May 21, 2008
May 19, 2008
Green Buses in Lowell & Boston
Commuting without Polluting in Lowell...
and using your Charlie Card in Boston. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CharlieCard
Sing with me - Riding on the MTA! But did he ever return, no he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned... He may ride forever through the streets of Boston, he's the man who never returned! (move over Jack Hart - I'm flashing back to music class in elementary school :)
May 17, 2008
May 16, 2008
Hey Mikey - A Lowell of a Different Kind
Far more charming than the city ;) and note to Mike Morin - I still think you're very funny =)
May 15, 2008
Redhead Kathy Griffin and The Red Sox
I saw comedian Kathy Griffin at Lowell Memorial Auditorium http://www.lowellauditorium.com/
two weeks ago today (an early Mothers' Day present :) Again, just like with the Red Sox (though I was also on the field when they got their Championship rings - It wasn't too good to be true for me!) I was front row. Here's a post that I did combining both Kathy and the Red Sox -
In trying to score tickets from Ticketmaster for comedian Kathy Griffin (as well as Go Diego for Deirdre), I had to type in/copy security words before proceeding - They were 'massacre BAKER' (of all things). I thought to myself, had I been ordering Red Sox tickets, I would have wanted it to say - massacre YANKEES! Kathy Griffin is my favorite female comedian. She makes fun of celebrities and is hilarious doing it. I saw her stand-up routine at Hampton Beach a couple of years ago. I also use to tune in to her reality show on Bravo - "My Life on the D List." I think Kathy gets her sense of humor from her mother, who is a hoot.
When Kathy's third season premiered against a Red Sox game last year (June 5 vs Oakland), I was switching back & forth during commercials. The Sox ended up losing that night, and it was also the first time in the season that they had lost three games in a row (NY/OAK/OAK). It happened in part to things like (Remy/Orsillo voiceover)- "That's the 5th double-play for Oakland tonight"; "What a wacky game"; "The Sox trail 2-0 (over & over); and "Varitek strikes out to end the game!" Back to Kathy - They led up to her "D-List" premiere with a stand-up routine that she had done in Santa Rosa, CA. Not surprisingly, the lead-in show was titled "Suck It" - That's Kathy for ya!
I'd like to see her at a Red Sox game some time, preferably sitting right next to a cringing Ben Affleck :D
*I more than agree that Kathy's new season of My Life on the D List (June 12 on Bravo) should bring summer tv viewing to life!- http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/ent_index/238761
May 14, 2008
Homeless Reality Shows & Meters
I will be tuning into FOX' new reality show when it comes out -
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i7e5a336a9153b9a5744dcab807673361
and feeding homeless meters instead of parking meters -
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/13/MNR110L13S.DTL
I have to agree with the person who did not like the meter idea after finding out that people did not get parking space/time for their money. I think an improvement would be that the funds from a number of designated parking spots/meters around the city would go towards collecting for the homeless. Practice what you preach!
(No longer) Back to You
While FOX has axed Kelsey Grammer & Patricia Heaton's Back to You, Brad Garrett & Joely Fisher's 'Til Death is safe (which I thought was funnier :)
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/television/946159,CST-FTR-fox13.article
October Road now a Dead End
First ABC axes Men in Trees (timber!), now my beloved October Road! I'm miffed. http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/12/october-road-hits-its-end/
Note - I particularly liked the article's reference to the show "Profit" - That was one wicked show (and is available on dvd)!
Also confirmed dead:
Big Shots
Carpoolers
Cashmere Mafia
Miss/Guided
Notes from the Underbelly
Women's Murder Club
All coming back:
Private Practice
Eli Stone
Dirty Sexy Money
Desperate Housewives (of course - which I heard Marc Cherry will only do 3 more seasons of).
New & improved Big Shots?- "Fourplay"- a comedy about two male best friends and their lives.
New & improved Notes from the Underbelly?- "In The Motherhood"- a series which began life online and stars Jenny McCarthy, Leah Remini, and Chelsea Handler as mothers dealing with the indignities of being moms.
