dollar case. My offer went up, though, to $130k! Hers had to drop, down to $173k. Is she brave enough to open one more case? Her next highest case is $100k. But she's gutting it out. No Deal, Howie!
7. Round 7: Yes! My $100 case is knocked out and my new deal is $207k! Do I take the deal? No way! Margarita opened her last million dollar case. What a shame. I'm going to win more than her. Her deal is $22,000. Does she take it? No way. She's after the $100k.
8. Round 8: Oof. My million is knocked out. I should've taken the deal. But I'm going one more round. Margarita's offer is $33k and she doesn't take it either.
   
9. Round 9: I knock out my $5 case and my deal is $238k. I'm taking it. Margarita's offer went up to $40k and the banker adds in flying lessons for the would-be pilot making the offer $55k. She takes her deal too.
   

So did we both make good deals? Nope. Her case held $100k and mine, well, my game has stopped responding so I either had $5000 or $750k. I guess I'll never know. Tune in to the next DoND on Wednesday for seven million dollar cases. Will that contestant win the million? Will guest model Ellen DeGeneres successfully open her case? I can't wait to find out.

Twizzlers Are My Favorite...

Dress??

Yes, that's right. Only on Project Runway, of course. A dress made of the delicious strawberry-flavored licorice was one of the creations on a recent episode where the challenge was hosted by the Hershey's shop in Times Square. The contestants were set loose in the candy store with five minutes to collect materials for a garment they had to make that day. Only Jillian had the eggs to use an edible material. All of the others grabbed pillows and toys and wrappers. My favorite, Christian, used the brown wrappers from peanut butter cups glued to a brown halter dress. My least favorite, the oddball Elisa, was finally "auf" of the competition for her boring brown dress. Jillian's confection creation gave her a lot of problems but the judges approved of her finally completed design.

This past week's episode was a prom dress challenge where the clients were high school girls from New Jersey and were also the models. Christian's client was a design student herself who had very definite ideas for her gown. He was caught between trying to put in all the elements she requested and creating a garment that had his look. He wasn't that successful and on the runway he blamed his client for his difficulties. That turned off the judges and he only escaped being cut because Kevin had a really bad week. My favorite gown of the week was Chris' green creation. Lovely.

A Chicken Coop of Goodness

I arrived home just at 8pm this evening with high anticipation of some good TV. Little did I realize how much good TV was happening at 8 o'clock. I already had my DVR scheduled with the results show for Dancing with the Stars and the second episode of the current cycle of America's Next Top Model.

When I turned on the TV it was tuned to the Food Network and my favorite, Good Eats, was on and it was about waffles. How could I miss that?

Then I found out that it was Barry Bonds' last game with the Giants. I just had to watch that. So I had all four of my tuners going at once.

But then I suddenly remembered that Joanna had said Kid Nation was on tonight. I watched it last week but hadn't set a series recording. I abandoned Good Eats and flipped over to CBS. I tuned in after the chicken controversy but caught the water challenge and Michael's triumph at the town council meeting. I was so glad to see him get the $20k gold star. He deserved it so much more than the graffiti-drawing suck-up Greg.

ETA: I just tuned into Bionic Woman and, hello, John just might be right.

The Return of the Dance

Oh, I'm so excited that Dancing with the Stars is back. It is the most fun on TV. My favorite stars so far are Hélio Castroneves, the IndyCar driver, and Jane Seymour who I've loved since Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve.

I was a bit apprehensive when I saw that last year's profressional champion Julianne Hough was paired with Hélio. She is so good she deserves to last to the final. I didn't think to give him much of a chance so I was worried she wouldn't be around very long. But their foxtrot tonight was divine. Hélio was so elegant and smooth. I can't wait to see him dance more.

Jane is paired with Tony Dovolani who is one of my faves of the pros. They also danced the foxtrot and it was perfect dance for her. I'm not sure how she's going to with the Latin numbers. Can you believe she's 56?

Last night everyone was saying that the boxer Floyd Mayweather was going to be the toughest competition for the guys but he was awful. I felt so sorry for his partner while they were dancing. I was disapointed the judges didn't call him on how awful he was. At least they gave him the worst scores of the night.

The new pro Mark Ballas (who is paired with Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan) is too adorable for words. I'm glad he got an excellent partner (they rocked the cha-cha last night) so he'll be around for many weeks to come.

Squawk!

That's just stupid of them to vote off Chicken. That Ashley is worthless. She and her huge breasts and ugly lip piercings should've been outta there. Or the most-annoying-so-far Peih-Gee (or PG). I thought for sure she'd be first one out. You know how the tribes love to get rid of those early in-your-face, let-me-tell-you-what-to-do "leaders", especially those with a high, whiny voice.

I was disapointed in Frosti's performance in the challenge. I expected him to fly over those walls seeing as how he's a practitioner of Parkour. (btw, he's orginally from Traverse City and is, interestingly, half Russian/half Japanese)

I just love Courtney, the ultra-skinny, platinum blonde New York City waitress. Her interviews are hilarious.

