Warts and all

I have pink eye...or rather I have something that is making my eye pink.  It has been going on for at least a month and I'm sure I picked it up from clinicals.  There is no yellow discharge, so I figured it was viral conjunctivitis.  However, it has lasted too long and there is only so long I can say "my contacts are bugging me" at work before they catch on to the fact that I don't wear contacts. 
(not my eye)

So, I went to the doctor.  She didn't look in my eye.  She didn't check my pupil size.  I swear one is smaller than the other.  I said symptoms like it hurts my affected eye when I look at light with my unaffected eye.  Perhaps it is iritis, which could be treated with anti-inflammatory medicine and dilation.  She just gave me a prescription for an antibiotic eye drop even though I said that I had been using one to no avail just to rule out bacterial infection. 

I then showed her a wart that has appeared above my eyebrow.  (Don't worry, it looks manly and like a mole).  She said that a dermatologist would have to remove warts.  I can understand her hesitation of removing a wart on a face, but all warts?  Time to find another doctor. 

I need to make a batch of Greg's wart remover.  It is pure salicylic acid mixed with a little bit of lotion.  It works better than anything and the wart is just gone in a couple of days from one application.  The problem is that it is hard to order pure salicylic acid unless you are a school or laboratory.  Sigh...

By the way, do not do a search for warts using the google image search, unless you want to look at a lot of warty genitals.

Hello 21st Century, It's me, Patrick.

Greg and I are finally doing it.  We are getting rid of our home phone and getting real cell phones, or mobile phones as the kids are calling it now-a-days.  Greg is most hesitant about this new era of communication.  I suggested that he just get a phone so I can contact him.  Who else does he talk to on the phone?  No one!  He hates the phone.  So it is ironic that he chose the LG enV Touch for his phone. 

It's super high tech and requires an internet connection fee.  Then he swears up and down that he is going to throw it in a drawer and never look at it in some sort of passive-aggressive action towards his phone.  That's fine, but why didn't he just get some free jobby with no features.  He better become a phone junky or I swear....pow, right in the kisser. I, on the other hand, simply wanted a Qwerty keyboard.   So, I got the very cute and functional Razzle.


Why does the base swivel, you ask?  I ask, why wouldn't it.  It very clearly is also used as an mp3 player and has a slot for adding an additional 16 GB.  That's more than I'll ever need.  My original Dell DJ mp3 player is looking clunkier than ever.
 

Pickle Surprise

I don't like pickles. Well, I thought that I didn't like pickles. I really only always had the Vlassic pickles that are on the shelf. Then I had a sandwich at a deli and I thought that the pickle was very tasty. So, I bought Clausen pickles from the refrigerated section. They are so good. I can't stop eating them. Maybe I'm pregnant.


In other ironically related news, I seem to have developed a sensitivity to cucumber seeds and pickles are no exception. I knew that I had problems with cucumbers, but for some reason I thought pickles would be exempt. I guess they aren't as bad. Cucumbers make me feel like I'm going to die. Pickles just make me uncomfortable...totally worth it!

Passport photos and more

I just got my new passport and I am absolutely disgusted with the picture.  Rather than hide my shame, I've decided to just show it to the masses.  First, here is my old passport photo:

I used to hate this picture, but now I like it because I can compare it to my new passport photo.  I think my new passport photo makes me look like Pogo, the clown.  Pogo, of course, was John Wayne Gacy, the infamous murderer.  Here is a picture of him:

I really should have chosen a color photo (you'll see why below).  However, I find his hat in this picture particularly disturbing.  Clowns are creepy.  It goes without saying this is especially true when they are mass murders.

And here is my new passport photo:

Luckily, the passport lines obscure the overall effect of the picture, but you can tell.  Yes, indeed, I do have my lower lip sticking out as if to pout.  The photo does also add many shades of red to my face adding to the clown-like effect.  If I don't think of John Wayne Gacy, then I'm liable to think of Droopy the dog. 