May 13, 2008
Storm Over Everest
On PBS right now "Storm over Everest" - Mountain climber-filmmaker David Breashears recalls a May 1996 storm on Mount Everest that trapped three expedition teams (one of them his) and claimed five lives.
I also read the book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer when it first came out ten years ago. My boss borrowed it to read as well. I remember how gripping and heartwrenching it was to read, and I wholeheartedly agree with this review on Amazon -
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3OMB4K1Q4X9PK/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Real-Life Survivors in the Isles of Shoals
When your boat capsizes and you manage to swim to an island and build a fire etc., it puts CBS' Survivor into perspective...
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_133232656.html?keyword=topstory
Not-So-Nice Survivors
When you read TV Guide's interview with Survivor's runner-up Amanda, who I was rooting for to win over Parvati, it's easy to see why I was rooting for her -
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tvguide/362865_tvgif13.html
I agree with everything that she said, and I don't blame her for being disappointed and saying that she would not do another (third) season of Survivor. I especially agree that she lost because she was nice. It is ironic that when you are so nice, how many people react negatively to that positive character trait (they would have to be bitter, jealous, and/or not-so-nice people to react negatively to it).
Also, on both CBS' Survivor and Big Brother shows, when it's down to the jury members quizzing the final two players before voting for whom to give the money to, the jury members usually are crazy jealous and ask the most asinine questions and embarass themselves by speaking and acting so bitter towards the final two (hello Eliza and Ozzy, though Ozzy voted for girlfriend Amanda :)
The recent final two players of Big Brother, Ryan and Adam, were also quite flustered by the bitter-questioning ordeal, and stayed up all night talking about it. Moral of the story - If you're on a reality/game show and don't win, don't be bitter!
May 12, 2008
Got Mulch?
Before...
and after -
The other side of yard.
We couldn't get our favorite color/type mulch - Cedar mulch - so we had to settle for hemlock this year. Our regular mulch guy was no longer around, as $tarbucks made him an offer that he couldn't refuse for his property. I can't say I blame him. When I was resting on the sofa and trying to get better yesterday, I decided to watch a repeat of The Sopranos on A&E. It was the episode in which Tony ends up selling Caputo's poultry store's building to the Jamba Juice chain @$275/per $quare foot. Tony and the Mulch man are no fools!
*http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/COLUMNISTS26/509695928/-1/columnists
May 11, 2008
Happy Mothers' Day & Holy Mackerel...
on both counts!
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGLldJQ6jfrhtpucMGCDi5Hu8cUAD90I6RRG2
http://www.suntimes.com/business/currency/942735,CST-FIN-wallet10b.article - Safe & happy indeed and, show me the money (I'm still channeling Tom Cruise from last week ;)
My very first Mothers' Day was in 2006, and it was bittersweet as it happened to be on that horrendous day of floods - The Mothers Day Flood of 2006. People lost their homes, the roads were flooded out, it rained cats & dogs, and we could not go anywhere! It was disappointing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Flood_of_May_2006
Last Mothers' Day was much nicer; but now this Mothers' Day, my third, I am sick as a dog and so is everyone :(
May 9, 2008
Guaranteed Final Four (NOT)
It's hard to believe that someone could truly be such an IDIOT. What am I referring to?- Last night's episode of Survivor!- http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor16/recaps/1613/ Erik, a 22-year old icecream scooper, was the only guy left among a pack of wolves - I mean - women. To say that these women are not nice would be a gross understatement; they take being low and sneaky to a new low - despicably low and sneaky!
