Day off shopping trip

So I took Friday off. And on day's off I like to go shopping. I hit Big Lots this time.

These glasses have mirrors inside so "You can see behind you just like a real bunny!"

When did rabbits develop that power?

America: The Pop Tart.

These would be cooler without the American Idol tie-in.

They had "American Gourmet Cookies" including the California edition.

And Guam?!

As a former shot putter, I was excited to see this.

And disappointed to see the rest of the box.

Happy Birfday, Mariella.

A celebratory photo of the jumping monkey pen to wish my girlfriend a happy birthday!

300

If you don't like blood and guts don't see 300. But it's one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I think I liked it better than Sin City - which I liked a lot.

I'm off to work on my Spartan abs.

Media Frenzy Continues

Mariella and I had our photos in the Plain Dealer's Friday Magazine for attending the lackluster Barry Williams event. Mom thinks it's bad for my image that I'm being seen as the kind of person that would attend a Barry Williams show. I say any publicity is good publicity.

But the quote of the day goes to my friend Kev:

I don't know how you navigate the frenzied local media juggernaut that constantly surrounds you. A lesser man might be consumed by the fame and vanity!

Skating the Cuyahoga

We were shooting a commercial yesterday in downtown Cleveland. It's for the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. We worked with the incredibly talented Authentic Films.

We went to some pretty cool locations around town. And Mariella, Mary, Joan and Kristen came down to be extras.

The spot's going to be fantastic.

If you look closely you can see one of the skaters in this shot:

C'mon. Are you serious?!

Mariella and I went out to hear her uncle's band play on Saturday night. And we've been to a number of shows, so we're starting to recognize some of the regulars. But this guy was new. Maybe he's French. Maybe he's an artist. Maybe he really likes berets.

Clicking for Charity

Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland is in a contest with hospitals throughout the U.S. to receive a Fun Center from the Starlight Starbright Foundation for seriously ill children. All you need to do is click here and choose Metro Hospital.

What is wrong with this picture?

Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist and this is his CD.

Let me rephrase. This is his CD with audio of his act and he's a ventriloquist. For his act to have merit don't you have to see him not moving his lips? I've seen his act and even with the visual of him and his puppets, it's still not funny.

Why does this product exist?

The Patriot

This is the artwork that I'll be donating to the AAF-Cleveland Auction. You can't tell but the white of my face is glittery.

It's the latest in my self-portrait series.

Suburban Coyote

I went to my house in Bedford to pick up my mail. And two houses down, there was a dog wandering around the front yard. As I got closer, I realized that it wasn't a dog but a coyote.

I called the Police's non-emergency number and the dispatcher said the animal warden was already alerted. I guess they got a number of reports.

Bedford's a pretty domesticated city. There is a wooded area between my house and Chanel High School. But developers are tearing it out to put in a new housing development. So I assume the coyotes are being further displaced from what little place they had.

I'm a talking cereal box

That's right. We did a website for Harvest for Hunger. And I'm the voice of Bob - short for Banana Oat Bran. Make a donation to hear the whole act. The rest of the characters are pretty amusing too. I'm particularly proud of Sam Cheese's Cheese National Anthem.

Greg Brady Boredom

Right now, Mariella and I are sitting in the Palace theater watching barry williams/greg brady perform. how is it? well, not good enough to prevent me from blogging during it.
I never really enjoyed the brady bunch to begin with. I only went b/c it was supposed to be a fundraiser for AAF-Cleveland and i'm the prez next year.

My ADDY Wardrobe

This is my newest AAF-Cleveland promotional shirt. I'll be wearing it to the Cleveland ADDYs tonite. It's in support of our April speakers, John January and Tug McTighe of American Copywriter fame. I met John at a conference and frankly I think he's one of the smartest, funniest guys in the biz. And Tug, while I've never met him, amuses me to no end. I still laugh at his fledgling extermination service "One Man and a Pan." So I'm thrilled they're coming on:

P.S. I know that lime green and orange isn't the most complementary pairing of colors but it's definitely going to stand out from the smarmy sea of black coming to the show tonite.

Dammit

My coworker is playing the worst song ever once again. Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.

Grrrrrrrrr! This is when a Peelander-Z album comes in handy.