In other news, I picked up pizza today from Cafe Verdi.  (I know, I know, from the picture, I clearly don't need pizza).  Anyway, I like the Cafe Verdi pizza, it is cheap and it tastes great.  There are some drawbacks though.  First, the place smells horrible.  This isn't a problem if you take it to go.  Second, I noticed a couple of these hung up high on the walls:

Evil eye protection amulets.  Then I noticed that they spoke some sort of Eastern European language that I couldn't make out.  They're gypsies...dirty, foul-mouthed, mean, no tipping gypsies.  I hate gypsies.  I've had too many experiences with these horrible people at the blackjack tables.  I'm torn between my love of good, cheap pizza and the generalized hatred of an already persecuted people.

Las Vegas Harvest Festival

Greg and I are sick of Las Vegas.  There, I said it.  It's hot and this city has no real, local flavor.

Actually, it has a local flavor, but I don't like the taste of alcohol, big boobs and pretentious money.

In comes the Las Vegas Harvest Festival.  We saw the ads on TV and thought that it looked lame but fun for an afternoon.  After all, they showed people eating roasted corn and other people holding up plastic bags and exclaiming how they love free stuff.  That's two of my favorite things, roasted corn and free stuff.  How could we not go?  Right?  I mean even if it is bad, we can still eat roasted corn and partake in a lame goodie bag.  Hey, even a lame goodie bag is a good goodie bag.  Plus, we could look at produce and junk, right?  I think the actual tag line was "food, fun, arts, crafts and free stuff!"

The lead up to the day we planned to go offered up some bad news.  It costs money to get in.  It costs $9 each to get in.  Greg wondered what would happen if Walmart charged for people to get in to shop.  He makes a good point.  So, people pay money to have booths in the festival and people pay to get into the festival.  Whoever is putting this on is one greedy SOB.  They have to pay for a venue and the horrible live band playing in the back that interested no one.  In return, they get this wonderful double dip of money from vendors and shoppers. 

Well, we were desperate for something different.  Greg woke me up early to go.....oh damn, I forgot that.  The stupid festival was only open until 5:00 PM.  This stupid "24-hour" town rolls up its sidewalk after 5PM for anyone that isn't drunk, horny or gambling.  It seems the only thing open late is Barnes and Noble, which Greg and I have gone to on several, bored occasions.  One time, after going to Barnes and Noble, we got pulled over at a DUI checkpoint.  First time for that, I think we were the only ones that weren't getting arrested though.  

We get in the car after I found two canned goods items to get $2 off each.  They donate it to some battered women's shelter, because that is what Las Vegas has plenty of, battered women.   We went to pick up our friend, TIna.  In the car, I felt bad because I forgot to mention the canned goods discount.  However, quite oddly, Tina had a can of roast beef in her purse.  Fortune favors those who carry canned goods.  There was actually a reason why she was carrying the can of roast beef around, but I like to leave that a mystery.

We get there and they are charging $3 for parking.  Thus far, this shopping experience has cost us three: $24, a jar of spaghetti sauce, a can of peaches and a can of roast beef.  However, we were hungry and ready to get to the roasted corn. 

You can probably guess from my build-up that there was no roasted corn, as presented in the commercials.  The kicker was that there was not a lot in the way of prepared food.  "Food" was in their tagline.  However, the only prepared food was a place that had dried out chicken fried steaks and the convention center concession stand with $8 hamburgers.  So, by food, they meant the ample soup and dip mix stands that were everywhere mixed in with places selling beef jerky, candy, jams, and vinegar.  There were three places selling vinegar and one of them was named "Tres Classique", a name that makes me picture a redneck trying to be pretentious (not that there is anything wrong with rednecks or being pretentious).  We weren't really able to approach the soup and dip mix stands as they were always surrounded by snot-nose kids gobbling up the free samples.

