First Debate

Let's just make things even here. We surfed between PBS, CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX tonight. And EVERYONE showed the podiums at the same height. Which is just ridiculous!! Not that their height is the most important part of the debates. But let's make things even, people! I'm biased, but I think Kerry did a great job. I thik Bush stuttered and hemmed and hawwed and covered up the facts. What do you think?

Here are Kerry and Bush via FOX News:

And here are Kerry and Bush after aligning them in PhotoShop:

It also looked like Bush had dyed his hair before the debate. He's been looking very gray-haired lately and tonight he had sort of a sandy blond thing going.

Another Puppet?

"U.S. Effort Aims to Improve Opinions About Iraq Conflict"

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan, asked Tuesday about similarities between Bush's statements about Iraq and Allawi's speech to Congress last week, said he did not know of any help U.S. officials gave with the speech. "None that I know of," he said, adding, "No one at the White House." He also said he did not know if the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had seen the speech.

But administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the prime minister was coached and aided by the U.S. government, its allies and friends of the administration. Among them was Dan Senor, former spokesman for the CPA who has more recently represented the Bush campaign in media appearances. Senor, who has denied writing the speech, sent Allawi recommended phrases. He also helped Allawi rehearse in New York last week, officials said. Senor declined to comment."

Torture

This just makes my blood boil.

Plan Would Let U.S. Deport Suspects to Nations That Might Torture Them

In what universe is this okay?

"The Bush administration is supporting a provision in the House leadership's intelligence reform bill that would allow U.S. authorities to deport certain foreigners to countries where they are likely to be tortured or abused, an action prohibited by the international laws against torture the United States signed 20 years ago."

"The provision, part of the massive bill introduced Friday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would apply to non-U.S. citizens who are suspected of having links to terrorist organizations but have not been tried on or convicted of any charges."

"The provision would apply retroactively, to people now in detention and those who may have already been secretly deported under classified procedures to countries with well-documented histories of torture and human rights violations."

Apprentice

Man, two good shows in one night.

Blond Jennifer is correct - Stacie J, although she was a loose cannon, was not responsible for the team losing. Elizabeth was wrong to bring her into the board room and then have everyone gang up on her.

This team is going to implode.

"I'm not getting in the sand box with you"? Eh? What does that mean?

AAGGHH! Raj with no shirt on!!! My Eyes!

Trump brings Bill Rancic this week to prove that he did actually hire him. For something. They have to open and manage a restaurant in two days. That's a bit crazy.

Asian fusion - executive decision. Jennifer C. is the project manager. She keeps bringing up how old she is. "Never, in all my 31 years..." I think she likes to hear herself talk. She's already annoyed by Stacy.

Chris - he's the leader because he was a waiter at some point?

Jen C. just called Stacy a "little munchkin"? She is a piece of work. Very condescending. The women get to the restaurant and then leave because they don't have a laptop? Eh? And why didn't they hire a cleaning service? Ivana is right - why should they stay up all night to clean?

-------- Trumpism of the night ----------
People have to respect you or you can't be a leader.
--------------------------------------------

So the ladies are going to lose.

They look frantic.

John's paintings look great. The men seem so calm and relaxed.

Elizabeth - grow up. Stop crying. Just do your job. Still crying. Then GO market the restaurant - stop crying! "Flyer girl"? Man, too funny. These women are so awful to each other. And now Stacy doesn't have respect for Jen C. So it will be the ladies in the board room.

The men make John pimp himself to the table of gay men? Too funny. At least he didn't bend over in front of them. Nor did he have to wear skimpy clothing to sell sex.

Jen C. - you don't bring people together, you do the exact opposite.

Women have a Zagat score of 57. Men have 61. "Eye candy" from the men's survey?

And the men get to meet Rudy G? He's one of the greatest leaders? Don't you mean his mistress Judith? They're now married?

Ugh - kick Jen C. out of there, please. "Two old Jewish women" ruined the survey? She's awful. So full of herself. In the board room, she keeps interrupting everyone. Talking, talking, talking. Just shut up, already.

And she's fired! Good riddance.