Oscar Recap

As noted previously, I've been doing nothing much but sitting around and watching TV for the last 4 days. And I'm capping that off by watching the Oscars. And, man, is it annoying. The remote was all the way across the room on the couch and a combination of laziness and pain kept me from retrieving it, so I was subjected to part of the Rivers' Red Carpet Trainwreck. I don't need to hear Joan Rivers call anyone a "sexpot." And what the hell is Greg Proops (from Who's Line is it Anyway)doing reviewing Hollywood fashions?

Ellen was pretty funny. But the best part was Jack Black and Will Ferrell's Musical Number. Other than that it's been pretty much a yawner. I saw two of the movies up for best pic - little miss sunshine and the departed.

Here's a list of the things I'm most sick of:

1. Al Gore and people thanking him for his courage. I still don't want to see the movie.
2. People calling other people "a genius."
3. The backstage guy that used to be on MTV that keeps asking how my office pool is going. I don't have one. Hope I never do.
4. Jennifer Hudson's story. She got voted off American Idol. Big deal.

It was nice to see Forrest Whittaker win. He seems a lot more down to earth than the rest of the Hollywoodians. Plus, he hosted the Twilight Zone. Also, I'm glad Scorcese finally got his - even though Little Miss Sunshine was a much better movie.

I'm falling apart & movie reviews

So my back stopped hurting but then my leg started twitching. I went to the doctor on Friday and she tells me I have sciatica - inflamed nerves. She put me on steroids (mom's worried I'm going to start raging) and vicodin. I've been laid up in the house for four days now (which is making rage slightly). It hurts to sit, so I've been standing or lying down and pretty much just watching TV. Mariella came over on Friday and Saturday and we watched some movies. So I suppose I can review those:

The Departed. Good movie. Marky Mark was good but I can't figure out why he was nominated for an oscar he was barely in this movie.

The Secret Window. Suck fest. It started creepy and then not even Cap'n Jack Sparrow could right this crapboat. Stephen King wrote it and I he's one of the people on the list of folks who can produce crap and people still think it's good b/c of past work. Also on that list is: George Lucas, Dave Mathews and Wes Craven.

I heart Huckabees. I don't heart this. It's one of those snarky, "intelligent" films. There are a few funny bits but not enough to make it worthwhile.

Superman Returns. I was excited for this. But nothing really happens in this movie. There's not "super" fight. Kevin Spacey roughs up a kryptonited S-man who later recovers in the hospital. It was more a teaser for future sequels rather than being a movie in itself.

Ouch.

Saturday, I planned on working at the rental house in Bedford. It's nearly done. Unfortunately, the tenant shoveled his half of the drive onto my half of the drive. I didn't build shoveling into my timeline and I do drive a blazer, so I'm like screw this (cue: Dixie a la the Dukes of Hazzard.) I gunned it and got stuck. So I grabbed a shovel and started to dig myself out. It wasn't much of a start, I bent over three times before I had a shooting pain in my back. I got back in the truck and managed to rock it back and forth to get it out. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated the smell of burnt rubber. Mom came over eventually and we got a coat of paint on the basement. I've just got to hang some pegboard and all we'll have to do is clean up there.

After we finished up there we got all tidied up and went to St. Wenceslas for a mass for Grandpa. The priest gave perhaps the world's longest homily.

Following church, we went to the Chanel Auction. Mariella kept reminding me that she went to public school and didn't belong there. Lots of people came up to me with warm words about dad. Mr. Spisak presented mom and I with a beautiful portrait of dad. Before the event the Development Director mentioned that when we were up there I should plug the golf outing. So I remained on stage after mom and Mr. Spisak sat down. And the development director went and plugged the event herself with me standing there like a nincompoop. And then she turned to me and asked if I wanted to say anything. I told the story about how Dad loved auctions and how pretty much every piece of furniture in our house is from auction. Our family room has a blue chair, a red chair and a green plaid couch. And if you complained to dad about nothing matching. He would say, "They all match. I got them all for less than retail." It was a nice event. Mom came to me in the middle of the night and said we're in big trouble if she wins everything she's bid on. She didn't. My friends Kevin and Jill spent WAY too much on a personal performance by a band made up of three Chanel faculty members. Jill said they can play the 30th b-day party for me and Kev. I was off talking to Johnny Sausage or else I might've talked some sense into them.