There was no produce, so the name "Harvest" was a bit misleading.  At least there was the free stuff, right?  I saw people walking around with the same goodie bags that I saw people on TV holding up..  I figured that we just haven't come across the free stuff  place yet.  Tina suggested that maybe we were too late and they ran out.  For $24 and canned goods, I better get free stuff.  I found the free stuff booth and they weren't out.  I was finally going to experience the excitement of getting free stuff.  It's a high I never get tired off.  I didn't care if it was tampon samples, I was elated.  It turned out that the free stuff, the thing that pleased the happy people on TV, was the plastic bag.  So, when they were holding up the plastic bag on the TV and saying "free stuff", they weren't referring to the stuff in the bag, they were referring to the cheap, plastic bag.

This place was a crap fest.  Basically, if you could operate tin snips or a leather punch, you could have a booth.  Here is an example of some of the crafts:


Put a picture of a cat sleeping on a T-shirt under the banner "Nap Attack" and you know the type of arts and crafts that were at this show.  Very cheap, homemade stuff mixed in with semi-professional stuff.  It was all overpriced.  A stupid wind chime made with small wrenches cost $39.  A lamp made out of plastic was $70.  I bought mustard for $5.50, which is a rip off, but hey, I needed mustard.  I also bought some soap.  Greg knew that I was going to buy it before I did and said so to Tina, because it was a gay couple running the place.  Damn him, he was right.  It was a perfect trifecta of selling points for me:  homemade soap, gay couple and bay rum scent.  I just love homemade soap. 

So, this is the local flavor of Las Vegas.  Overpriced, screw-you-anyway-possible-out-of-your-money, crap.

But wait, it's not local flavor, the Las Vegas Harvest Festival is a traveling festival.  This crap fest wasn't even local.  What a slap in the face!

We do have a local farmer's market, but I hear that it is just as bad.

crEATe - Restaurant or Cult?

 
Greg was all about going to this new restaurant called "crEATe", which was basically a burger bar.  I've noticed it before as it is painted bright lime green and looks rather sleek.  We walked in and immediately became disoriented.  Greg turned to me and said, "Do you want to leave?", but he always says that in restaurants.  I swear to god, he's got some sort of strange phobia of new restaurants.  I stood my ground, because who wants to drive around saying, "I don't know, where do you want to eat?"  

The disorientation came from the unusual layout.  There was a counter, but there is no menu visible above the counter as expected.  Instead the menu was behind us, against the wall, in the form of free-standing, black, electronic light boards.  The menus pretty much consisted of a list of different size burgers and a long list of burger ingredients.  Just as when I was starting to wonder how I was going to get my order from the complex menu all the way over to the counter, a man came out the greet us. 

The man, who appeared to be a manager because of his age, quizzed us on what brought us in, "Was it the green paint?  You have a friend that has been here before?"  I think we just looked bewildered.  I don't remember answering the question.  I was just thinking that I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he chose a good paint color and I, just like everyone else, was drawn like a moth to the flame.  I just wanted to say, "We're already sold.  We're fatties, insert food now!"  Why do I have to answer a stupid survey, no matter how informal, when I do anything?

He explained the menu.  There were burgers that were already "designed" that could be simply ordered or you could make your own burger from the burger toppings menu.  The pre-designed burger menu had burgers named after art periods, "The Modernist, The Classical, The Renaissance, The Impressionist".  But the names were somewhat misleading.  The Renaissance had pineapple on it.  The Impressionist was their spicy, jalapeno burger.  They had a burger called The Dali (not a period, but rather an artist), that was inexplicably their southwestern burger.  

The manager then explained that their were clipboards over by the counter, so we could circle our choices.  Then he kind of just stood there and stared blankly at us.  It became a little awkward.  I almost wished I had succumbed to Greg's restaurant paranoia and left earlier.  I looked to Greg and said, "well, let's go get a clipboard."  

There really were a lot of toppings to choose from.  Nothing horribly gourmet, but the standard gourmet like bleu cheese, pineapple and chiles.  While we were deciding what to put on our burgers, which was actually quite a daunting task, a strange girl came around the corner, got right in our face and loudly declared, "The people at Nabisco have done it again!  This new chocolate Chex Mix is amazing."  This set off my crazy meter to the limit.  It wasn't what she said, it was the familiarity with us that she displayed; well that, plus the fact that she had chocolate Chex mix smudged on her mouth as she was shoveling in the last pieces that led me to believe she was off her rocker.  

