Happy Anniversary to Me (and Robert)!

Well, today is Robert's and my 11th anniversary of dating. Unfortunately, Robert has been swamped at work and I have been sick all week so the date sort of sneaked up on us and we don't have anything fun or romantic planned. How sad is this - we aren't even married yet and we're already at the point where anniversaries are morphing into somewhat nothingburger events! :o( Actually, I don't think that's true most years; this year is more the exception, not the rule. In any event, to celebrate this momentous occasion, I have put together a little slideshow of Robert and I over the years. I wanted to make it a bit better than it is but, unfortunately, most of our "good" photos are in Robert's scrapbook and I tacked those puppies down like nobody's business! It definitely was not about lifting them off and scanning them. So, I made do with the photos I could grab and scan. Enjoy!

Puppy Cam

I am suffering some serious puppy pangs lately... I want a puppy!!!!! Mew. :o(

I came across this site on EW.com and have had it up in one of my browser tabs all morning. The puppies haven't done much yet - they lay around sleeping mostly - but I am still transfixed by them for some reason. Check'em out:

Here's some info on the puppies from the site:

Tune in daily to see the cutest Shiba Inu pups... EVER! ;)

The 6 Shiba Inu pups (3 boys and 3 girls) turned 4 weeks old on November 4th.

Girls:
- Autumn (Purple collar)
- Ayumi (Yellow collar)
- Amaya (Red collar)

Boys:
- Aki (Green collar)
- Akoni (Black collar)
- Ando (Blue collar)

Biscuits & Butter: The Photos

I just started setting it up today but I have a new photo sharing site for you to peruse if you'd like - Biscuits & Butter: The Photos. It's hosted by Shutterfly and it's pretty cool. I only have a few albums up now and I'm sure I'll be twiddling around with it for a while to come but what I like about it is you (the viewer) can download any of my photos. Not that that's something that comes up terribly often but I know that every once in a while, someone will have a great photo on their site that I would like a copy of. Now you can save one yourself! Me likey. And - it's free. :o) Woohoo! (The photo at left is a test run of the downloading feature... I wanted to see how the quality turned out. Not too bad, right? This is me in Chicago this past July, enjoying my dream come true - a frosted chocolate chip cookie cake slice. Oh, it was heavenly and something I'd always wanted. (I know - I dream small. Sue me!))

Chick Lit Revealed

1. The Devil Wears Prada
2. The Nanny Diaries
3. The First Wives Club
4. Bridget Jones’ Diary
5. In Her Shoes
6. PS I Love You
7. The Wedding Date
8. Must Love Dogs
9. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
10. Just Like Heaven

Kudos to Christina!!!! Not only did she take the time to venture a guess (thank you, by the way - my heart was warmed by the participation!!) but she got #s 2, 5 and 9 correct. Fantastic!

Halloween @ The Bay

This year I decided to take my camera and snap a few photos of my department so that you all have a better understanding of to whom I am referring when I mention Coworker X. (You're welcome.) As I mentioned in an earlier post, the theme for this year's party was 'Celebrity Look-a-Likes' and I had not intention of dressing up. My boss really wanted me to go as Marcia Brady but I refused. Then I mentioned that Christina said I look like Helen Hunt and a bunch of people agreed. But what the f&%$ does a Helen Hunt costume look like?! 1994?!!! C'mon now. So, I just wore my festive garb as I'd planned... only I made myself a "Hello, my name is ____" tag and wrote in Helen Hunt to be a smartass. Some people thought it was funny but most didn't get it. Oh well. I still looked Halloween-y, I think.

This is me and Gladys, my one actual friend in the department (as opposed to coworker or acquaintance). We've been friends since I first started at The Bay (I posted a few photos of her and her daughter in my birthday post earlier this year.) She went for the not-a-real-costume-but-still-festive look, too. My headband got a lot of raves - I made it myself from a Martha Stewart kit I bought at Michaels. Woohoo! ;o) And check out my name tag; you can't even tell it is homemade!! I got skills.


Gladys - and everyone else in my office* - loved the Barack-o-lantern and wanted her photo taken with it.


I helped set-up the room for the pot luck...

