I might be unpatriotic but...

I am SO over Michael Phelps. He's everywhere and his hayday is OVER. Yes I know he is a decorated American Hero but seriously what did he REALLY do for us? The economy still sucks and all the Olympics did was make this country patriotic for about 1 month then we all went back to being typical selfish Americans.
My hatred was spurned by last weeks' episode of Entourage. Vinnie was walking down the streets of NYC and ran into Michael Phelps - quite literally. I know that he is just NOW showing up on Entourage because it took his agents this long to get him on a show that has been pre-written so far that they had to probably make a scene up for him to appear in. I've been ok with seeing him in Rock Band commercials even though I don't think he has much right to stand beside such greats as A-Rod, Kobe and Tony Hawk. Yes I know he has broken every single Olympic swimming record further proving to us that he is in fact half man half dolphin and his body has the eerie shape of a bottle opener...
But truth-be-told in 3 more months people will be even more over him. This is what I consider abusing your 15 minutes of fame. We've all forgotten the rest of the Olympic winners why can't he just go and disappear into oblivion like Bruce Jenner and let his kids be the ridiculous ones in the family?
His appearance on SNL was embarassing to a point that I couldn't even stand to watch clips and thankfully Entourage had enough sense to not let him talk or else he will expose the man-child that he really is by opening his mouth.
Seriously Phelps, you don't belong with such greats so get off TV, shave your legs and get back in the pool.

Puppy Mills

Today, The Humane Society of the United States releases the results of a shocking investigation revealing that pet store chain Petland Incorporated is the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills.

So in summation - do not shop there and tell everyone you know not to.
here is the link to the map of stores so if you know anyone in that area tell them DO NOT SHOP

http://www.petland.com/FindPetlandStores/FindPetlandStoresUnitedStates.htm

HUGH

If you don't know that I am a HUGE fan of Hugh Jackman I suggest you find my posting where I was deeply saddened by the cancellation of his last show - Viva Laughlin. It was a terrific show and they cancelled it after only 2 episodes. But I digress. My day was brightened when my friend, Andrew sent me a link to this months' People Magazine and I saw that Hughie was voted the Sexiest Man Alive 2008! Hooray!! He is yummy delicious and for any guys that think he's a wuss may I remind you he was Wolverine!!

Why fall sucks

Ah the joys of home ownership...and no not townhome or condo ownership but HOME ownership. One of the reasons we fell in love with our new house was the big ass backyard - we got a total of 1/2 acre which around here is kinda of a big deal. We thought it was just great, the dogs can run free around the backyard, the front is quite lovely with a birdbath and a small holly tree - blah blah. 2 weeks ago Jason and his brother-in-law Steve came riding over from his dad's house on mowers and took about 2 hours and got all the leaves together, put them in a small pile and were done with it.
Well this weekend we tackled the leaves about 11AM and didn't finish until 6ish...DEATH
It started badly with some guy that our neighbor hired to do his lawn (brilliant idea in retrospect) who decided to lecture Jason and I on our lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. all things that we don't even OWN but are borrowing, along with how we were piling our leaves by the side of the street. By about his 3rd interruption on my mowing efforts I finally looked at him and yelled "WHAT, WHAT NOW?" I don't think he got the point because he came over with his big, fancy stuff and did half our yard for us. Wow. I couldn't believe he wasn't the least bit offended by me and my attitude. I think he got me back a bit though - he came by and literally showered me with leaves shooting out from his giant John Deere thingy.
But the backyard is a different story. The back has 3 times the BIG ASS trees as the front, a ton of exposed roots and piles of dog shit that have been covered by inches of leaves.
By this time after Jason lectured me on being on the lookout for such roots he hit a big one with his dads mower so bad that he broke it beyond repair. Oops.
Long story short - I ran over so much dog shit it was stuck to 3 wheels and turning over and over sent a fresh wave of stench towards my nose. Then my mower ran out of gas and the cap was turned on so tightly even Jason couldn't get it loose. It took us FOREVER and we didn't even finish. We left a big pile in the back and 1 in the driveway...after being forced to rake and manually drag a tarp covered with pounds of leaves to the front yard.
UGH - paying someone $1,000 for this would SO be worth it...my back, arms and entire body are so sore and stiff it's not even funny.
LEAVES ARE THE WORST and being the eco-friendly person that I am I am very upset that I had dreams of burning down my entire backyard forest but good god it is tempting.