Erik, at the top of the episode at least, was no fool and knew that he had to win immunity to stay safe/on the island, as the women have been picking off the men one by one! Not only did he win the reward challenge last night, he won the immunity necklace as well. Usually, for sane and intelligent people, this means you are safe and cannot be voted off the island; hence, the tribe has to vote off anyone but you. Even to win the immunity necklace last night, Erik had to complete a 3-part puzzle, with the final part spelling out Guaranteed Final Four - because no one in their right mind would ever think there would be such an idiot that would voluntarily transfer their immunity to another person, or could ever be conned into doing so. But that was BEFORE Erik (who hands down, is going down as the stupidest player in all 16 seasons of Survivor)! I mean this episode had me picking up the phone to say, if you haven't watched Survivor yet, you won't believe it when you do.
After Erik had won immunity, all the women were commiserating that he had won yet another competition and continued to be safe - thus foiling their plan to get rid of all of the men. Out of the blue, Cirie (who if Erik thinks is sexy, he must not only be stupid but blind as well - and the same goes for Natalie lol) blurts out that Natalie should try to sway Erik into giving up his necklace to her. Because it truly was an absurd idea that someone would willingly do that, Natalie laughed right out loud, as she should have! Cirie still had an inkling that it could work however, and encouraged Natalie to try, even if it meant embarassing herself to execute a plan that would blatantly be seen as a ruse and insult their (alleged ;) intelligence in the process.
Initially Erik had a clue and told Natalie that he would not even consider it (I was rooting for him and breathed a sigh of relief). But lo and behold, the Natalie/Cirie ruse combo started to work and he actually started contemplating giving up his immunity necklace to Natalie. Here, I said that even though he's foolishly thinking about it, there's still no way that it will actually happen. I mean, Erik lived to see the pull-the-wool-over/ruses of Ozzy and Jason - who both had hidden immunity idols at their respective tribal council meetings, and could have executed them and saved themselves from being voted off (what did they do?- were deceived into not using their idols and got voted off duh)! Back to Erik - How could he possibly even fall for anything at all at this point? It just would defy all imagination - and defy it did!
The women continued the ruse by verbally challenging him at the tribal council meeting - and he fell for it hook, line & sinker and gave his immunity necklace to (wicked witch of the west) Natalie (who looks, breathes and conducts herself like that witch lol). All of the women, the jury members present (who are allowed to observe but not speak), host Jeff Probst, not to mention millions of viewers at home had to squelch their laughter. It truly defied not only your imagination, but logic as well. Needless to say, the women loved it, promptly ate him right up and spit him out by voting him off the island. Erik's reaction?- "You women drive me crazy." You think Erik?- DUH! The only consolation was that CBS had brought out his brother for a brief visit the previous week to watch a little of the game. Thank goodness he wasn't around last night, because it was just disgraceful and embarassing on every level.
Note - After writing this post, I'm adding EW's link (they also can't believe it) http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20198825,00.html?iid=top25-20080509-
I whole-heartedly agree that this has been the best season of Survivor yet, as I've been saying the same thing after each episode for the last four weeks.
New Holiday Invented...
Wear Your Shirt on Your Head Day
D has done this a couple of days this week, and finds it amusing. It's safe to say that she gets her fun spirit from her mother :D
May 8, 2008
No Socks Day
Today, in honor of a fun holiday - No Socks Day!
D conveniently decided to kick off her Crocs :)
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/May/nosocksday.htm
May 7, 2008
President Bush's Helicopter Pilot...
is also from Merrimack!
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/NEWS01/503341825
Perhaps in the future D will be a future president's helicopter pilot (and by then, may there have been not only multiple female presidential helicopter pilots, but female presidents as well)!
Near Tragedy
There was a near tragedy yesterday, right where this photo was taken of one of D and my pleasant bike rides. Apparently, the 24-year old father was unloading boxes from a car into a garage while his 3 & 6-year old daughters were running around. The girls then went into the car alone, and it's suspected that the younger one (who looks like D) took the car out of gear. Very scarily, they rolled back into the pond. The Dad went chasing right after them and got them out without being harmed (thank God).
