Colbert & Cookies

A hard-hitting Colbert interview with Cookie Monster.

Bert & Ernie....going gangsta

Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street do gangsta rap. 'Nuf said.

Awww, lion snuggles

This YouTube video has been getting a lot of play lately, and I have to admit it makes me tear up every time.

From the "WTF?" files...

Yep, it's Mr. T.

But check closer...

Snickers candy bars.

A lot of 'em. And not the little Snickers bars, either.

And they're dangling from his neck with the massive gold bling that has become synonymous with Mr. T.

"Snickers Bling."

No longer craving a Snickers bar.

Tivo'ing the Family Jewels

Being up late at night, plus not being able to sleep is a bad combination. Add to that the boredom that causes you to flip channels and find shows that you'd normally never watch. Then, due to the advent of the Tivo (oh how I love you!), you start taping entire seasons of the shows you'd normally never watch in the first place.

My latest Tivo find (even though it's in Season 3 already)? A&E channel's Gene Simmons Family Jewels. A show entirely about Gene Simmons, the dude with the tongue from the band Kiss, and his family. His girlfriend (0f 24 years) is Shannon Tweed, who rose to fame in the 80s as a Playboy Playmate and star of a number of Cinemax soft core porn movies (admit it, you've seen Shannon's work). Together they have 2 teenage kids; Nick, who's funny and kinda bad-boy hot, and Sophie, who seems very smart.

I have to say, for a reality show, this show is pretty good. Gene Simmons is remarkably likable, and the family as a whole, is pretty funny. I never realized the media machine that Gene Simmons continues to be. He's an extraordinary businessman who started as a humble Jewish immigrant, grew up to marry (more-or-less) a Playmate, and made millions (possibly billions?) off of his tongue, playing bass for Kiss (supposedly still around?), and marketing every item imaginable with the band's likeness. Who would have guessed it?

At any rate, if you've got insomnia, check out this show.

Breaking News

Breaking news, folks. A searchable listing of the 600 Starbucks locations that will be closing has been posted over at the Huffington Post (thanks Arianna!).

I don't know when these stores are scheduled to close, but I thought it was my civic duty to inform y'all if one is near you. You know if you get up one morning and head over to your favorite 'Bux and it's closed, you'll be sad. So think of this as a little sadness prevention.

Listing of stores to be closed is here.

Phone Coolness

This past week I've completely succumbed to geeking out (but in a cool way) with all the new Iphone applications that became available via the Itunes store last Friday.

Some of my recommendations (btw, these are all free applications), in no particular order:

** BoxOffice. Cool Movie app to find what is playing in your area.
** The new Facebook app (so much better than the old one).
** Evernote. I'm just starting to use this application, and it's cool. I have a feeling I could still learn how to make it even cooler if I read the instructions.
** UrbanSpoon. Cool app to find out about the restaurants in your area. Lets you focus in on the area, type of cuisine, and price. And oh yeah, it makes a cool slot machine noise.
** Shazam. Ok, this one is totally cool. You hold your phone up to a song on the radio/tv/etc. and it identifies the song. You can then go buy it on Itunes (hah, like you didn't see that one coming!). The best thing about this app? The name. I can totally say "Shaaaazzaaaaaammm" all day long.

While there seem to be a bunch of totally useless applications out there (Iphone flashlights, seriously?), I'm sure there are many more that I will probably need as I explore the application store a bit more. Have any recommendations for me? Drop me a note.

One application I really really want? A bluetooth on/off button for the main screen. Now that bluetooth headsets are required when using your cell phone in the car (unless you want a ticket), I'm constantly using this button, but have to go searching for it under settings each time I want to turn the bluetooth on or off. Annoying. Speaking of bluetooth, I found the best bluetooth headset out there, especially if you are a chick (or anyone that likes to throw their bluetooth in a bag and not have the earpiece broken off). It's by Motorola and comes with its own little cute carrying pod.

Because I'm a dork

Heh heh, some kid tricked another kid into eating hamster doo doo.

If I was in 2nd grade, this gag would be the funniest thing EVER! Hell, I'm 38 and it cracked me up! Guess I'm a dork like that.

Image via PostSecret.

Happy 5th of July!

Happy day after "Independence" Day, which I have decided to dub "Dependence" Day. What am I dependent on today? Advil and Starbucks. Well technically almost every day is a 'Bux day (we even brew it at home), but today I'm all about the Advil to try to get my back feeling better after all the landscaping we've been doing the past week. Seriously, if I could purchase a Vicodin Frappuccino right now, it would make my day! I wonder if Starbucks has a product development idea hotline.

Our 4th of July was fairly low key. We spent most of the day doing the aforementioned landscaping, then after showering off the layers of dirt, spent the evening in. We watched a bit of fireworks on TV, which seem to me to last longer than they ever did before. To be honest, I started falling asleep about mid way through. Have I seriously become that indifferent about things blowing up that I now doze off? Or am I just old? Either way, sad.

Landscaping Update

Which would be more entertaining? Landscaping for a week? Or a full-frontal lobotomy? Hmmm. This isn't a good week to ask me.

Today was day three of our week-long project that has so far involved, in no particular order: hauling retaining wall rocks, building retaining walls, hauling paving stones, leveling and paving a courtyard, planting humongoid planters, digging up buttloads of rocks, moving said buttloads of rocks, shoveling dirt, moving dirt around, putting bark on stuff, and way too many trips to Lowe's.

As an aside, I've discovered the secret to receiving good customer service at places like Lowe's. A vagina. Who would have guessed? All I know is when I go to pick up 90, 10-pound stones, they bring them via forklift to my vehicle and then multiple people help load them. When my husband goes to purchase nearly the same order, they take his money, then make themselves scarce.

At any rate, back to the landscaping thing. I have a new appreciation for people that do landscaping all day. Apparently there are special "yardwork" muscles in your body that don't get fully developed until you've hauled/shoveled/dug stuff for three days in a row.

Dirt Cheap?

Dirt cheap? I really don't know where that phrase comes from.

Last time I checked, this earth we live on had lots of dirt. It isn't like it is hoarded by anyone or there is a black market for it. But if you want some? Well, that is another story.

For one thing, and I bet you never thought of it quite this way, dirt is sorta dirty. Therefore, it isn't something you really want flung onto your car upholstery. Secondly, it's sort of heavy. So now there is only one option. Dirt delivery. Whoever it is that delivers the dirt has to charge for that, hence my questioning the phrase "dirt cheap."

But why does anyone get to charge for dirt? I can understand paying for the labor to deliver the dirt, but did they pay for the dirt? At what point do you just get to dig up dirt for free? Anyway, I digress. So now you have to order dirt. The commoner, unfamiliar with the global dirt consumer market, would just call and ask for "dirt." Kind of like going into Starbucks and just asking for "coffee." Much like ordering at the 'Bux, you have to know what size, what you want mixed in, etc. And much like Starbucks, extra stuff costs...extra.

For example, if you want minimal rocks in your dirt, it's extra. If you want garbage and old rotted things (compost) mixed into your dirt, oh yeah, extra. If you want animal crap mixed into your dirt (cuz you know that's going to smell good), that is even more. So, at the end of the day we were the proud recipients of 10 cubic yards of "2-way" topsoil (the "3-way" or "5-way" topsoil sounded a bit kinky for our suburban front yard). The website calls it a nice all-purpose soil with a higher soil content. What this means is beyond me.

More to come as our project is completed.