Sunday - My back still hurt. Mariella chided me for not icing it. Went over to her parents for dinner - soup and my personal favorite - pickled tomatoes (I know it sounds gross.)

Monday - President's Day went to work. Back still hurt.

Tuesday I woke up with a mild fever and my sinuses about ready to explode. So I stayed home hoping to recover in time for my Zolli luncheon. Back still hurt but better.

Today, woke up with a slight sore throat from sinus drainage - some listerine cleared that up. (Even though they can't claim that it works on sore throats per the FTC.) My back still hurts but a little better. I ttok some sudafed and went to work. The luncheon was awesome. Zolli more than lived up to my hype. Which should give me more Ad Fed Cred - like street cred only not as cool.

Hope my back feels better soon.

Snow day finds

Last Tuesday/Wednesday, Greater Cleveland got hammered with snow. Road conditions downtown were reported as perilous - despite what Mayor Jackson may have claimed. So I took the day off. I had to drive Mariella to work because her car wouldn't have made it out of the driveway. After dropping her off, I went to Marc's (one of the greatest stores ever) for some closeout shopping. Here are two delights I found:

Sew that on your jeans.

Knock-off Operation game with a mighty suspicious shape on his shorts.

I just started a career in modeling!!!

Check it out.

UPDATE: Apparently people are thinking that I made that site myself. I did NOT. There just happens to be an aspiring model with the same name as me. Plus, I am WAY better looking.

Matt Bailey, Search Engine Optimization Superstar

AAF-Cleveland (formerly the Cleveland Advertising Association) (the association I'm president of next year) had a morning seminar this morning with Matt Bailey - founder of SiteLogic. He spoke about search engine optimization and the potential of blogs for the business world.

It's been cool this year b/c I'm the First VP Of AAF-C which puts me in charge of programming. So I've been pretty much booking the people that cover topics that I'm interested in or that I've seen and have been great speakers. And Matt falls into both categories (as does Andrew Zolli.)

Matt once again had a great presentation. He updated his talk with several new case studies including the friction between breast feeding mothers and the Pork industry. I'd highly recommend Matt to any organization trying get a handle on how to effectively use this whole Internet thing.

It's just a like mini mall!

Awesome commercial boingboing.net just turned me on to.

I need a vacation

With my parents making teachers' salaries (at Catholic schools) we never really had the nicest clothes or the coolest shoes. ($100 for Jordans are you nuts!?) But my dad was a big proponent of annual vacations. With both of my parents being teachers they always had summers off and we always went somewhere. Always by car - station wagon, usually with wood paneling. (I was never on an airplane until I was in college.) I think I've been to 42 states by car. Granted, some of those were mere detours and driving through just to say we've been there. But we went across the country twice to visit my Uncle Jack and Aunt Gladys in Oregon - twice. My older sister and I always sat in the backwards facing "way back" and got truckers to honk their horns. Some of my favorite memories come from those family trips that didn't seem like much fun at the time.

So I was glad to see that Lisa started a new blog with discovered postcards from those trips. She's even transposed mom's notes.

Who would you send these to?

While perusing the card selection at a local retailer I came across these doozies.

Pee Pee Pants? What? Incontinence is worthy of affection?

I think you're a dog.

chocolate for brains

i'm doing some shopping for work - we need some stuffed bunnies. so I ended up in parma. I figured while i'm here i'd pick up some chocolates for g-ma and mom for v day from malley's (cleveland's chocolate czar). I get there at 7 and find an empty parking lot. what the hell?! it's 2 days before one of the biggest chocolate days of the year at they close at 6?! they just missed my business. nice business sense.

Eagles are awesome!

This is a result of a malfunctioning microphone that prevented a reporter from being able to use the audio she recorded. So some guy made up this song and cut it with footage. Sweet!

Val Kilmer sucks as Moses

Everything about it sucks. I will admit to liking musicals, but this one is too miserable even for me.

That was fast.

Trimspa just updated their site with this:

Whippany, NJ, February 8, 2007 – Today, Anna Nicole Smith’s grief stricken and tumultuous personal life came to an end. Anna came to our Company as a customer, but she departs it as a friend. While life for Anna Nicole was not easy these past few months, she held dear her husband, Howard K. Stern, her daughter, Dannielynn Hope, her most cherished friends, beloved dogs, and finally, her work with TRIMSPA.