When I was about 4 or 5, I was staying with my aunt and she took me to the store and left me alone in the car while she ran into the store (to probably get cigarettes - people & their cigarettes)! While I did not intentionally take the car out of gear, it started to roll back into a busy street. I was too young and scared to jump out, but luckily someone had seen it and ran over to stop it in time. I think that my aunt did not want me to tell my mother, because she said that "your mother is going to kill me" (we told her MANY years later lol). That's another issue - You have to be so careful with who you allow to babysit your kids, relatives included! Since I was pregnant with D, easily 85% of the tragedies that I hear involving kids who were being watched by someone other than their parents, were being watched by relatives over non-relatives. I remember one particular trimester of my pregnancy, there were sad news stories of kids accidental deaths, in which one after the other were being watched at the time by their grandmothers and uncles.
Also, after D had done something naughty last month while her Dad was right there (watching a movie), I had a discussion with him to drive the point home that, no matter what it is you're doing - watching a movie, doing yard work - that when you're a parent of a little one, you have to watch both the movie and your little one at the SAME TIME; do the yard work WHILE still watching your little one, etc. He seemed to grasp the magnitude of it a little more afterwards.
When I became a parent, I soon found out there's no getting to zone out and watch a movie straight through any more; getting to do all the house work and chores without keeping an eye on the young one. It's hard and it slows you down, but when it comes to your child's safety, that's just the way it is!
And trust me, when those girls had climbed into that car alone yesterday, I would have seen it and ordered them right out!
Here's another scary story/warning involving children -
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16184405/detail.html
Speaking of The Color of Money...
Tom Cruise celebrated '25 years in Film' with Oprah this week -
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200805/20080505/slide_20080505_350_103.jhtml
Oprah also brought up his couch jumping when he was last on her show, to which Tom replied (multiple times) that Oprah "egged him on" (I didn't see it that way). When I saw the show with the couch jumping a couple of years ago, I thought it was a fun moment and didn't think it was bizarre or think anything negative about it. He was expressing how he felt about having met Katie and being in a relationship with her. A man jumping in joy over being in a relationship with you is not such a bad thing.
Where I think he did deserve the heat that he got was when he started preaching about post-partum depression and Brooke Shields, and telling Matt Lauer that he was "glib." I also couldn't believe it when, still sort of enemies at the time, both Tom's daughter and Brooke's daughter were born at the same hospital on the same day. There was some sort of karma happening there if you ask me!
May 5, 2008
Fabulous 5 de Mayo/Dirty Money
I like the color purple, and am glad that it's been incorporated into the new $5 dollar bill. While those new bills look pretty however, what came out all over Boston news stations shortly after was that, your money is probably dirty!-
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS/804110348/-1/NEWS
Christmas Tree Shop Fun
$47 worth of stuff, including a decorative flower pot, photo night lights, solar moon yard stakes, ice cream bowl (hey, I should be in one of their real customers commercials ;)
My new cutting board
and when you're the Mom of a little 2 & 1/2 year old girl, there could not be a more perfect flower pot to put on your lawn than a (big) little girl flower pot (I got the last girl one :) The flowers are from Home Depot; D loves them and often takes the time to stop and smell them. http://www.christmastreeshops.com/
May 4, 2008
Home Depot Fun
Last Sunday after going out for breakfast...
John Deere & Deirdre :)
Mickey & Minnie =)
May 3, 2008
Food Shopping Fun
Pretty flowers at the entrance...
Pretty artificial trees in the produce department...
Pretty cakes at the bakery (with D mid-bite cookie in fun car/cart)...
The Happy End (a 50 cent Superball :)
AMP V. G2
My favorite energy drink is Mountain Dew AMP (which I really could have used the last couple of nights)! I also like Gatorade's G2, which is essentially Gatorade with less calories.