Beth is on the left; she won the costume contest. Gladys is on the right; she decided at the last minute to dress up as Cruella de Vil. Her hair looked great but OY was it toxic!! It really fogged up our work area something fierce.

Here's a stealth shot of Big Mel (on the left). Anita, dressed as Ugly Betty (but sans her glasses at the moment), is on the right and one rung below the big boss in the department.

Here are the three pumpkins entered in the carving contest. A nine-year-old carved the one on the left, Robert (obviously) did the center pumpkin and our resident artist carved the one on the right. And I'm not being facetious when I say 'resident artist' - the woman that carved the third pumpkin really IS an awesome artist... I don't know why her pumpkin was so generic. In any event, her pumpkin won. I was (and am) confused. I told Robert one of three things happened: (1) the pumpkin was too political; (2) it was so above the rest of the field that it would've seemed unfair to win; or (3) people thought it was Pat (the winner)'s pumpkin. Seven out of ten people that would comment on the pumpkin in my presence praised Pat and I would then have to correct them. Lots of people told me mine should've won, though, so I guess I'm happy with that. And the prize wasn't money - it was dark chocolate-covered nougat (blech!) - so I'm OK with that, too. :o)

And, finally, here I am looking festive at my similarly festive desk. I look like a winner!! Actually, now everyone's pestering me to have Thanksgiving decorations for my desk. I'm going to have to do some scouting this weekend, I guess - Thanksgiving stuff is hard to find!

* One woman did make the comment that she didn't know such political pumpkins were allowed on State property. Ugh. She's a big Hilary fan, though, so she was probably just bitter. Suck it, lady! You can carve yourself a Hilary face in '12 or '16, okay?

Amazing Race Recap - week 6

Here is the (belated) recap of Sunday night's Amazing Race episode:

In this relatively dull season, I will fall for any glimmer of hope that next week's episode will be a better one. So last week, when The Amazing Race touted that Ken would finally reach his breaking point with Tina, I thought, "Now there's something I'd like to see!" As a result, I watched every one of their interactions this week with gleeful interest, wondering which of Tina's pecking comments would be the one that would finally make Ken snap. The episode began with Ken repeating his weekly mantra that this race will show them whether they can continue as a couple and for God's sake, stop saying that and start fighting! And from that moment on, the producers provided a time-lapsed montage of what it is like to spend a day with Tina: Stop that. Shove over. You don't know what you're doing. Move that bag. Being married to Tina is like being married to a cattle prod.

When they entered the travel agency in Delhi at the beginning of the episode, for example, Tina really let him have it, belittling him until she finally commandeered his computer and snipped, "Sit over here and eat or something," to get him out of her way. It reminded me of Dennis Farina's line to Philip Baker Hall in Midnight Run, "Eat a sandwich, drink a glass of milk, do some f---ing thing." And yes, being married to Tina is probably a lot like being married to a Dennis Farina character. She continued to browbeat Ken for the entire episode, and just as I was wondering if I was remembering last week's coming attraction correctly, Tina pushed Ken too far about moving a bag in a cab and he yelled, "Tina, get in!"

That was it? That was the "breaking point"? That says a lot either about how subservient Ken is or about how hyperbolic the producers are, and I suspect it's the latter. Look at the other evidence from this week: The logline of the episode in the paper today was something along the lines of "One team's work on a task is destroyed by a windstorm," which referred to a few of Dan's clothes getting blown over in the laundry detour. That was the best drama they could find to sell this episode? Why not go with "Two opposing teammates begin a torrid fling"? Sure, all that happened was Starr and Dallas referred to a mutual attraction, one which manifested itself in one teeny remark at the travel agency. But hell, if Dan's blown laundry is being sold as an action-packed moment, then Starr and Dallas' flirtation probably qualifies as a porn movie.

All right, I'm getting ahead of myself yet again. I should have set the scene: Delhi, India. I would have bet that unique locale would be the site of some very exciting challenges, but you wouldn't have known it from the opening roadblock: spray-painting natural-gas-powered cabs green. Yes, it looked grueling, but it's hardly worldview-widening or intrinsically Indian. You could have staged this roadblock at a Pep Boys.

