Camp Grandma

My beautiful niece and nephew.
Originally uploaded by gina64.

Our mother lives in the in-law apartment beneath us and every summer our niece and nephew come to visit for anywhere from a few days to a week for "Camp Grandma".

Camp is currently in session and the kids have been with us since yesterday. It's great to spend time with them, they're such good kids. And they are loving Mickey.

Hopefully the weather forecasters are wrong and it won't rain the entire time they're here.

I'm a creep, I'm a weirdoooo

I have some doubts about this guy's involvement in Jon Benet's murder, but Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Based on that photo alone, dude needs to be locked up forever.

Mickey

Mickey
Originally uploaded by gina64.

There's a new pug in town. Meet Marty's new little brother, Mickey, adopted from the North Shore Animal League and only 8 weeks old. He's a smart little bugger. See that big blue bed he's lying on? He loves it. Today he got out of his crate and was found sleeping on the big blue bed. Oy!

Marty seems to be adjusting pretty well, all things considered. He's very magnanimous and shares his mommy with Mickey and even lets him cuddle up next to him on her lap. He's not as aggressive with him as he should be, I don't think. Unless there's food on the line. Of course.

My 25 Favorite TV Characters

Inspired by a similar list posted by Joss Whedon at whedonesque, I've put together a list of my 25 most favoritest TV characters. I'd love to hear yours - just keep in mind that they have to be a regular on their respective shows.

Disclaimer: These are in no particular order and I reserve the right to add or remove names as I recall them, which will probably be as soon as I hit the publish button.

Top 25 Favorite TV Characters

Frasier Crane (Cheers and Frasier)
Al Swearengen (Deadwood)
Laura Roslin (Battlestar Galactica)
Thomas Magnum (Magnum, PI)
Willow Rosenberg (Buffy)
Spike (Buffy)
Jack Bristow (Alias)
Dana Scully (The X-Files)
Benson (SOAP, and Benson)
Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development)
Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly)
Mulder (The X-Files)
Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files)
Diane Chambers (Cheers)
Jim Ignatowski (Taxi)
Elden (Murphy Brown)
Calamity Jane (Deadwood)
Jane Tennyson (Prime Suspect)
Irina Derevko (Alias)
Jamie Sommers (The Bionic Woman)
Jack Bauer (24)
Hutch (Starsky & Hutch)
Rupert Giles (Buffy)
Carmela Soprano (The Sopranos)
Frank Pembleton (Homicide: Life on the Street)

Please post some of your favorites in the comments - I would love to see them!

You're On Notice!

I put you on notice!
Originally uploaded by gina64.

Make Your Own.

Too...much...cute...*thud*

(make sure your volume is up so you can hear the crunching)

How about some penguin-y goodness?

Good.

IRS Bags Oscar Swag: "The value of the Oscar gift basket, a tradition that dates to the 1970s, has approached $100,000 in recent years. Top celebrities at this year's Sundance Film Festival - such as Steve Carell and Terrence Howard - had the opportunity to come home with plasma televisions, vouchers for weeklong vacations at posh resorts and even $10,000 discounts on Las Vegas condos for sale."

All of which is now taxable. It's about time the IRS did something right.

I'm back!

While the beginning of the trip did not seem to bode well for the remainder of it (we flew out on the day the Liquid Terror Plot was exposed), my vacation in Vancouver was wonderful. I have loads of photos to share, so please remember to check back here in a day or so. Right now, I have a ton of catching up to do at work and only have time for a few brief posts.

Til later...

Poor Me, Another Vacation.

I'm leaving in the morning for Vancouver! I'll be gone until the 20th, so things will be very quiet around here again. I'll be bringing back what I hope will be some good pictures, maybe a little video and hopefully even some good stories. In the meantime, check out the Vancouver slideshow above.

See you in about 10 days. We'll miss you, Krys!

They've been watching "Soap", haven't they?

Science reveals secrets of invisibility.

According to experts, one can achieve invisibility through simultaneous finger-snaps, hand-waving and blowing of raspberries.