America's Next Top Model

I missed the first 10 minutes...

Looks like they are going to Jamaica and complaining about one of the black girls being too "white bread" or is it "white bred"?

Ann is crying becuase of turbulence on the plane. So she goes and sleeps on Eva's lap?

Why do the women always look so shocked when they are told one of them is going to be eliminated after the photo shoot? Didn't they watch the last two seasons? That's how it works, ladies.

Ann was awful in the photo shoot. But Magdelena (sp?) gets sent home first.

What is with the Eva and Ann thing? Why is Ann freaking out? And why does Eva talk about herself in the third person? Erika hates that.

Tyra's hair looks funny. Or maybe it is her head is very big?

The ladies have a problem with Kellie (Kelly?)? Not nice. So a black girl can't say she thinks she looks like a monkey? And what does that have to do with her being spoiled? So she's rich. What's wrong with that? Women can be so catty.

On a side note - we haven't seen Janice Dickinson yet. I'm hoping she's not on the show this year.

Oh crap, wrote too soon. There she is, looking as scary as ever. Very bad plastic surgery - what is up with her boobs?

"Fell off the delivery truck"? I thought it was based on the photos?

Tyra makes these eliminations so dramatic with the soft voice and everything.

And..... is out. I forgot her name already. Not Ann. Julie?

Ooh, next week - makeovers! Maybe someone is pregnant - what else could the revelation be that might get someone eliminated? Hmm...

Supporting the Military

Wait, I thought our current administration supported the military?

"Bush lies about health-care coverage to the National Guard soldiers he’s been putting in harm’s way."

"Though the “Graham-Daschle amendment” had overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, the administration sought to scuttle the proposal as it moved to the House. That June, in a letter to Representative Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called the Senate’s efforts to expand TRICARE a “troubling provision” because the amendment amounted to an unfunded entitlement that would drain resources from other, presumably more important Department of Defense activities." (emphasis added)

Nice. Let's send these men and women into harm's way, for a war that was based on lies, and then not support them once they have served.

More Politics

"Operations by U.S. and multinational forces and Iraqi police are killing twice as many Iraqis - most of them civilians - as attacks by insurgents"

If you haven't registered to vote yet - and why not?! - here are the state-by-state deadlines for voter registration. Some of them are as soon as Saturday, October 2.

Voter intimidation, vote wrangling, all sorts of nefarious things happened in Florida in 2000. "Politics and sleaze envelop Orlando" Is history repeating itself?

Time to get Political

Okay kids, time for some links.

Stop Tom DeLay!. "Today we demand that the House Ethics Committee appoint an outside counsel to lead the investigation of Tom DeLay."

Ohio Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, is rejecting Ohio voter registration cards on the basis that they are not printed on the correct weight paper! This is insane and a prime example of voter disenfranchisement. In case you think this is justified, here are your Voting Rights.
"No person acting under color of law shall -
deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election;"

Interesting and maddening report from the Tax Foundation regarding which states get the most federal funding. Interesting that they are overwhelmingly "red" (i.e.: Republican) states.

George W. Bush is a liar.
"Bush touted preparations for national elections in January, saying Iraq's electoral commission is up and running and told Americans on Saturday that "United Nations electoral advisers are on the ground in Iraq."

He said nearly 100,000 "fully trained and equipped" Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are already at work, and that would rise to 125,000 by the end of this year.

And he promised more than $9 billion will be spent on reconstruction contracts in Iraq over the next several months.

But many of these assertions have met with skepticism from key lawmakers, congressional aides and experts, and Pentagon documents, given to lawmakers and obtained by Reuters, paint a more complicated picture."

Jimmy Carter - on the suspicious voting process in Florida.
"It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida."

On the environment, U.S. is the Rogue Nation

More later.

Shaun of the Dead

My hubby surprised me on Friday and took me to see Shaun of the Dead. Run right out now and see this movie! "It's a romantic comedy. With zombies"

So hilarious. And gross. And romantic. It ranks right up there with my favorite zombie movies. They did a great job with the humor and the scaring and the gore. You should really, really see it.