This roadblock did reinforce one of the most long-standing Amazing Race rules: The angriest, most mutually destructive couples are the most likely to use the word "babe." "Babe" is actually a euphemism for "a--hole." When Sarah was trying to paint the car, Terence hung over her, giving snippy, useless advice that boiled down to "You should do this faster, or we will lose this leg and it will all be your fault." And it all ended with "babe." As did her responses, which were a more polite variation on "Shut the f--- up." Babe.

Meanwhile, the frat guys, who started this leg last, managed to hit the roadblock second, but finish first. Finally, they were revealing themselves as the power players that they are! They've got brains...well, actually, after Andrew finished painting the car quickly, Dan said he was "da Vinci, Michelangelo, David, all rolled into one." Okay, David was a Michelangelo sculpture and not an artist, so maybe "brains" is a little strong. But hey, they've got wit! Oops, wait: When they just as quickly slipped out of first, unable to find a cab, Dan sulked about the divorcées overtaking them. He said they only got ahead because they were "semi-attractive," and Andrew chuckled like Beavis. Okay, so no wit. But they do have...uh, what do they have? Well, uh, that Andrew sure knows how to rock a bandanna like a 1973 roadie who has just fallen off the stage, right, ladies?

While the roadblock was lame, I have to give credit to the detour for creativity and local flavor. Most teams went for Launder Clothes, in which they had to press 20 articles of clothing with a charcoal-heated iron. Dallas aced the task; his mother said he was a "pro ironer," which is a sign of a mother who can find nothing wrong with her son. (And oh, you should see the way he peels an orange. If it were an Olympic event, he'd be the Michael Phelps of fruit!) The frat guys, on the other hand, were hopeless. Neither could iron; Dan harrumphed that he'd never done it in his life: "There's never any ironing going on in the frat house." I have a feeling that not much at all goes on in that frat house, which should leave plenty of time for ironing.

The divorcées were determined to overtake Nick and Starr, but weren't successful. (They were even successful in creating an international incident with their short shorts, as Nick had predicted/warned.) It seems like nobody can stop Nick and Starr, who finished first this leg. Their great skill at the race seemed to even flabbergast Phil, who, after bequeathing them their prize of electric cars, got confused and rambled, "You're in India, the wind is blowing, it's hot, you're team number one." I know they don't give Phil much to do, but is he now getting so bored that he's just pointing out random observations? He's going to turn into the Larry King of mats: "Why does this woman have a flaming pot on her head?...My shoes are too tight...I could go for a burrito right now, but no sour cream for this guy...You're team number three!"

The other half of the detour, Launder Money, was pure chaos. But perhaps that's because of the two teams who went for it: Ken-Tina and Terence-Sarah. First, they had to come up with ten bills that added up to 780 rupees, which necessitated getting correct change in the middle of the night. Both were finally able to do it, although Sarah's savior requested a surcharge: "Kiss?" Even though she quickly turned him down, I'm sure that Terence could very easily not only find a way to blame Sarah for it, but to sulk about it all the way to the pit stop: "You're here to kiss me, not to have other people want to kiss you."

After getting the money, they had to pin it to a necklace, then fight their way through a packed wedding celebration to hang it around the neck of a groom. That reception seemed less like a wedding and more like a mosh pit. All I could think when I watched it was "These people do a terrible Electric Slide."

Ultimately, the frat guys ended up in fifth place, where I assume Dan said, "That's what I'm talkin' about!" because that's what he always does. (As opposed to his pre-task go-to battle cry: "Let's do this!" Is he a brother in Alpha Beta Cliché-da?) Ken and Tina came in last, but were saved by a non-elimination leg. And we ended as we began, with Ken talking about how this was bigger than a race for him, it was a quest to save his marriage...and then he started to cry. It was a touching moment, and almost made me forgive him for not delivering on the freakout I'd been promised.

Then came the coming attractions for next week, with scenes of Kelly and Tina both having fits over apparently having paint balls shot in their face. Hey, that's gotta be good, right? Oh, God, I'm falling for it again...