I replied, "Oh my!"  What am I, British?  I tend to say, 'oh, my!' a lot.  Anyway, I continued, "Do you work for Chex mix?"

"No, I just really like it."  She then went up to some people ordering at the counter and extolled the virtues of the new Chex Mix.  She returned to us a short while later to inquire if we had been here before.  We stated that we hadn't.  She explained that she worked here and that she was just here last night painting.  She claimed to really have been excited about the painting.  At which point, someone behind the counter, agreed that she was indeed very excited about painting.   Greg and I looked around, yet no one pointed out what was painted.  The walls were nicely painted, but it didn't look fresh.  The back wall had a lot of writing on it  saying junk like peace, life, sand...I don't know...new age junk.

The thing that got me was that she wasn't working.  She was just hanging out, eating Chex Mix and raving about it to the customers.  At no point, did she offer me any Chex Mix.  She did later get into a uniform, but it wasn't for another 15 minutes.  

This is what led me to believe crEATe was a cult.  Everyone was too cheery and slightly off.  The atmosphere was disorienting.  They had their own vegetarian burger made with brown rice...if that doesn't scream cult, I don't know what does.  On their website, there is a news story that states, "Employees learn customers' names so they can personally greet them with a smile.  When Graulich gets a promising application, he said he will often observe the person at their current work site. It tells him whether that person is right for Create.  'You can't train personality,' Graulich says."

My burger was good, but Greg's burger was phenomenal.  He's the best chooser, that's why I make him make all of my sandwiches.  He then confessed that he had been there before and left because he didn't want to order food at a counter.  He rather be waited on.  Is that picky, or what?  I guess that's what makes him such a good sandwich maker. 

In any case, my verdict is that crEATe is not a cult, but rather a restaurant with a manager that likes his employees to have a fake Disney level of cheeriness that sends sensible people up that wall. 

Grey Gardens

 

I watched Grey Gardens with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.  I thought their portrayal was spot on despite what critics have said..  

It was a sad movie about being stuck.  The lesson to learn though is clearly that you only have yourself to blame. 

Is Michael Jackson's death the new 9/11?

What the hell?  The last time I saw such a media frenzy was after 9/11.  It took only 24 hours for the first hour-long tribute to Michael Jackson to air.  Since then, I've encountered at least 5 more specials and the news coverage is non-stop.

I hate to sound callous, but a probable child molester is now dead.  Get over it.

Exhibit A:

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

This is another thing that I think  has already seen or if she hasn't should.  It's a musical from Joss Whedon the writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity.

If you aren't  , you should check this out anyway.  I like it.  There is a really good job of editing on the last few seconds.  A really good job of editing can really intensify the message of a show.  Don't believe me.  Watch it.

A great investment for Fossil watch owners

I have a lot of watches from Fossil.  Whenever the batteries die, I'm unable to take the backs off of the watches.  I end up just taking them to Fossil to replace the batteries.  Fossil, of course, charges $12 for a battery and many of their watches use two batteries.  Watch batteries rarely cost more than $3.50 and you can find them for as little as $1/each online.  I found this waterproof watch back removal tool for $8 online (and that included shipping).  It paid for itself on the first battery change and I'm changing 7 batteries for four watches.  Yay me!

In addition to Fossil or any jeweler being an expensive place to change watch batteries, Fossil often didn't even carry the correct batteries.  They always acted like their older watches used obscure batteries that they didn't stock anymore.  In truth, they use the most common watch battery size on the market. 

Adventures at Walmart

Today, I went out to buy supplies to make a $5 HDTV antenna.  It has cost me about $20 already and even though you can get antennas for as little as $10, I am not deterred. 

