Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your holiday friends! Eat and be merry!

Finally, Jack is Back

If you’re a frequent reader, you know I have been obsessed with Jack in the Box opening in Denver. Last weekend Julian and I took a trip to their new store and it was everything I had hoped it would be. And crowded! I loaded up on Jack’s tacos and tried his new Steak and Cheese Ciabatta sandwich, which was excellent. I love all the little touches you can find at the box that other fast food chains just don’t get. When ordering you’ll be asked if you would like red or grilled onions on your sandwich or burger, then you get a choice of cheeses and you can eat it all up in their comfy lobbies that feature a modern design that includes flat screen TVs and fireplaces.

You can see all the pics from my Jack adventure by clicking here. I only ordered 4 tacos during my visit, so I think I’ll go back this weekend for another 10 or so. Don’t let the taco picture fool you – they are much-much tastier than they first appear!

Could it be true?

My Bloody Valentine, the royalty of Shoegaze, have announced dates for a reunion tour. So popular are these tours of bands that have been out of commission for years and years. I’m really disappointed that no US dates have been announced. Maybe this is a good thing because I would spend much-much money for tickets. (I won’t even quote a figure…) Also, I’m a little skeptical that the tour will even take place. Front man Mr. Shields has been promising a new album since Loveless was released back in 1991. “The album will be out this year…no next year…no next month…no next year…” With that note, Kevin is also promising a new album! Us fans have learned to get excited about these promises, but not keep our hopes up since they usually end up empty.  

Tagged!

November is national blog posting month (and national diabetes, novel writing, adoption, cholesterol counting, pepper, lung cancer awareness, peanut butter lover’s, epilepsy awareness, family care givers and hospice month, among others). I am part of the blog posting group at NaBloPoMo that is challenging bloggers to write daily for the entire month of November. Unfortunately I didn’t find out about this challenge until about mid-november, but am trying to catch up from there.

Yesterday Linda from Lines from Linda “tagged” me to share 7 odd or random things about myself. Here are my rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So without further ado, 7 odd and/or random things about me:

1. A couple friends can not get over the fact that I can’t drink milk with bubbles in it. I don’t even like talking about it really (which seems to make them want to talk about it all the more), but I am making an exception for this grand blogging event! When I was little I would make my mom slowly pour my milk with the glass at an angle, so no bubbles could develop. Ick!

2. I haven’t bought an album on cd for more than a decade. I listen to most music on my Ipod now, but purchase most of my music on vinyl.

3. I didn’t own a car or have a driver’s license until I was 24. Instead I walked or took public transportation everywhere. I would still take the bus around, but it is extremely difficult where I live now. A few months ago I asked the local transit agency to build me some routes from home to work and school and such, but each route required first getting to a bus stop that is 4-5 miles away, then getting into work late and leaving early. After thinking how I could work this for awhile, I decided my supervisors would not go for my proposed work schedule change.

4. Sometimes I like to listen to KRCC (my local radio station that plays NPR and PRI), but not for the content. I sometimes tune the stories out and concentrate on the tranquil and soothing voices of all those public radio reporters.

5. Most people (even some close friends) are surprised to hear I’m a pretty active feminist.

6.  I watched The Little Mermaid 287 times in my youth. When I was young my dad brought home a VCR one summer and the next summer bought us The Little Mermaid. I’m embarrassed to say I watched it a couple times a day for several months and even wrote out the entire movie script by pausing and unpausing the movie over and over and over. My mom wouldn’t let me bury this piece of history and gave the “script,” written in a cheap spiral notebook, to Julian a couple years ago. After laughing he thought this was pretty cute and was inspired to buy the anniversary DVD for me on Mother’s day this year. I eventually broke the news that I never planned on watching that movie again, for any reason, but ended up watching it with my kids for nostalgic reasons, influenced by guilt, making my mermaid watching total 288 viewings.

7. I hate, can’t stand and get really uncomfortable if I am the center of attention - good or bad.

And now for spreading the oddness…I’m tagging these fine folks:

Le Pen Quotiedien

JunkMonki N Magnus

Web Medya

Diary of a Southern Drama Queen

Welcome to My World

Mindless Mom Ramblings

Dublin City Girl

Holiday Eats

One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is the limited edition flavors of Dreyer’s Ice Cream, specifically Peppermint. I’m not a huge peppermint candy fan, but in ice cream this flavor is really refreshing. It reminds me of extra special Spumoni. I got my first batch of the season last month and picked up another batch this weekend. I had an idea to make Peppermint Ice Cream Milkshakes. Mmm. Strolling through Super Target, I found Starbucks offering their Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino in the take-home bottled version. I snagged those as well and the light bulb in my head went off. Peppermint Mocha Milkshakes. Fantastic!