What a Week, Vol. III

Nap Much Needed

I had such a tiring, stressful, exciting, fun week that I had to take a nap this afternoon to recover. I never ever nap but I was falling asleep watching the Little League World Series so I just had to lie down. And I slept for FOUR hours!

Now I'm watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in HD on TNTHD. It's amazing! Oh, dear. Haldir just died at Helm's Deep. So sad.

Bye, Girls

The Gilmore Girls series finale was tonight and even though I only caught the last half (I was installing new software at work late while my DVR was recording hockey and Idol) it's a good thing I just bought boxes of tissues yesterday. I needed a few. What a great show. I loved it from the beginning and I like how they ended it. I'll sure miss Stars Hollow.

Ooo, I just found out that they're re-airing it on Sunday so I can catch the first half. Woo hoo!

The HII

Ah, finally someone played the Hidden Immunity Idol! We've been waiting forever for that to happen. Stupid Stacey dug her own grave with her comment at Tribal about the possibility of a split vote. Yauman was clever and sneaky enough to know the implication of her slip-up and seized the moment.

I was interested to see that Boo also voted for Yauman so if Yau had not played the idol, it would not have been a tie and he would've been gone. The three back-stabbers that are left will have numbers at the next Tribal so immunity will be crucial. Boo will sure be hard to beat. Especially after not winning the truck. You just know he was dreaming of what gun rack he could put in it.

Season finale on Sunday! Woo hoo!

Design Your Dream Room

I was surfing through my favorite channels the other day when I landed on Top Design on Bravo. I just caught the end of the show and realized it was like Project Runway but for interior designers. I thought I'd check it out so set my DVR to catch all the previous episodes so I could watch them in order. In the meantime I went to bravotv.com to see what it was about.

While there I discovered my new obsession: Design Your Dream Room. They call it a game but it's more like a coloring book where you can choose the paint, furniture and accessories for a living room. Over 20,000 rooms have been created so far. Bedrooms are coming soon. I can't wait.

Here are the rooms I've designed so far:
(click on the room number to go to bravotv.com and vote)


#16273: My first try. I like the combination of colors and the pattern on the vertical lamp.


#16360: This might be my favorite of the lot. I like the colors overall and the style and arrangement of furniture. I think I forgot to color the chandelier though.


#16661: I love the dark green walls and the light complimentary green on the furniture. It looks like there's spot lighting right in the middle of the room. That red pillow is awesome! I should've done something else with the windows though.


#19395: Joanna designed a room which made me aware I was under-using the patterns offered in the game so I challenged myself to do a room with no solid colors. Some of the patterns are quite odd but I like this result.


#19689: I'm not a huge fan of orange but this room looks pretty comfy. I like the pattern on the side walls.


#19702: I wanted to use the L-shaped couch so combined it with the TV on the wall. I couldn't find any chairs that really worked so I'm assuming whoever lives here will get extra seating from another room. I love how that pattern on the pillow makes it look like it's angled into the curve of the couch.


#19734: I wanted to use the greens but they're just making me a little ill looking at them. I don't really like the two chairs together as a sofa either. The pattern on the curtains works well. I wish I could go back and edit it.


#19759: I stole the sides of this room from someone else's design but I didn't think their combination of furniture and accessories worked very well so I thought I'd take a pass. I really like this result, especially the art on the back wall.


#20941: I started this room with the back wall of brick and wanted to make a cozy, basement-type room. It was a challenge to find the patterns that would go together. Do you like this one?

If you design a room, email me your result. I'd love to see your work.

TV Times Three

Tagfest: TV

February means good TV. Three of my favorite reality shows have started up again: Survivor, American Idol and, beginning again on Sunday with an All-Star edition, The Amazing Race.

We're only a couple episodes into the new Survivor: Fiji and I don't have any clear favorites yet. Maybe Lisi. Her laugh cracks me up. I like the severe inequity of the haves and have-nots when it comes to resources. Can Ragu Ravu pull through with such limits? Did you see them sucking on leaves to get water? I can't imagine they will last very long. At least they have the resourceful and sneaky Yau-man.

Idol has passed through the most painful time for me (all the really bad singers) and should be getting good next week with the start of the studio show which showcases the last 12 guys and last 12 girls on consecutive nights. I definitely have a clear favorite in the guys group (Vote for Chris!) but I'm having trouble mustering any interest in the girls. Where is this season's Katherine McPhee?

The Amazing Race is one of the best shows ever. I'm hoping the all-star edition will be just as fun. The big name couple of Boston Rob and Amber are back as well as the evil Joe and Bill from the first season. Those two teams must be the most conniving ever seen on this show. I'm not sure how I feel about having one of the winning teams back. They've already won the million bucks. Shouldn't another team get a chance?