Just ask Burt.

Would this be called a "fish-strike"?

Jumping sturgeon knocks man unconscious: "Blake Nicholas Fessenden, 23, was heading north on the Suwannee River Sunday just north of the Hart Springs Sand Bar when he was hit and fell off the craft, according to a statement from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "

Hydrangea.

Hydrangea.
Originally uploaded by gina64.

Picked in our backyard.

"That's a very nice f*ckin' letter."

Unauthorized Cinnamon

Probably the best episode title, ever. I'm sorry to say that this will have to be yet another brief Deadwood recap, and I'm still very, very far behind. I promise that when I get back from Vancouver I will set myself to the task of catching up. There are only 3 episodes left to the season, can you believe it?!

We pick up right where we left off at the end of "Rich Find", with Aunt Lou running into the hotel. Hearst meets with Odell about his Liberia claim during this episode, but I'm not going to bother recapping it - suffice to say that Hearst decides to send a man back to Liberia with Odell to verify his claim.

At the Gem, Al, Bullock, Tolliver, Merrick and the rest of the camp elders meet to discuss what to do about Hearst and what they perceive is an imminent attack by him on the camp. Charlie supports the "kill him before he kills us" plan, but then Seth produces a very moving letter he has written to the family of the Cornishman killed by Hearst's men. Merrick reads the letter aloud and all present are moved (except maybe for stone-faced Tolliver) to publish the letter in the paper. Al isn't sure why this is the action they should take, but he is nonetheless convinced of its appropriateness. I think it's the right choice and will galvanize the camp against Hearst, and that will come in mighty handy when the smackdown starts. Also, I think, by doing the decent thing - acknowledging the loss of a life in a town where life has always been considered cheap - they not only raise themselves above the fray, but they bring the camp one step closer to being a civilized community.

I think this episode will turn out to be a sentimental favorite of mine, filled as it was with scenes of quiet emotion. From the reading of the letter to Sol and Trixie's talk, from Joanie and Jane's kiss to Al's admonishment to Doc that he'd better live or he'd kill him himself...even Hearst's tearful admission to Odell that the people of Deadwood had hurt his feelings was very well-played. Throw in a little comedy, such as that provided by "Little Miss F*ckin' Cinnamon", the bizarre tailor and his scarves and Richardson and E.B.'s "Who's on first" routine and, well, you have an almost perfect episode.

Quotes

"Do not put unauthorized cinnamon on the Goddamned meetin' table!" ~ Dan

"Guess if you've got a p*ssy, even ownin' a bank don't get you to that table." ~ Gem whores in a philosphical moment

"But I have learned sometimes if you have a thing, the reason for the thing is that you have it!" ~Gustave the Tailor

"Please, God, come in!" ~ Al

"That's a very nice f*ckin' letter." ~Al

"F*ck Confidentiality of Communications!" ~ Blasanov

"Open the place back up! Tell the whores if their legs ain't in the air, they'd better be off their asses!"

"I own this place!"

Hee!

Synchronized Treadmill Dancing. Really.

And it's amazing!

If only wishing made it so.

On our beach
Originally uploaded by gina64.

What a wonderful vacation we had. The only complaint I have is that it wasn't nearly long enough.

Us 3 sisters had a fine time hanging out, playing cards and drinking mojitos, and the kids were great. The weather cooperated for the most part, and the photo above is an example of one of the good days. We also had fog, heavy rain and an awesome thunderstorm on our last night that lasted a couple of hours. Storms are always so much more intense up there, and nature always so much more close.

I finished one book and read about two thirds of another. I watched 2 discs (eight episodes) from season 2 of The 4400 and various movies with the kids. I even played a little GameBoy.

We took walks and had a picnic. The kids were outside almost the entire trip, climbing all over the rocks in their little bare feet.

We had hamburgers and nachos and steaks and fried clams and lobster rolls and spaghetti and tuna sandwiches (lots of tuna sandwiches). On Thursday night the 3 adults had lobster for dinner - two each. Cookies were baked, and so was a banana bread.