Dang! I was all set to say goodbye to Ken(ny) and Tina!! I watched the final moments on mute (as I do every week to see who got Philiminated - Robert doesn't want to know, hence the muting) and it clearly looked like Eyebrows and ManWhore got the boot. They were CRYING for Pete's sake! But noooooooo. Stupid non-elimination round. Stupid mute!! Stupid crappy teams, giving me no one to root for... gah!!

Ayyyy! Puzzle 13: Chick Lit

Before I forget (in my flurry of posting today), here is this week's puzzle. It's all about 'chick lit on the big screen.' You only have to name the movie - not the book or the city or the actors, etc.

Barack-o-Lantern, Take 2

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days... I have been under the weather and, much to my chagrin, the blog does not update itself! So let me begin by going back to last Thursday night: as I mentioned in an earlier post, my department had a pot luck on Friday and part of the festivities included a pumpkin carving contest. Of course, I asked Robert to do mine and, of course, he said OK. Everyone at the office was quite taken with Robert's Barack pumpkin, so he definitely wanted to do another for the contest. However, he didn't want to do the same one he'd already done so he scouted out a harder template (at Barack's official pumpkin carving site, Yes We Carve). Being the big-headed, award-winning carver he is, he picked a difficult template - minimal cutting, lots of shaving. He set to work with a scraper and a box cutter and, two hours and many test lightings later, came up with this:

Not too shabby!! I took about a million photos of the darn thing because Robert was never satisfied wtih how the pictures came out... it was hard because it was either too dark without the flash or too bright with it. Hopefully, you can get the idea. I think it came out quite well - even if Robert was at first dismayed by the shortness of the pumpkin. (I told him he was the last person who should hold a grudge against something short! Sheesh!!)

Fugly!

Dang. Every time I try and update the template it turns out looking like ass! Crap. Give me a bit to tweak the site... hopefully, it'll look better by Monday or Tuesday. Until then - sorry!

Movie Morsels 41 - Iron Man 2

I actually read this yesterday but I didn't want to bump off my Halloween video from the top slot so I waited until today to post. Sorry! Anyway, EW.com has a bit more insight into the Terrence Howard Iron Man sequel saga:

When a summer blockbuster grosses more than $300 million, putting together a sequel is typically as simple as throwing buckets of money at your stars and signing a few pieces of paper. That hasn't been the case with Iron Man 2. It took months for Marvel Studios to lock in director Jon Favreau for the sequel. And reports that Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Col. Jim Rhodes — a supporting character who seemed poised for a big role in the follow-up after he muttered ''Next time, baby'' to Iron Man's steel suit — hint that IM2 isn't quite as infallible as the superhero at its center.

Hollywood insiders believe the exit stems from Terrence Howard's difficult behavior on the set of Iron Man. But those with intimate knowledge of the situation suggest a far more dramatic backstory: Howard was the first actor signed to the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid. That's right: more than Gwyneth Paltrow. More than Jeff Bridges. More than Robert Downey Jr. And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal. It didn't help that, according to one source, Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes. (Favreau could not be reached for comment, while Howard's publicist says: ''Terrence had a tremendous experience working on Iron Man.'')

As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux went to map out the sequel they found themselves minimizing Howard's story line. Once Marvel learned that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the actor's agents with a new and drastically reduced offer — a number that's similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie. The agents, according to sources, were so taken aback by this new figure — estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut — that they questioned it. Why did they blanch? Multiple sources say that Marvel execs never told Howard's reps that they had issues with the star's on-set conduct. (Marvel would not comment for this story.)

It's unclear whether Howard's team walked away first, or if Marvel ended the discussion at that point. Either way, the studio moved quickly to secure Cheadle and the story leaked out the next morning, Oct. 14. And alas for Howard, there will be no next time.

Interesting... what I am still having trouble grasping, however, is how on Earth Howard wound up making more money than nayone else on the first movie! I know he was the first to sign on but I really do not understand how everyone else's agents were OK with the way the pay went down. It may have been too late to reegotiate Howard's deal - but I don't see that Iron Man himself couldn't get his bit redone. Oh well. It is not for me to understand, I suppose. Bye bye, Terrence. No matter how or why this situation has come about, you lost. Big.