During my adventure, I went to Walmart.  At said Walmart, I went to the McDonald's for an iced coffee.  By the way, McDonald's regular iced coffee is the best in my opinion, tons better than Starbucks and cheaper too.  Anyway, while ordering a woman barged in, asking if they had any longer straws.  The worker claimed that they did not.  She complained that they needed longer straws.  The worker appologized.  She then pushed the straw all the way into the drink and showed how the straw barely came out of the cup.  She said in utter outrage, "Look at that!" 
The worker stated, "I'm sorry, I don't order the straws." 
I added, "Oh no, life is over as we know it."  To which she casted me a mad glanced and stormed off.  I feel bad for McDonald's workers.  It is already a horrible job, but working at a McDonald's in a Walmart must be the lowest job in the world.

Back in the electronics department, I caught a conversation between a woman and a sole worker at the electronics cash register.  She asked, "Can you take that to the front?  I need to go get some money."  Which I translated to mean, 'I see you are alone in your station.  You can just give me the expensive, locked-up merchandise and I will take it to the front and won't steal it.  I promise.'  I only say this, because the woman was extremely dirty and desperate looking.

I decided to go to self checkout because I like self checkout.  I get to pretend that I'm a checkout person.  Little Greg says that it is unethical to go to self checkout because it takes away people's jobs.  I, on the other hand, find self checkout to be a wonderful product.  I'm totally sold on it.  I get to play store and I don't have to face another human being...yay!  So, there were three checkouts.  In the first one was a woman with two small children.  When she finished, she asked her 4 year old son sitting in the cart, "You got the money?"
He replied opening his spiderman wallet, "You're going to pay me back, right?"
"Mmmmhmmm," she replied.
On the second checkout was a manish woman buying large quanties of pet supplies including large bags of dog food.
On the third checkout was a group of 4 latino gentemen paying in the cash accepter with twenty extremely crinkled one-dollar bills. 
It took forever to get out of Walmart.

G-mail April Fool's Day Joke

Check out the G-mail April Fool's Day joke before they take it down.  It is pretty funny this year:

mail.google.com/mail/help/autopilot/index.html

I still hate Nancy Grace

I was stuck watching her at work again.  By the way, people that watch the show are absolutely into it 100%.  Anyway, she was talking about the movies that Caysey Anthony rented around the time that her daughter, Caylee Anthony was murdered.  One of the movies was "Jumper", which Nancy Grace referred to as a movie about a mother that abandons her child.  The implication being, it sure is suspicious timing.  I don't know if you have seen "Jumper", but I have and I don't even remember a mother in it.  I'm sure a mother does abandon the hero for some reason, but that wasn't the gyst of the film.  It is about a man that can teleport.  At no time, does Nancy Grace refer to this movie as anything other than a story about a mother that abandons her child.  One time she even replaced the word "child" with "tot", a subtle nod to how she refers to Caylee.

The Big Business of Child Killing

I thought about titling this entry, "The Economic Impact of Caylee Anthony", but opted for the above instead. 

At my job, on my breaks, I have the unfortunate opportunity to watch Nancy Grace ad nauseam.  As you may or may not know, Caylee Anthony was a little girl who was, at first, missing and then found murdered.  The primary suspect is her mother, Casey Anthony.  Nancy Grace spends an hour each day going over every tiny, insignificant piece of non-evidence that presents itself.  For instance, Nancy Grace made a big hubabalu about the mother having pork rinds brought in to the prison where she is being held.  Her stance, of course, is that how can you eat pork rinds when your child is murdered....she must be guilty.  She has taken videotaped conversations that "tot mom" Casey has had with her parents in prison and analyzed them to death.  If Casey talks about not liking being in prison, Nancy tirades of how she should only be thinking about Caylee and how horrible that is...therefore she is guilty.  Nancy went so far as to find Target surveillance tape of Casey buying beer while Caylee was missing.  Who cares?  Nancy does!  "She's buying beer when she should be sitting at home worrying!"  Maybe she is buying beer because she is worrying.

Don't get me wrong, I think that Casey probably did do it.  I'm just not a big fan of trial by media.  Look at Gary Condit.  The media made him out as the killer, 100%.  Now that he is innocent, they are making it sound like it was all his fault that he looked to guilty.  Maybe.  Or maybe the media shouldn't be the one's making the judgements.

