WHY I LIKE TO WATCH TV

OK - I don't really feel like I need to justify my television viewing but sometimes those smug "we don't watch TV" people really get on my nerves. You know those people who insist they either don't own televisions, don't have cable or only watch PBS and CNN. The ones who always act baffled when you make a pop culture TV reference like "Who's Simon Cowell?" C'mon! I don't even WATCH American Idol and I can tell you who has won almost every year.

But, let me tell you why I love television.

IMAGINATION

Yes - as formulaic as some of those writers can get - TV is pretty damned imaginative. Take Lost for example... REALLY - The island moves around? You don't see that kind of shit on CNN.

And Ghost Whisperer... REALLY - Who wears those outfits in real life?

OK, but I digress...

I also enjoy that TV gives my S.O. and I opportunities to talk about scenarios and how we would behave in certain situations. The invention of the DVR has really added to this ability. We often pause a show and ask "What would you do?" It's led to some conversations we might not otherwise ever engage in.

All I can say is that I LOVE MY TV. And I really like it now that it is BIG.

VOTE TODAY!!

Please help the Arlington Animal Welfare League (where I volunteer) win $10,000!

CITY OF FAIRFAX 32ND ANNUAL FALL FESTIVAL

I made it! I'm in! I will be exhibiting at my first ever juried craft show! Here are the details:

Saturday, October 11, 2008 (rain date October 12)
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Old Town Fairfax
10455 Armstrong Street, Fairfax, VA 22030
Admission is FREE!

There are over 400 exhibitors and food as well as all sorts of entertainment for both adults and kids. I encourage you to attend!

Oh - and while you are there - swing by my booth (M6 Designs) in space #424 near the corner of Main Street on University Drive.

Be sure to tell your friends and families!

FLYING THE FRIENDLY SKIES

As most of you know, I travel A LOT. All work related so I'm not what you would call living the jetsetting life or anything, but nonetheless I fly A LOT.

So, there I am on my plane - coach section - aisle seat (one of the small pleasures of being a frequent flier - VERY small.) A woman is seated in the middle seat - cause you know planes are FULL these days. They stuff people in bathroom stalls, and coffee pots to maximize capacity. Apparently the bathroom stalls are considered first class.

But I digress...

My middle-seat mate is an average sized woman who has absolutely NO CONCEPT of PERSONAL SPACE. And on top of that she is a complete IDIOT.

Am I just being judgmental? Perhaps I'm just burned out on travel? No. Because unlike half of those business travelers, I'm a relatively low maintenance roll-with-the-punches kind of traveler.

So, let me tell you about this woman...

First she sits down with both of her bags and tries to stuff them under her seat. When she realizes that isn't going to work she gets up and puts one in the overhead storage. Then she sits back down and buckles in. Then she has to get back up because she forgot something. Then she sits back down. Then she has to use the restroom before the plane takes off. Then she sits back down.

OK - ready for takeoff.

We've been in the air about two minutes and apparently the laws of physics are different for her because she expands. I don't know where the additional mass comes from but now she cannot contain her arms, shoulders or knees within her space. Or feet. Her feet are sprawled into my space. MY SPACE!

Now airline space is small but I'm very territorial. But she keeps coming into MY SPACE. This is going to be a LONG flight.

So I attempt to settle into my magazine and have my headphones on and am just praying for the next 5 hours to go quickly. Cause you know we have to stop in Phoenix which is right on the way to Seattle. (Airline logic - go figure...)

So Dingbat (as she is soon to be named) whips out her laptop (which also seems to have greater mass than any normal laptop) and opens up. I'm trying not to pay attention. Dingbat is fiddling with something.

Waiting...

Click click click. Wait...

Click click click - this is going on for about 10 minutes.

I finally look over.

SHE IS TRYING TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. IDIOT!!!

So I watch this continue for a few more moments (because I'm not one of those people that believes that wireless access is going to bring down the plane, and frankly it's just humorous) and then I finally say, "um, you know you are supposed to being using wireless up here?" And I'm thinking "you are an IDIOT as the closest Internet access is about 4 miles - down."

So, sadly she puts her laptop away and just kind of sits there (continually expanding) and it dawns on me. She brought nothing else to do because she was just going to surf the net while she was up there.

I can't even begin to explain my bruised ribs (from her continual expansion and restlessness), the curvature of my spine (due to the inability to sit upright during my flight - I was forced to lean left due to her ever increasing expansion into my space) and the inability to catch any sleep due to her needing to get up and down at least 20 times during the trip.

So we get to Phoenix everyone gets off. When I got back on to continue my trip - there she was.

Just before takeoff I notice an empty seat in another row.

You know I took it.

IF THIS DOESN'T MAKE YOU WANT TO SPAY & NEUTER THEN YOU ARE SATAN



Great video!

CONGRESS - SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF A NATION

I like baseball. After all, I'm a full-blooded, patriotic, all American past-time loving girl. Right?

But really. Does no one else in the country find it just a bit atrocious that our tax dollars are funding a congressional committee to investigate steroid usage in baseball? Now the Justice Dept is going to investigate individual players?

We have a housing recession, a crappy educational system, a large percentage of our citizens without health care, a declining stock market and a WAR. But, CONGRESS is investigating steroid use in baseball. That should solve all of our problems.

If I recall correctly, baseball is a sport. A commercial sport. With sponsors and stadiums and souvenir caps. It is ENTERTAINMENT people.

Is it only me that believes congress should be spending their time on more important issues?

Talk about poor prioritization.

Quick! Better get a congressional committee to review the use of drugs by rock musicians.

Watch our Keith Richards!

NO LONGER A BRIDESMAID

I suppose saying that I am no longer serving as a bridesmaid is a bit of an understatement. I can proudly state that it's been more than 20 years since I served in my first and only bridesmaid role.

Some may think it's because of the bad reputation I earned the first time around. But actually I was very well behaved. (Although I did suffer a slight self-destruction problem with my pink taffeta dress...)

I think it's because I was always strategically absent when those positions were being doled out. Nonetheless, it has not stopped me from attending well over 30 weddings over the years. (Yes as an actual invited guest and not as a crasher.)

Why am I being so nostalgic about weddings all of the sudden?

Perhaps it is because I am officially engaged. :-)



Now, I'm not your typically traditional girl. I won't be donning any snowy white confection of a dress, nor will I be letting some random guest grope my leg for a garter to hang from their rearview mirror. And not a Chicken Dance in site!

But the one thing I really wanted, that I REALLY REALLY wanted was a ring, selected by my very sweet S.O., to be gently placed on my finger during an actual proposal. And you know what?

I got my wish.