More Wii Gaming

Julian has been obsessed with the new Super Mario Galaxy game now available for the Wii. The Mario release is always known as the true test of any new system. The controls are so smooth, even in 3-D, which can often be trouble with some games. And with me, actually. Movements in this game mirror the slightest turn of your hand, seamlessly. Of course, the graphics are beautiful and the game is just a lot of fun too, which explains the almost unbelievable 9.7 rating critics have given Super Mario.

We also got to try the new Simpson’s Wii game. It plays co-op style, so Julian and I have been addicted to it this weekend, but I am not as sure of the long term appeal for this one. I’m very sad actually, because the voice overs are so funny and the concepts are really innovative, but unlike Super Mario, the controls ruin this game. I spend a lot of time frustratingly adjusting the camera angle. Even so, any game that lets Homer run around gorging himself so that he can inflate into a big, bouncy, destructive balloon is going to win some points. Definitely worth some play time just for that.  

Music Matching

My pal Doug showed me the coolest site that I can’t believe I’ve been living without. At Music-Map you enter a band you like and a group of other bands you are sure to love ping pong across the screen, settling in areas in relation to how likely it is that you will like them, based on your original input. I made that sound a lot more complicated than it should have been, especially since the site is so simple, so try it out for yourself here. Thanks Doug!

Drive-Thru Blogging

Ever since I heard Jack in the Box was opening in Denver I have been frantically checking directory assistance for a phone number or date they would actually open their doors. Yesterday I did my daily check of their locations on their website and found the Colfax restaurant is now listed under Colorado – Hooray!

I also stumbled upon a section of their site that updates an A-Z list of drive-thru services you probably didn’t know existed.

A	Airline Check-in	Hawaiian Airlines Check-in (Honolulu, Hawaii)
B	Beer	Drive-Buy Convenience (Dusquene, Mo.)
C	Cigars & Cigarettes	Smoker Friendly (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
D	Dairy	Alta Dena Drive-Thru Dairies (Corona, Calif.)
E	Exotic Dancing	Climax Gentleman’s Club (New Alexandria, Pa.)
F	Flu Shot	Tulsa County Health Department (Tulsa, Okla.)
G	Gambling	Lone Star Park (Grand Prairie, Texas)
H	Hamburger	Jack in the Box (San Diego, Calif.)
I	Insurance	Baja-Mex Insurance (San Ysidro, Calif.)
J	Juice	Blenderz Juice ‘n’ Java (Bend, Ore.)
K	Kennel	Benchmark Pet Services (Reynoldsburg, Ohio)
L	Liquor	Ginger’s Drive-Thru Liquor (Boulder, Colo.)
M	Motel Check-out	Super 8 Motel (Westlake, Ohio)
N	Nursery	Evergreen Nursery (Spring Valley, Calif.)
O	Oil Change	Jiffy Lube (El Cajon, Calif.)
P	Prayer Booth	The Main Place Christian Fellowship (Tustin, Calif.)
Q	Quarry	Hanson Aggregates (San Diego, Calif.)
R	Recycling	The Recycling Center (Ft. Jackson, SC)
S	Sushi	Wok & Roll Teriyaki (Boulder, Colo.)
T	Tree	Shrine Drive-Thru Tree (Myers Flat, Calif.)
U	Utilities	Nevada Power Co. (Las Vegas, Nev.)
V	Volcano	Sulphur Springs (St. Lucia, UK)
W	Weddings	Little White Wedding Chapel (Las Vegas, Nev.)
X	X-ray	Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge (Pharr, Texas)
Y	Yogurt	Eats N Sweets (Scotrun, Pa.)
Z	Zoo	Virginia Safari Park (Natural Bridge, Va.)

In Salem, Oregon we used to have an attorney downtown that did drive-thru divorces. I don’t think they would make this list though, since they got shut down after appearing on Dateline!