Apprentice

Task: create buzz for new Crest toothpaste.

Sandy - why are you freaking out that Bradford is gone? You are weak without a guy?

All of a sudden, little Stacy (with a y) is forceful. Has she been drinking?

Trump comes down the escalator to emperor music. Very cheesy.

I see Raj has lost the cane.

Blimp? Insurance? Eh? Infusing vanilla into the subway?

Cut to Trump discussing budget - have you noticed that whatever he says in this spot tells you the ending?

Elizabeth is project manager for the women. Mike Piazza? Okay, that is big in NY. But he wants twice what they can afford.

The men with the $1million insurance policy? Sounds shady to me.

There is a bunker of toothpaste boxes and they have 3 minutes to load their van? That seems a bit staged to me.

The women are talking to a printer at 1 am? Ugh, nightmare clients.

The men are all out of luck with the insurance. Good thing they didn't put all their eggs in one basket...

Um, what do stilts and clowns have to do with toothpaste? And how did they get all of that organized in what looked like minutes?

And the women are 5K over budget. Which is hyuge.

P&G liked the women's buzz better but they were over budget. So, they get to go to the boardroom.

The men get to go on the Queen Mary II. Which is the biggest, grandest ocean liner ever built. By Trump.

Elizabeth picks Stacie and Maria to join her in the boardroom where the conversation is all about how crazy Stacie is. So Trump makes Maria go back to the biggest, grandest, most luxurious suite in Manhattan and get the women's team to come back.

And they all agree that they were scared of Stacie when she flipped out over the 8-ball.

"I agree with 'little Stacy'"? hee hee

And, Stacie's fired. I thought they would keep her around for the crazy factor but Trump's not pulling any punches this season. Yet.

Cake!

In reference to N's question - here are the photos. Matt comes from a long line of chocolate worshipers. Hence the almost completely chocolate cake. That's bittersweet chocolate ganache for you aficionados. Dense chocolate cake with ganache. The sheet cake had a whipped cream/Oreos icing in the middle. Yummy all around.

Matt is the one in the striped shirt. My little niece is the one to his left (your right). She looks like she is mesmerized by the candles.

The party; the cake

The cake turned out well. I'll have photos shortly. I think the best part was my nephew helping make the icing. He turned to me at one point and said: "THIS is going to be the BEST CAKE EVER!!!" And he was very serious. So cute.

Aaron walked around all weekend and yesterday (because I forgot) with pink fingernails. My little niece had new nail polish and she was very into it. As Aaron said - "but she was so cute" - his explanation for why he let her paint his nails. I still have some of it on mine.

More later.

Another Update

Tabitha is feeling better. I have to tell you, that is one smart kitty. She figured out that morning and evening were times for pills (whereas Otto never figured it out). So, as soon as one of us got up in the morning, she promptly hid under the bed in the spare bedroom. With the boxes and the crap and the very non-maneuverable bed. And then, when I tricked her by closing the door to the bedroom after luring her into the kitchen with treats? We had to deal with the pill giving fiasco. Choking, struggling, swearing, her shooting anal leakage at us (long story, but very gross). I finally gave up. And dissolved the pill in a little bit of water which I mixed with her wet food. Which she promptly ate. Hopefully she's getting enough medicine from that.

The cakes are baked, the icing will be made tonight. I'm going to assemble everything once we get to my sister's house so I'll have to take pictures then.

Have a lovely weekend!

Apprentice

Well, there are still too many players to be able to effectively sort them out. However, last night was a bit of a shocker. As much as I found Bradford very grating and egotistical - either Stacy J. or Ivana should have been fired. Ivana was not a very effective leader. She did not have control over that group at all. And Stacy is crazy. Certifiably.

I think the men, with the giving to charity and asking for the rest to go to charity, scored major brownie points there. And doughnut ice cream is not such a bad idea.

Red Velvet ice cream? Um, not so much.

I really, really wish Pamela got fired. I loathe her. She is so unfriendly and unkind and not a team player. Every expression is a grimace or a scowl.

Raj - with the bowties? Pretty cute for the selling of ice cream. Not for the board room.