Anna knew both the joy of giving life, and the heartache of losing a child. We pray that she is granted the peace that eluded her more recent days on earth, and that she find comfort in the presence of her son, Daniel. - Alex Goen, CEO and Founder, TRIMSPA

When will the Anna Nicole Smith TV Movie come out?

In case you haven't heard, Anna Nicole Smith died.

A couple of notes on the article:
1. The Seminole Police Chief's name is Charlie Tiger?! That's awesome. 'Cept, I'd go by Chuck. "I'm Chuck Tiger, SPD."
2. One of my co-workers pointed out this bit: "She checked in Monday at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out tomorrow," said Danielle Giordano, a spokeswoman for the Hard Rock Hotel.
Bad choice of words? Poor attempt at humor?

So now the media's going to be going like gangbusters talking about this for years to come. And frankly, I don't care. I'm not interested in what she died of. I don't want to read about the similarities between her and Marilyn Monroe. I am curious to see TrimSpa's reaction. As of now, ANS is still on their front page. We lose much better people everyday.

I feel bad for her family and her new baby.

Still at work

It's 8:30 pm. Which means, I've been at work for 12 hours. I don't really mind. I'm working on some cool stuff. Some of which I think I'll post when I can. And, yes, I realize I'm not really working if I'm blogging but I needed a break. Here's the question of the week. If food could talk, what kind of accent would a meatball have if Italian was off-limits? Swedish is too easy.

Anyways, I've been busy lately. A whole bunch of people (Mariella, Kev, Jill, Greg Bob, Mary, Kristin B-W, Laura J. and Susan G. gave me a hand in Toledo this weekend. We got a TON done. But there's still more to be done - mostly painting. It'll be a relief when I can finally sell that house. I just want to make it as nice as I can so I don't lose too much money on it.

We've taken a brief hiatus from the local rental houses. The sisters have been helping some. Bedford's almost done. I have to go there after I'm done here and remove a tray of paint from the fridge. Lisa's been exceptionally helpful. You wouldn't recognize the basement since she started cleaning down there. Then again, chances are you've never been down our basement b/c it's always been a disaster. Lisa, Mike and the boys have been in town b/c they bent their rim on their hoopty. I think Mike was ghostriding the whip. They were sposed to go to Florida but they can't seem to get a wheel for their car. So they decided to stick around for a bit. Some vacation that is.

We went to the Olive Garden to celebrate Mary D Dork's birfday. Service sucked and Sammy stunk.

Well, I guess I should get back to work.

I'm famous

Mark Szczepanik (sort of) Media Explosion.

I've been promoted, apparently.

Here's the transcript in case your computer's a dinosaur. Like ours.

Val Kilmer is Moses

All right. I was too curious not to so I did some research on this movie and put it at the top of my Netflix queue.

Who else besides Kilmer can claim to have played Doc Holliday, Batman and Moses?!

It was directed by the director of the American Idol vehicle From Justin to Kelly. He's also done this - which should've been titled "What Willis was actually talking about."

I'll let you know how it is.

Sightings

Cleveland is getting a new minor league hockey team. And, frankly, I don't get the appeal of hockey. But I do love the new name and logo - the Lake Erie Monsters.

I'm a sucker for all things cryptozoological.

I can't wait to get a jersey.

Speaking of jerseys:

This is my Minnesota Moose Jersey. I bought it at least 10 years ago. The team moved to Manitoba and now might be defunct. I got it cuz I like the logo. Anyways, I was watching Happy Gilmore the other day and when Happy takes Carol Vessey to the ice rink on their date. They walk right by the Moose logo. Weird!

That's the ticket

Is it bad that the US government would become less humorous if these two were elected?

How'd I miss this?!

Why was I not informed of this motion picture?!

But wait - it gets better:

Floor

Look at the floor I installed. Pretty good if I do say so myself.
Installing sheet vinyl/linoleum is not fun.

jerks

If u drive on the shoulder to pass standstill traffic, you are an asshole. And you are just making the situation worse. Bad karma.

Elevators don't normally impress me

but this one I was in this morning was awesome. It's in a revamped old elevator factory in downtown Cleveland. I guess they saved the best for themselves.