Suzy Q V. Little Debbie
While J has been suspiciously on a Suzy-Q's kick lately (lol) I've never had one. There was one pack left, and I was thinking about trying them; I thought he wouldn't mind as he could fall back on his Double Decker Oatmeal Creme Pies =) Then I remembered that I had recently bought Little Debbie Brownies (I hadn't had them in a long time and those things are good). So Suzy-Q was saved by Little Debbie :D
*I was really glad that I didn't take that last snack pack because, at the end of a wicked long day when you just want to get home but can't, because you've encountered another horrendous accident (the 2nd accident that we've been trapped behind in less than two weeks)- http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16147750/detail.html
and are stuck on the highway with everyone outside of their cars for over an hour, have the police back hundreds of cars up on the highway (which I've never seen before) and tell you to drive the wrong way down the highway and seek an alternate route - sometimes all you need is a hug and a Suzy-Q when you do finally make it home (3 hours later)!
Please drive safe out there. In both accidents, both of the drivers who died lost control of their vehicles. The first accident that we saw two weeks ago today, was while driving home after a beautiful day in Boston- http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/15933576/detail.html
It sent chills down your spine to, again, see the driver on the other side of the highway that he had not been traveling on. You hoped for the best, but at the same time, knew in your heart that there was no way they could have survived. So sad! The motorcycle accident was a Ducati, which I had never seen before. Then when I was walking from the playground with D last Friday, someone on a Ducati rode by us. It was bittersweet to see one for the first time not in pieces. It made me think of the other unfortunate motorcyclist, and I felt like he was riding by in spirit...
*Sadly, the same-type driver losing control and being killed accidents are just not letting up!-
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16189722/detail.html
May 2, 2008
More Playground Fun
I took these photos last Friday, when the weather was (a little) nicer than today! This was Deirdre's 4th playground in April (not four visits, but the 4th different playground; the visit total is greater :) In the photo above, D is climbing up the steps (in jean skirt), while her pal Abby in pink pants trails close behind. You could not pry them apart, and they went down the slide together about 50 times. Abby's Mom and I thought it was cute.
D about to get some company at the wheel.
I was able to talk D into taking a walk down the street to the neighborhood store for some drinks; and we used two wooden spoons to share a little strawberry sundae :)
Of course after we were done, the icecream truck came by, but we were very happy with both our choices at the store and our fun time at the playground!
Where is Dylan Dreyer & Deirdre?
...watching seals at New England Aquarium's touch tank!
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/special_edition/BO77680/
http://www.neaq.org/
April 30, 2008
Holy Moly/May May
I had 59 posts in April, or 60 if you count this one ;) The month of March, though one day longer, still holds the record at 62 :) PLUS 71 posts, also in April, on my other Red Sox/sports blog; that makes a grand total of 130 (holy moly). Note - Both the Red Sox & the Celtics won tonight (whoot)!
In light of all those posts and victories, I've decided to take May 1st off :D I'll see if D is also willing to give me the day off, though that's kind of doubtful ;) Not in doubt however, is getting tomorrow night off, as D's Dad will be watching her so I can go out (insert whooting again). I'm also celebrating - Mothers' Day a couple of weeks early =)
May May (lol) be even nicer than April turned out to be!
Boston Swan Boats Opening Day '08
D waiting in line...
It was a long line on Opening Day of course.
D spots and points to duck (quack-quack :)
http://www.swanboats.com/new/welcome.shtml
April 29, 2008
Boston Public Garden 06 & 08
D about to cross from the Common over to the Public Garden recently (with pretzel in hand :)
April 27, 2008
North End's Pizzeria Regina/Day & Night 06
I took the photos on different days of course, but you can tell that we must like the pizza! We've eaten there a half-dozen times, and there's always a line outside (day or night) because both the pizza is good and the place is small! Henry Winkler recently dined there (according to the Herald's Inside Track). Hopefully "The Fonz" didn't have to wait and/or got a little less gruff waitress (they are forever gruff)- lol.
http://www.tmz.com/2008/04/28/woman-to-winkler-make-my-happy-day/
April 26, 2008
Aeroballoon '06
Here I make my way toward balloon (in blue leggings & ponytail :)
Up, up & away - It was a little nervewracking up there (300'), but I would go up again!
http://www.aeroballoon.com/