More next week.

Fish Update, etc.

So, I'm a true fisherman now because I lied about the size of the fish I caught. I got it all wrong. The weight on the line was 12 ounces (not pounds). The fish were generally 7 - 10 pounds. And they were 90 - 100 feet down in the water (that part I didn't tell you). So. But they DID fight the whole way up. A lot of them jump out of the water as they come up. It's pretty exciting.

In other news, now Tabitha is sick. ;( And my dad (our vet) is in the hospital. So we had to take her to a new vet for the time being. Aaron dropped her off at the clinic and they kept her there until they could get a urine sample. They said there were some red blood cells in the urine which may mean an infection, but it is not conclusive. So the yelling and the running around yesterday? Not because she was hungry, but because she had a urinary infection. Poor kitty. We've been focusing so much on Otto that we thought she was just jealous of him. She was trying to pee all day with no success. And she was attempting to pee in very inappropriate places. And she was licking herself like crazy. She's been at the vet all day. They had to give her fluids and antibiotics and they are going to send her sample to the lab for a culture. $175 later... I forget how much it costs since my dad charges us in hard labor around his house.

I just talked to my older sister and she's decided they are going to have a Halloween party this year at their house! I'm so excited! I LOVE Halloween. They are going to do a scavenger hunt and do the story with the eyeballs and the spaghetti for guts. And we'll be able to decorate like crazy. Now I'm going to have to think of a good costume.

For the Ladies

My gorgeous hubby, Aaron.

Update

So, I just have not been spending time on this blog. As you may have noticed if you are one of the 3 people who visit my site. And I was debating just stopping it, taking it down, pulling the plug. Until I got a call from my wonderful sister-in-law and she asked how Otto is doing. Because she had read he was sick on my site. And that is exactly why I need to keep writing for now. I have people in other lands (i.e.: California) who read my site to check up on me.

So, here's the mini-update:

Otto is doing much better. He's almost back to his very annoying self. Whatever he had, the antibiotics kicked it. We still have a bunch of pills to give him. Luckily, he's a very mild cat and he takes the two-person pill-giving abuse quite well.

My dad had his back surgery on Thursday. The surgeon did find scar tissue pressing on the nerves in his spinal column. And he's optimistic that the pain my dad has been feeling will be much less. We went to visit him in the hospital yesterday and he's his old cantankerous self. Dozing mid-sentence due to the morphine drip. They are hoping he can get checked right into rehab (physical therapy rehab) so that he is forced to do the excercises to make things better. He's very bad at doing what he's told.

I went deep sea fishing on Thursday with a bunch of guys from work. There were about 10 or so of us in our group. We went down to Niantic and went fishing for bluefish. Bluefish are a very aggressive fish with lots of sharp teeth. And probably weigh about 18 - 20 pounds. And they school at the bottom of the ocean. This is all background to tell you that I managed to take home 5 of them. I have bruises under my arms from the pole and from battling them all the way up to the top of the water. I would have had 9, but the gaffer mate knocked three of them off my hook. AFTER I had battled and grunted and struggled to get them up. Really pissed me off. And then 1 made it onto the boat and then promptly slipped through the drainage hole. Still, I think I proved myself to the guys. I baited my own line (with 5 inch herring), reeled in my own fish, didn't gag when fish guts and blood spilled all over my boots, and generally held my own. I was very proud of myself. And I love the taste of bluefish, which is good, because we had 10 filets to eat. Big filets. I did end up giving 4 of them away - 2 to my mom and 2 to my brother. And then Aaron and I ate fish for three nights in a row. Which was just enough. One more night of fish and we both would have gone crazy. Bluefish does not freeze well, so the only option was to eat it. Now.