In any case, the point of this whole post is to point out that I've seen at least 40 1-hour shows dedicated or mostly dedicated to Caylee Anthony.  All the way from "Where's Caylee?" to "Tot Mom's suspicious behavior".  Nancy Grace is raking in some serious advertiser money from this one child murder.  The show also brings in "experts" for Nancy to agree with or yell at.  They are paid as well.  So, we have Nancy Grace, producers, directors, camera people, experts, as well as people paid for photographs, interviews and privately shot video.  That's a lot of money exchanging hands over someone dying.  Ultimately, I'm sure the amount is easily in the millions.  This irks me so much that I've decided to commit the rookie atrocity of comparing it to nazi Germany.  It is the equivalent of making money off the forced labor of the jewish people.  It is the taking of someone's pain and making a profit off of it with no benefit going to the offended member.  Heil Nancy Gracy, Heil!
Guilty until proven innocent.

The real irony is that Nancy Grace's book is titled, "Objection! -- How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System"

Melinda Duckett committed suicide apparently because of treatment from Nancy Grace.  Casey Anthony's father attempted suicide partly from the media attention his daughter had been receiving from Nancy Grace. 

She was relentless on the Duke's Lacrosse team, who was proven innocent.  The day the Lacrosse team was vindicated, Nancy Grace had a substitute anchor.

For more Nancy Grace atrocities or to learn more about nazi Germany, visit her Wikipedia page.

Ground Turkey

I think ground turkey is extremely bland.  I found though that if I cook it in soy sauce and pepper, it soaks up all the flavor.  I realize this is a stupid entry because I'm surrounded by vegetarians and I secretly wish to be a vegetarian.  In any case, if you eat ground turkey, try it with soy sauce!

Twilight - The conflict that almost was.

Despite mkhobson's intelligent warnings regarding the film, "Twilight", I watched it on DVD today.   I was curious as to what all the hubbub was about.  It turned out to be a total chick flick.


What I found curious about this film is the lack of any real conflict.  Surely, the situation for the heroine in this film is every teenage girl's dream. 

First, she ends up living with her Dad who pretty much leaves her alone.  Despite what is normally portrayed in films, this is the ideal situation for any sullen teenager.  A parent that doesn't bug you and provides you with a truck your first day there.  NO REAL CONFLICT

Secondly, she ends up in a school where she is instantly popular through no remarkable achievement of her own.  The conflict being of course that they want to do a school newspaper feature on her, but she doesn't want that...instantly resolved although it was NEVER A REAL CONFLICT

Thirdly, she has a problem of too many guys asking her out to the prom.  She says "she's out of town".  NO REAL CONFLICT

Fourthly, the only boy there that she is intrigued by has a really strong reaction to her, albeit negative in appearance at first.  This is only gives his character a uniqueness and is NOT A REAL CONFLICT as he begins stalking her in a cuddly, yearning way.

Fifthly, she learns that he is a vampire (NO CONFLICT IF YOU KNOW TEENAGERS AT ALL).  He is a vampire that's conflict with the sun is that his skin glistens as if covered by millions of tiny diamonds....oh my god!!!  NO CONFLICT!  She also gets to ride him, which is so like the typical girl fantasy of owning a horse or pony.

Sixthly, he desires her so much that he is unable to become remotely sexual with her, so they spend their time talking and cuddling on her bed.  NO CONFLICT  That's right!  One of the conflicts is that he desires her too much.  This has the double whammy of allowing the girl to feel desirable, but not having to feel threatened.  Perfect for the "abstinent-only"-education-minded.  What kind of vampire story is this?!?!  Anyway, I bet in the series, she has sex once she changes, if ever.  That is, if the writer is trying to have vampirism as a symbolism for sexuality or what not...can you say cliché?

Seventhly, OK, that was the first hour and a half of the movie.  Now there is twenty minutes of some bad vampire hunting her, but they all kill him.  THE END

All in all it was like watching a pretty girl, wearing a Hello Kitty shirt, combing Malibu Barbie's hair while riding a unicorn through a giant doll house during a tea party where everyone praises her.

And I don't think that anybody in the film was gorgeous like everyone is saying, so there!