New stuff on my walls.

I moved my Abe kicking ass painting to make room for my dad's vanity plate - framed with the help of Kristen from work.

My dad got these plates to go on his Cadillac. He always wanted that car. He drove out to Toledo just to show it to me. And six months later he traded it in for the new model. He found that he didn't have much time to drive it, so he sold it and put the money away so he could buy a new one when he retired.

He had to get "KAZ S 1" b/c "KAZ" and "KAZ S" were taken (who else would need those?!) He also thought about getting "BINGO" but that too is taken and I wouldn't have wanted to be reminded of Bingo all the time.

I too have vanity plates. (Mariella makes fun of me from time to time. And I too like to make fun of cars I see with plates - I see "DUCHESS" all the time on my way to work.) It costs a little more but it reminds me of dad. He rarely showed off but he was damn proud of that car.

Tuesday Morning Sign

Saw this last Tuesday. Awesome.

Why I love to see Ohio State lose.

1. Stupid lawsuit.
2. The use of "The" in front of Ohio State University. Technically Ohio University should have be The Ohio State University. We were Ohio's first University founded in 1804. I think Ohio State was like 1846 when they saw how cool Athens was. So technically since OU is a state school. It is the Ohio State University.
3. The d-bag bandwagon fans - especially if you never attended.

I know it's kind of late to be regaling in the Buckeye loss, but too bad.

We went to a bar in Parma to watch the National Championship. And the bar was filled with Scarlet and Gray - I was wearing the more appropriate green. Drunk morons were shouting "O-H" and most of the time no one responded. After Ginn ran back the opening kickoff the place went nuts. But then Florida started marching up and done the field. Where's your sweatervest now, Buckeyes?

Here's the rundown of people in attendance (not making this up).

-Some guy with his entire head tattooed that we overheard that he had to be up early to meet with his Parole Officer.

-A group of 4 seemingly normal dudes drinking brewskis. However one didn't know that while coffee is brewed it's not really a brewski. He was subjected to much ridicule when the waitress brought him his WAY emasculating Irish Coffee topped with a delightful dollop of whipped cream.

-Mr. Overalls

These were clearly his "going out" overalls. He hadn't even worn them to work yet judging by their cleanliness. He did spill a beer on them when he was shouting about how much the Florida kicker sucked. So that was funny. I amused myself to no end by answering the "O-H" calls with "veralls."

Congrats gators. Go Bobcats.

P.P.* I know OU blew it in the GMAC bowl but our football team is typically overshadowing by our band who is WAY more fun to watch than the OSU band. Give me Crazy Train over script Ohio anyday.

*P.P. stands for Post Post. Much like Post Script only more modern.

Goodbye, Sandy

I had to put sandy down today. She bit my sister mary in the face. Mary needed some stitches and has two black eyes. I feel terrible for her. She has the worst luck. So I don't blame Mary. but likewise I don't blame sandy.

sandy was in the middle of unfortunate circumstances.

I got sandy when I bought my house in toledo. I shopped around for a while and found her through Maumee Valley Save-a-pet. I picked her up and took her home. I had a fenced in yard so I let her loose. she ran over to a bush and barked. she flushed a bird out. it was trying to fly away but sandy jumped, caught it and killed it. (and that was in the first 30 minutes I owned her.) she also shedded A LOT! so I learned not to wear black pants.

in toledo it was just me and sandy. we walked by the river almost everyday. I took her to work where she would hump ginger, the office dog. she ripped up the linoleum in my kitchen - the vet said it was separation anxiety. we went to obedience class and sandy was the star pupil. the other owners hated us b/c we made it look easy. and sandy would forget it all when we went home.

then sandy and I moved to solon. her and jill (my parents' dog) did not get along and had to be kept separate. i've still got scars from getting inbetween them once.

we then moved to bedford which was convenient b/c dad would let her out if I was late at work. we could even walk to Chanel. which we did a lot. sandy was part of the bingo cleanup crew and loved running around the cafeteria. A lot of the Bingo ladies would ask how she was. For some reason she hated Mr. Gotch - my physics teacher/bingo caller/nicest guy in the world and would bark at him everytime she saw him. But Mr. Gotch seemed quite proud when sandy made her debut as moses the downtown dog in Cleveland Magazine. And he would often ask about "his favorite dog in the world."

