Back at the Beach

This was my day, and I plan on a rerun tomorrow.

My Week In Florida Begins

I arrived in Florida today to perfect weather, and it is supposed to stay beautiful all week.  Shane has to go on a business trip, but is meeting me down here later in the week.

Don't be jealous, but here's the forecast for the week in Punta Gorda:

Sun Feb 20 Sunny 82° 54° 0% 82°F Mon Feb 21 Sunny 82° 57° 0% 82°F Tue Feb 22 Partly Cloudy 81° 55° 0% 81°F Wed Feb 23 Mostly Sunny 83° 54° 10% 83°F Thu Feb 24 Sunny 82° 56° 0% 82°F Fri Feb 25 Sunny 82° 54° 0% 82°F Sat Feb 26 Partly Cloudy 80° 55° 10% 80°F

Elaine Comes Over and Goes Ape

Our friend, Elaine, came over tonight and we celebrated Valentine's Day.  We went out for Indian food and it had an odd effect on Elaine.  This may look silly, but we nearly had strokes laughing about this.  It takes so little to amuse some of us.

Dr. Weil's 5 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

I have been drinking green tea at work like crazy lately.  I like it without any sugar or sweetner of any sort.  It is very relaxing.  It also has another effect that other warm liquids seems to have in that it triggers a certain need to go to the bathroom.  Sorry... TMI.  Anyway, Dr. Weil just tweeted the 5 reasons to drink green tea, so I swiped them and printed it below.  It is from his blog. BTW, my green tea is decaf.  

5 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

Looking for a simple resolution to improve your overall health? Start drinking green tea. My beverage of choice, green tea is a potent source of catechins - healthy antioxidants that can inhibit cancer cell activity and help boost immunity. Need more reasons to drink green tea? It can also:

1. Lower cholesterol levels and rates of heart disease
2. Help protect against bacterial infections
3. Promote joint health and stronger bones
4. Reduce inflammation
5. Enhance the effects of antibiotics, even against drug-resistant bacteria and “superbugs”

Green tea is available in a wide range of varieties - introduce yourself by substituting a cup of green tea for a cup of coffee and you will soon be enjoying the health benefits of this delicious beverage! Learn to appreciate the subtle fragrance of good-quality green tea and use tea time to unwind, meditate and take respite from your stress du jour.

This is my gay birds teacup. 

Where In the World Is Shane?

I don't think this one will be too difficult to get.  It was just a train ride from here and he went and returned in the same day.  It's New York City.  We were just there this past weekend, but Shane had to go back today for the day.

My Favorite Part of the Grammys-Mumford & Sons

Valentine Dinner at Home--Happy VD!

This is how we celebrated VD.  Shane cooked and I cleaned up.  The menu included a boneless pork chop, baked potato and steamed green beans.  We drank a bottle of Starmont cabernet sauvignon (2007).  Dessert was chocolate ice cream.  We love sitting in the the bay window and Maude always joins us.  It was a nice evening. Hope you had a good VD too.

I Love Me Some Mama Cass

As Sammy says, "You all know the most fantastic lady of the now sound." Born Ellen Cohen in Baltimore, MD, she grew up outside of Washington, DC, in Alexandria, VA, where she renamed herself Cass.  I love me some Mama.   

We See Spider-Man--Turn Off the Dark

Shane and I went to see Spider-Man today and it is not as bad as recent critics would have you believe. It wasn't the greatest show either, but it was not boring.

If you are a kid expecting non-stop action, you may be dissapointed.  It is a musical after all and they stop the action for a U2ish song every once in a while. There were lots of restless kids in the crowd  making lots of noise--mostly from eating and drinking during love songs.

What I did like was the staging. I sat in the front row of the lowest balcony, aka The Flying Circle. Several times during the show Spidey would fly across the orchestra seats and land on a platform about 6 feet away. That was pretty impressive. The sets were pretty amazing. One especially amazing one was a horizontal skyscraper showing the street below as if the audience was hanging out the window. It was worth seeing the show just for the visual effects. I assume that is the work of the director, Julie Taymor.

A few of the songs were fairly good. You could easily recognize they were Bono and The Edge songs a mile away. They often started with the familiar U2 intro. Although, one of the best musical moments in the show is the Green Goblin singing "I'll Take Manhattan," not a U2 song. I won't be buying the soundtrack.

The show is too long and the story ends with a whimper when it should have some sort of twist or surprise. The story could be much better.  There is not even a point when Mary Jane learns of Spider-Man's identity. The first act is much better than the second.