RuPaul's Drag Race is over

RuPaul's Drag Race is over. I'm not going to say who won, but after the cut are the three finalists if you care to take a peek.




Bebe Benet Zahara


Nina Flowers


Rebecca Glasscock (Boo! Hiss! I don't know why everyone thinks she is pretty)

What's up with Gambia?

I've only heard a limited amount of information on the BBC world service on the happenings in Gambia.  It was just strange enough for me to do a mental double take.  Over 1,000 people were round up by witchdoctors and security guards and forced to take hallucinogens.  They are then beaten and accused of being witches in some sort of torture/confession scenario.  (I thought everyone knew that torture doesn't work.  Torture is sooooo last year.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/gambia/5012406/1000-witches-arrested-and-drugged-by-witch-doctors-in-Gambia.html

It seems like such an tragic oddity to be happening in modern times.

The strangest of strange spam

I've been getting back and forth e-mails from between what appears to be PR people for an Austin Mayoral candidate at my regular e-mail account.  They are so dry and boring that I can't even stay focused long enough to care about what intrigue is on them.  It appears to be a group of people editing a boring press release.  Unfortunately, it appears that this would be the candidate that I would support, so I can't even use it against them.

Job Wanted.

I know that people have probably already said so, but I just want to say the following.  People failed in their jobs AIG.  They failed so badly that they caused a nationwide crisis.  They, of course then, get huge bonuses.  I just want to say that I can totally do that.  I can screw up badly.  If AIG is hiring, I'm ready to work, screw up, and get a huge bonus.  Please consider me for this wonderful employment opportunity.  I'll even be anti-union.  Those greedy unions wanting insurance, what is up with that?  They are destroying America.

This is my kind of party!!

This was actually a picture from David LaChappelle's Drunk American series (2006).  It's a shame.  I like to think that someone had the presence of mind to snap this picture.

Children worshipping a lizard god at a rave.

So lazy...

I find myself with a lot of free time on my hands lately. 

I've finished with all of my prerequisites for nursing school.  I'm waiting to see if I'm accepted.  It is so competitive that I'm worried that I won't get in.  Sure I have one of the highest scores in the pre-entrance exam and a 3.9, but the stupid point system at the school doesn't really factor in good grades.  It gives a lot of points for currently working in the medical field.  A student working as a receptionist in a doctor's office with a 2.5 and a low score would have priority over me.  I don't know what I will do if I'm not accepted.  The deadline was March 1st and I still haven't heard anything.  It makes me nervous. 

On the days that I don't work, I find that I waste all of my time.  I think about productive things, but do none of them.  Today, I watched movies, made dinner, did dishes and that was it.  There's got to be more to life than this.

RuPaul's Drag Race

I hate reality shows, but I really think RuPaul's Drag Race is fun.  It has an element of corniness, intended or not, that I love.  The drag queens have a task to perform every week.  They are then judged by a panel.  The panel actually doesn't do anything other than advice RuPaul, who makes the final decision of who is in the bottom two.  The bottom two must then LIPSYNCH FOR THEIR LIFE.  They make it super dramatic.  It makes me giggle everytime.  

Little Greg and I have favorites too.  One of our favorites was Tammie, but she got canned the second week.  She was a little bit odd and is more of a Bette Davis-type than a Beyonce-type.  When I say "odd", I really mean "a little crazy", but just enough to make the show interesting.  Here's her little interview.  She enjoys cleaning and chanting, whatever that means.

Under-employed

So, I recently switched jobs to one of the "premiere" casinos in town.  I got hired part time with the un-guaranteed promise of getting at least three days a week.  That's was fine by me because three days a week pays the same as a full week at my previous place because of the increase in tips.   I also thought this would be good for school and my sanity. 

Everything was working out great...until... Apparently, there is some sort of economic crisis going on.  You wouldn't know it listening to the news.  Anyway, the casinos were feeling it, but they were doing fine.  Except, it just keeps getting worse and worse.  Suddenly, business is very, very slow.  Tips are running half of what they were.  It is so slow that they have cut me down to two days a week.  On those days, they send me home early, because I'm not a full time employee.  I'm getting about 10 - 14 hours a week. 