I am officially both the hunter and the gatherer in our relationship. ;)

Tabitha was freaking out this morning. And by freaking out, I mean FREAKING OUT. Aaron and I were sleeping in, Otto was sleeping in, and Tabitha was meowing at the top of her lungs and running all over the apartment. Jumping on the bed, meowing in our faces, leaping off the bed and running into the kitchen where she MEOWED! for us to...um...we had no idea. And then we smelled the bacon and eggs and maybe turkey? being cooked/baked by one of our neighbors and we realized that maybe Tabitha was telling us that whatever we were cooking was DONE! and to please GIVE HER SOME OF IT! So I reluctantly got up and followed her into the kitchen opened the oven and showed her that I was SLEEPING not COOKING! And that seemed to calm her down a bit. But now she's running around again. I don't mind the running, it's the really loud meowing that gets to me. And she needs to lose some weight - so go ahead, run all you want, tiny runner.

Next weekend is my nephew's 6th birthday! He's already in First Grade! I can't believe it. He's having a bowling party and I've offered to make the cake. I have a new ball cake pan. So I'm going to make a bowling ball and then a flat cake that I'm going to cut in the shape of a bowling pin. And then sit the bowling ball on top of the end of the pin. Cross your fingers. What I'm struggling with now is how much to do before we drive down there. It's about 2 - 2.5 hours down to their house in New York. And I'm not sure it won't fall apart during the drive. I also don't know how much fridge space she's going to have for a fully constructed cake. Because we are going to get there the day before his party. I'm thinking I'll make both cakes, make bowls of the frosting and icings and then put it together either the morning of his party or the night before. And I'll pick a frosting that won't completely melt if it sits out for a day.

He used to be into tractors. He still is, a bit. Especially when he's around my dad's antique tractors with the loud noise and the diesel. We've bought him tractors or tractor-related items for a couple of birthdays now. This year, we've graduated up to the soccer-related items. My sister and I (and our husbands) went in on a soccer goal for him. Do you know how expensive these things are? Ugh. We finally found one that wasn't too crazy expensive but that didn't look cheap. And it's a set that includes the goal and a ball and some cones and, I think, some shin guards. It's too bad his birthday is on Sunday, because everyone is going to have to leave right afterwards to get home. And my sister and her husband both played soccer in college - so it would have been fun to set it up and play with him. Maybe I can convince my other sister that we should open our present on Saturday so that we have time to play with him.

In other news, my boss is still in the hospital. He has his laptop with him so I get the occasional email that he's had a tough week but is feeling better. He's finished one round of chemo and has just started the second. I have also emailed his wife and sent them some cookies. Which she ate because he was too sick. So, as soon as I know he's able to eat treats, I'm going to be a baking fool. She says he has quite the sweet tooth, so it's a going to be cookies and maybe a cheesecake and maybe a chocolate torte.

Also, I did watch the first Apprentice episode but was barely awake. This was after I had come back from the fishing trip and, since I had been up since 2 a.m., was struggling with my eyelids to stay open. Stacey J.? Crazy. Raj? Trying too hard with the outfits. Little mousy girl who doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the piranhas? Let's see how long you last. Lots more egos this time. More next time, I promise.

I'm sure there's more, but that will have to do for now.

Otto

Our poor little Otto is sick. Fever, listless, barely moving all day, limping. Today was the third day. I called my dad's clinic and they told me to bring him in today. So I left work early and drove him to my dad's clinic. Where they determined he has a fever and couldn't really determine why. Antibiotics, watch him carefully, make sure he drinks and eats. Poor little guy. We've been watching him very carefully - the shot my dad gave him seemed to help a bit. More antibiotics tomorrow and through the week.

I feel a bit helpless...

Outta here

I spent all day on press for our latest company catalog. Not the most pleasant experience. I'm now very hungry and thirsty and grouchy.

We are headed to my parents' cottage on Lake Ontario (NY side). My mom just called to say it's very muddy and that we should bring shoes that we don't mind getting dirty. Which translates to: "yes, we know it's your little vacation, but we have work for you to do." That's fine. We expected as much.

My younger sister and her husband will also be at the cottage. With their newest dog, Monty. I've posted pictures of their other dog, Stella. Stella's apparently still pretty jealous of Monty. I'll have to take some pictures of the escapades.

Hope you all have a lovely and safe holiday. And Jen B and Dayment - no sleeping in my bed while I'm gone!

;)

E