I wouldn't see it again, but I'm glad I saw it. I'm glad I had the seat I had--it was a great seat. Shane sat in a side box and he also liked his view. I was worried whether he was going to like the show, buy i think he liked it more than i did.  If you go, don't get a rear orchestra seat or you'll miss a lot of the action. I would recommend the Flying Circle, side boxes, or front center orchestra--in that order.

Elaine's Doesn't Serve Lunch

We are in NYC for the day and Shane wanted to take a cab up town so we
could eat at Elaine's. Perhaps he should have done more research, as
Elaine's is not open for lunch. He and my two nieces, Megan and
Nicole, can't hide their disappointment.

Lunch with Mom in Havre de Grace

I had the day off today, so I took the train north last night to visit my mom. I took her to the Tidewater Grill on the river in Havre de Grace, MD. This shot was the view from our table. We both had crabcake sandwiches. It was good! Those are real geese. Shane is coming up and we're driving up to New York City to see Spider-Man on Saturday.

The Human Centipede--Yes, I Really Watched This

I'm not proud that I watched this movie, but it was available for free on Netflix, so... what the hay. It was the only film I've seen available on Netflix that had a one star rating. It is such a ridiculous film that it is hard to really not laugh at it. The movie is chocked full of cliches... the trampy girls whose car breaks down outside the evil doctor's home... the evil laugh of the crazy doctor at the suggestion he is crazy... the Japanese man who regrets that he can't hold in his BM when the girl surgically attached to ass is forced to eat the result... all that sort of thing. It was a train wreck I had to see.

Don't Look for Me on Jeopardy

I love trivia.  I play Qrank everyday and have been known to enjoy a game of Trivial Pursuit.  It should come as no surprise that I like to watch the occasional episode of Jeopardy.

Several weeks ago, Jeopardy promoted that you could try out for the show by taking the contestant test online.  I thought, "what the heck."  So, I signed up and took the test last night.

It consisted of 50 questions in which you had to type in the answer within 15 seconds, including reading the question.  I'm not expecting a call to try out for the show.  I did horribly.  I'm not sure how many questions I got right, but it wasn't that many--maybe 20.  It was hard.

I had seen the movie, District 9, but I couldn't remember the country in Africa where it took place.  It was South Africa.  I am very familiar with the choreographer of Chicago and subject of All that Jazz, but couldn't think of his name in 15 seconds--Bob Fosse.  Some of the stuff they asked, I just had no idea.  If they asked about TV sitcoms, I might have had a chance.  So much for my dream of being the next Ken Jennings.

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #275

Stop that bangin' or that will be the only bangin' you'll be doing!  

This is my submission for the the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #275.  Let me know if you come up with a caption too! 

Breakfast for Dinner Undoes Gym Workout

I love pancakes!  The lighting in the restaurant don't make them look as delicious as they were.  They were delicious!  The scrambled eggs and hash browns also were delish!  We ate at Ted's Bulletin on 8th Street, SE.  It's sort of a diner.  Shane had a burger of course.  Food is good, but the place is loud.  I went to the gym and ran 3 miles today too--a lot of good that did.

Super Shredder Sunday

Shane and I spent most of the day... I'm talking HOURS... going
through our files and getting rid of old papers. We bought a new
shredder yesterday and gave it quite a workout. We have generated six
large garbage bags of shredded trash--I'm talking big black Super
thick trash bags. The Super Bowl is on this evening, but on Super
Shredder Sunday, we get rid of some of our clutter. Shane just found
another pile to go through. Woo Hoo!!!

Sand and Water by Beth Nielsen Chapman

Zack Wahls' Speech Defending Gay Marriage

Skippidy Doo Dah, Thank You Lord for Big Love

Big Love is back on HBO for its final season.  We love this show.  Spoiler alert if you haven't seen the first two episodes of this season, but Bill got his wives each a new gun for Christmas.  I'm guessing one of the kids finds one of the guns and creates some havoc before the series ends.  
This is one of our favorite clips from the show.  Rhonda sings the Donna Fargo hit, "Happiest Girl In the Whole USA."  It was quite a while ago in the series.  Rhonda's foster mother (playing the piano) persuaded her to make the appearance to talk about polygamy.  Roman is recovering from being shot by lackeys of Hollis Greene -- who believed it was Roman who poached Weber Gaming, when it was in fact Bill.  Bill is sleeping alone because he had a fight with the wives.

Today Maude Was My Co-Worker

This was the first day I have ever teleworked.  I spent most of the day working in bed on my MacBook.  I was amazed at how much work I actually got done.  The only distraction I had was a yellow ball of fur sleeping most of the day next to me.  Maude (above) certainly enjoyed having company all day.  The only downside was that by the end of the day I was going a little stir-crazy from lack of human contact.  Overall though, I liked working from home and hope I get to do it more.