On top of that, I bought my house at the peak of the housing bubble.  I'm seriously underwater and overpaid to the tune of $100,000 or so.  (I bought it for $220,000 and now it is worth $120,000).  However, because I don't think I have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan and because I was responsible and said "no" to an ARM, I don't qualify for any financial help from the housing bailout.  Because I quit my last job and took a part time job, I do not qualify for unemployment benefits, nor am I able to find a job here.  The unemployment rate is officially 10% in Vegas, but experts estimate that it is more like 20%.  A 7-11 opening easily gets 200 applicants before noon.

I hate when real life intersects my own.

Under-employed

So, I recently switched jobs to one of the "premiere" casinos in town.  I got hired part time with the un-guaranteed promise of getting at least three days a week.  That's was fine by me because three days a week pays the same as a full week at my previous place because of the increase in tips.   I also thought this would be good for school and my sanity. 

Everything was working out great...until... Apparently, there is some sort of economic crisis going on.  You wouldn't know it listening to the news.  Anyway, the casinos were feeling it, but they were doing fine.  Except, it just keeps getting worse and worse.  Suddenly, business is very, very slow.  Tips are running half of what they were.  It is so slow that they have cut me down to two days a week.  On those days, they send me home early, because I'm not a full time employee.  I'm getting about 10 - 14 hours a week. 

On top of that, I bought my house at the peak of the housing bubble.  I'm seriously underwater and overpaid to the tune of $100,000 or so.  (I bought it for $220,000 and now it is worth $120,000).  However, because I don't think I have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan and because I was responsible and said "no" to an ARM, I don't qualify for any financial help from the housing bailout.  Because I quit my last job and took a part time job, I do not qualify for unemployment benefits, nor am I able to find a job here.  The unemployment rate is officially 10% in Vegas, but experts estimate that it is more like 20%.  A 7-11 opening easily gets 200 applicants before noon.

I hate when real life intersects my own.

Barbecue Ribs

I was quite scared to make my own Barbecue Ribs.  I'm very picky about what type of ribs I like.  In fact, I pretty much like ribs from two places.  One such place is the Sugarhouse Barbecue Company in Salt Lake City and the other is Famous Dave's (large chain).  So, making my own, without a smoker, seemed doomed for failure.

They however, came out great.  First, I bought spare pork ribs from Costco.  They cost a lot less than baby back ribs and they come as baby back ribs with a large portion of boneless meat attached.  This large portion of boneless meat needs to be cut off and saved.  They make the best pork steaks you've ever had.  Then there is a cartilage filled portion that needs to be cut off and discarded.   That leaves you with just the ribs.   

Take these ribs and rub them with whatever you can think of rubbing on them.  I put minced garlic, salt, and peper.  I have since learned, the more the better.  I think next time I'll rub on some chile powder, season-all, paprika, thyme, and whatever meat seasoning I can find.  I then wrapped them (half rack at a time) in tin foil and put them in a 300 degree F oven on a lipped cookie sheet for two and a half hours.

After that, I took them out, unwrapped them, and let them cool for 10 minutes.  Then they went on the grill for about 5 minutes per side, brushing them with Barbeque sauce while on the grill.  I just put them on until they got a little burned on the outside, just the way I like it.  I used Famous Dave's Devil Spit Barbecue Sauce that they had at my local grocery store. 

I think they might have benefited by putting on the rub and letting them sit overnight in the fridge to absorb some of the flavor.  Or perhaps add a little liquid smoke.  However, as a first attempt, I was quite happy.

The world needs more cookies

From peaseblossom via mkhobson 

"The world needs more cookies."

So, the first five people who respond to this post will get a batch of cookies made by me and brought (or sent) to their house sometime in 2009...

as long as they repost this in their journal.

Those of you who don't bake could still participate by promising on your journal to order cookies online or ship a box of Milanos or something.

Because the world needs more cookies.

Amen, sistah. I've got the new mixer and I know how to use it. Who needs cookies?