Even hockey brings out the sleeze

Last week we went to an impromptu hockey game - no the game wasn't but our appearance was a bit last minute. Jason's dad has box seats so whenever there's a chance to go we feel bad letting the tickets go to waste. So far the games have been pretty uneventful until the last time - first off the Caps actually won which was a feat among itself. But even more fascinating was this girl 2 rows in front of us. I am assuming and hoping that she was wasted. She was with a guy who I am pretty sure she was dating but whenever they scored a goal she ran up to the security guards and did a little rump shaking dance up on them. It was majorly disturbing and she was the biggest fan of the Caps which she demonstrated by pumping her fists in the air and standing up and dancing in her seat oh yes and the ass rubbing.

I tried a few times to get a picture of this monstrosity of a person but all I got was this:

She's the person in the middle with her glass in one hand pointing very suggestively towards the rink with her 1 arm over her head dancing.

Sofia Coppola

My dear friend Andrew introduced me to the BEST DRINK EVER

Sofia Coppola is following in the steps of her father and getting into the wine business. I will say I am a big fan of Francis Ford Coppola wine. But when he told me about the mini Champagnes that come in cans with their own individual bendy straws I was SOLD.

I bought 2 packages of these lovely, pink canisters of happy last weekend - by Monday it was all gone.

If you are so inclined you can order it at Whole Foods, which is what we did - they do carry it at the Whole Foods by Andrew's house in the city but I'm not sure where else you can get it. But that's not my problem, its yours. HA

But the name is Sofia Blanc de Blancs and you can also purchase them on the website at:

http://www.sofiamini.com/site.php

Enjoy!

Why computers are the Devil

Now don't get me wrong I don't know what we would do all day if we didn't have computers. I often wonder whilst watching 80's movies and I see a big corporate executive what they do all day without a computer on their desk. But when they malfunction that is when ze devil comes out. For some reason my CD-ROM drive decided to eat itself and not work.
So one of our IT guys comes to my desk about 2 weeks ago and tries looking up some software malfunction code on the internet - all the while I'm thinking "can't I do this myself?" Then I suggest replacing said CD drive which wasn't the solution. So it turns out I have stumped them in IT - this is something they don't know what to do. So the solution is to replace my entire tower. This was not as easy as it sounds. Then I couldn't get into any of my own documents nor anything on my desktop - grrrr.
Now 2 days later I am still having things reinstalled - looking for archived emails, searching for files, blah blah. All my settings were lost, my Outlook is a mess - in summation I am NOT a happy worker and am behind almost an entire day from watching them work on my computer then spending the time to restore all my settings and it's not even close to being done.
BLAH technology.
One good thing happened today - I found a new box of soft tissues in the workroom and they are now mine. The little things give me pleasure.

Retail Me Not

As is my duty to share all the lovely little secrets to saving money I had to share this one. Whenever shopping online make sure to go to http://www.retailmenot.com/ and search for the retailer you are buying from. Chances are that you'll find a coupon. I've had luck with a lot of them and the ones that don't work what's the downside? You tried to save and even if you only find 1 coupon code that helps you save 10% at Amazon my thoughts are the more the better!

$1 donation

I made my first purchase from Uncommon Goods yesterday and was even more delighted with them when they gave me choices of charities to donate $1 of my purchase to. They included Americares which gives help to the victims of Hurricane Katrina - hey remember that? I still have it fresh on my mind from my trip this summer to New Orleans and even more the sight of people still living in a city of tents under the highway.


Defenders of Wildlife - which this time was my charity of choice, I think the name pretty much sums up what they do. And a great one for all you New Yorkers - Comprehensive Development, Inc. which gives support to NYC public highschool students.


I am trying to find something for everyone from this site for Christmas and I like that I can feel like I'm helping by shopping!!

This is what I got yesterday and anyone with a baby boy knows how essential these can be:
For the Sprinkling Wee-Wee - PEE-PEE TEEPEES

Birmingham, Raleigh-Durham, NY or Boston - Mental Floss is coming to you!!

From this weeks' Mental Floss:

If you live in the vicinity of Birmingham, Raleigh-Durham, New York or Boston and you're looking for something to do, come out to a Mental Floss History of the World book release event. I feel like an FM disc jockey saying this, but Mangesh and I will be at the Diamond Bar in Brooklyn tonight (Tuesday). We'd love to meet you, and we're offering free nametags.

Some good advice for you

I read this article on 401(k)'s today - I think it's pretty good and worth sharing!

http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20081107005758/schwab-offers-six-tips-for-401k-investing-in-todays-volatile-market.html

The best place to shop for the Holidays

I got a catalog in the mail yesterday from Uncommon Goods - http://www.uncommongoods.com/
and flipping through it I started earmarking half the pages for gift ideas. Not only are they really different items (hence uncommon) but a lot of them are recycled materials! Cool things I found:
tin wall art make from old cookie tins, flip-flop mats made from rubber generated by sandal factories, recycled windshield glasses - glasses made from old car windshields and windows.

Most of the prices are really good, yes some are more expensive than I would think for certain items but the difference is in the gift!!