Irresistable Craftiness

Ljcfyi just posted about a Hello Kitty Sewing Machine you can now find at Target.

This started me thinking about a friend of mine who thinks all my craftiness is intriguing, but a little unnatural. I’m going to call her “Paprika,” since not everyone wants their identity flashed all over the interwebs. Paprika swears she can’t be crafty or creative, but I swear just as adamantly that I could make her that way. Thank you Hello Kitty Sewing Machine – I don’t think she’ll be able to resist the temptation to make something cute anymore! Heck, I’m tempted to replace my own fancy-schmancy machine because this is so cute!  

R.I.P. Vic Mackey

If you’re living anywhere but a cave you have most likely heard of the Writer’s Guild Association going on strike. This has been a long time coming, so I am supportive. When I heard 24 would not be airing right away I was fine. When I heard more reality TV was headed our way, I said “Time to read more books, no big deal.” Only today did I realize that this strike will get in the way of The Shield’s final season. I think I’m going to cry…  Shield creator Shawn Ryan sent out an email to fellow television peers saying:”Tomorrow, we begin to film the Series Finale of The Shield. I think it’s the best script our writing staff has ever written. This is the show that made me. This is the show that is my baby. If the strike goes on longer than two weeks, I won’t be able to step on set for the final episode of the show. I won’t have a writer on set, as I have had on every episode since the fourth episode. I won’t be able to edit this final culminating episode. I won’t go to the wrap party that Fox TV and FX are paying for.  You can’t tell me that any episode of television is more important than this one is to me, and I am ready to forego all those things in order to strengthen my union.”

My eyes keep going back to “best script…ever written.” You can read Ryan’s entire email sent to hollywood writers, directors and producers here.

Puppy Inflation

I can not deny being a complete sucker for puppies, so working across the street from the humane society can be dangerous for me. My work rented a conference room at the humane society for a meeting once. I showed up early and started browsing and within 20 minutes I had placed a deposit on a little Boston Terrier. I was hoping I could talk Julian into another puppy by the time my 3-day waiting period for the Terrier was up. That didn’t go over so well and I ended up losing my $20 deposit….err…”donation,” as it would now be called.

If I really need a break from work I will sometimes visit the humane society on my lunch break to check out the new stock. Julian’s blood pressure rises every time I do this, but I’m unhappy to report that he now has nothing to worry about because the pound has created a new detterent for me. All of the smaller, more popular dogs have a sign on their cages that reads something like “Due to our high demand we are easily placed in a good home, so have an increased adoption price.” That increased price comes out to $395, killing all my dreams of walking out with a puppy I can not turn away from.

Of course, I know the humane society needs money, so this is probably fair. However, so many people who used the pound to get their perfect puppy they could not otherwise afford will have no choice other than a pitbull.

Damnit Chloe!

Ever wonder what Jack Bauer from 24 would do if his show aired in 1994? Neither did I, but think pay phones, 54k dial-up and dot matrix printers! Check it out here.

Learn Spanish with the Tijuana Mob?

Julian is ambitiously in the process of teaching himself Spanish, which led him to a new Nintendo DS game/learning tool called “Spanish for Everyone.” After watching some Youtube videos  I’m really wondering if Nintendo will actually release the game. In the intro a white boy loans his Nintendo DS to a hispanic boy, who’s Dad shows up in a rush, forcing him into the back of a limo that is then followed by the police. The white boy’s Aunt shows up, offering to teach him Spanish and then drop him off in Tijuana, where he can recover his game.

Julian is determined to own this game before it is most likely banned. He’s sure it will be worth some dollars.

Under Construction

If you’re a daily visitor to my site you have probably noticed many changes to the design. Please pardon all the seeming identity crises. I’m teaching myself to use Cascading Style Sheets, so I can personalize my page a little more. Hopefully I’ll roll that out soon. Wish me luck!

It’s all about the hype

A couple months ago I wrote about The Golden Compass series being made into a movie. Since we are moving closer to the release date, much controversy is boiling. Plugged in Online, Focus on the Family’s media and entertainment site quotes: “Clergymen who kidnap children. Witches who aren’t wicked. Even a pair of sexually ambiguous angels. If you thought Harry Potter was blasphemous, wait till you get a look at the His dark Materials trilogy.”

Blasphemy that out shines Harry Potter you say? What an intrigue! I told you all it was Potter for the cool kids.