We had a bonfire on the beach and made s'mores. We went to church on Sunday where my aunt was giving the service. We visited my father's gravesite and left flowers for him.

We went to Bar Harbor and I bought some new Merrills for my next vacation. I took a lot of pictures.

Like I said, it was a good vacation.

"We're in the presence of the new."

Rich Find

And so begins my arduous task of catching up on Deadwood recaps. This one aired before my trip to Maine, 3 episodes ago (sorry). In the interest of time, and my lack of it, I'm going to limit this recap to a quick summary and a few favorite quotes. For a complete recap, head over to TWoP.

To summarize the episode:

~ After being dragged through the thoroughfare by his ear by Bullock, Hearst spends the night in the camp jail cell. He is released the next day and is none too happy. He heads straight for Blasanov and sends a telegram, the contents of which have Blasanov sadly remembering his parents' deaths and the destruction of their village.

~ Al wants to strike at Hearst first before he brings down Deadwood, but when he hears that Charlie, Bullock and Sol have been talking about the same thing themselves, he decides to forego those plans and calls a town meeting instead. Bring out the peaches!

~ After finding out that Leon is Alma's supplier, Cy instructs Leon to sell her some bad junk in the hope that she'll die from it. This makes Leon even more nervous than he normally is and he wonders what's to keep Cy from killing him for knowing it was Cy who ordered her death? He goes to Alma and tells her to find another dealer. Well, Leon shouldn't have acted so quickly. Cy tells Hearst his plan to off Alma and Hearst tells him to not do it yet. Cy tells Leon to go back to dealing Alma the regular dope, confusing the hell out Leon and me.

~ Trixie confronts Alma about her drug use and quits the bank after Alma plays the ungrateful, superior bitch card.

~ Aunt Lou's son Odell comes to town after spending most of his life in Liberia. He claims he came to see Hearst about a "rich find" of gold in Liberia. Is he pulling a scam on Hearst?

~ After helping the Nigger General bury Hostetler, Jane ends the episode in a terrible state of drunkenness. She is found by her friend Joanie, who takes her back to Shaughnessy's where she can take care of her.

Quotes

Hearst, flipping the bird at Al and Bullock: "How's the finger?"
Al: "Alright, Mr. Hearst."
Bullock: "How's the f*ckin' ear?"
Al: "Good, Bullock, good. By dissembling our feelings we keep the strategic edge."

"Stupid, aren't ya?" ~ Hearst

"Question I wake to in the morning and pass out with at night: What's my popularity with my fellow white people?" ~ Jane

"Not quick. But she does seem full of purpose." ~ Al

In the desert, you can't remember your name...

OK, so CT isn't the desert, but it might as well be with this weather. I actually went out at lunch today (that's the sun taken with my camera phone to the left), and it wasn't too bad at first. I was just going across the street to Target for a few things, so I didn't even turn the AC on in my car.

It was a different story, however, when I got back in my car to head back to work. I'm not sure why - maybe I hit my maximum heat absorption or the refrigeration of the office AC finally wore off - but whatever the reason, the heat hit me like a truck. Ugh. I am not looking forward to the drive home tonight, AC or no AC. I really hope that all of the people who don't have access to air conditioning or other methods of cooling off have been able to get help today, especially the elderly and those with breathing problems.

Unfortunately, things are going to get worse around here before they get better:

According to the National Weather Service,

THIS DANGEROUS HEAT WAVE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. HIGH TEMPERATURES ON WEDNESDAY WILL BE EVEN A DEGREE OR TWO HOTTER THAN THIS AFTERNOON... CLIMBING TO AROUND 100 DEGREES. WITH HUMIDITY REMAINING AT OPPRESSIVE LEVELS...THIS WILL RESULT IN MAXIMUM HEAT INDICES OF 110 TO 115 DEGREES BETWEEN NOON AND 6 PM.

We're havin' a heat wave...a tropical heat wave...

Move over, Tom Cruise.

And make room on the crazy couch.

AND: More from Mr. SugarTits.