Sandy didn't really get along with Mariella's Chloe either. And Mariella was never a huge fan of Sanders and probably with good reason.

Then when dad died sandy and I moved back to solon to help out mom. she again had to be separated from jill so she was cordoned off to the family room. It soon became her territory which she was very protective of. I walked her when I could but I was (and still am) ridiculously busy with all the rental house nightmares. I feel terrible for putting her through the stress of moving so many times but I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. I wish I had my old life back too.

Not everyone liked Sandy. In fact, few did. but that's alright. Not everyone likes me, but she was always happy to see me. And I was glad to see her. We had each other - for a little while anyways.

I love you, girl. I'll miss you.

Gross

By the lack of posts, you may have correctly assumed that I've been CRAZY busy with rental house repairs.

Here's the underside of the carpet we ripped out. I guess the tenants couldn't afford cups and just cupped their hands to enjoy beverages and soups.

Mom, Santa took a leak in my bowl!

It took tremendous restraint for me not to buy this discounted soup tureen.

Also what does a non-traditional electric menorah look like?

I love shopping

Grocery stores are fun before xmas. It's highly annoying but the store is doing there best. There's a woman walking around handing out "happy cookies" to anyone who looks grumpy. it made me laugh. but I don't think she's got a big enough cookie on her tray to cheer me up.

How much scrap metal did you throw out this weekend?!

Not as much as me, I bet.

My buddy Jerry, Mariella, Mom and Mary went up to Toledo this weekend to work on my house. It's coming together. (I'll be there again this Friday, if anyone's interested in helping. Some Xmas break this is shaping up to be.)

Jerry and I undertook the task of getting the burst radiators out from the second floor. Jerry thinks they're the heaviest thing he's ever moved (and he delivered stoves in college - and he almost became a firefighter or something too.) And I'm apt to agree. We're guessing the largest was somewhere around 400 lbs. I'm not sure the refrigerator dolly we rented was outfitted to handle such a load.

After that fun we spent a good portion of the day painting, scraping and Mariella swore once again that she will never remove wallpaper again. Thank god for my "crew."

Mariella joined me Sunday night at one of the Solon rentals to scrape the ceiling of a bedroom. And Kristen popped by to help a bit as well. That house is really shaping up too. I hope we get all this done before too long. It's not much fun and I think my friends are starting to avoid me for fear of being forced into servitude.

Rude ruse

I think, "it's a pretzel."

you think, it's a pretzel."

nope.

It's a cookie shaped like a pretzel. There ought to be laws against that kind of thing.

Inspiring confidence

I went to return some equipment to my former cable company. I was greeted by the above TV with an error message on it.

Also of the 4 TVs behind the counter only one had a grainy image on it. The other 3 were all static.

Grandma's Kitchen

Before he passed away, my grandfather asked if I would paint his kitchen. (He also asked about his porch but I was REAL busy this summer. We'll do that in the spring.) And he asked awhile before he passed away. A remodeled kitchen wasn't his dying wish.

I took a day off work and hoped to have it done. But it turned into a bigger project than I expected.

So anyways here's some before shots:

It was painted this drab blue. Actually I'm sure at one time it wasn't drab but it faded into a drab blue. Grandma also had this ugly wallpaper that looked like fake white bricks to cover the sizable cracks in her wall. She also had this paneling that looked like blue tiles behind her counter that began to wear from years of washing.

This is an in-between shot. You can see the new paneling behind the counter and the damage left from ripping off the old. (That's my favorite tool the Stanley FuBar lying on the counter. If you're tearing stuff up you need one.)

Here you can see the new paint and section I later covered with paneling. BTW the cupboards are nowhere close to being straight or level so cutting pieces around it was quite a bear. You can also see Grandma's newly white ceiling. She didn't want me to paint it white, because it would take too long. I'm glad I did because it really brightens it up. She was nervous because I told her I was painting it pink. Glidden makes a paint that goes on pink and dries white. Although I was also using a spackling that goes on pink and dries white and when you paint over that with the pink/white paint, it gets REAL pink. So I was nervous. I would've never heard the end of it if there was a pink spot on Grandma's ceiling. But it dried nicely.

Here's the finished product. We even found a place for a lot of Grandma's blue collectibles.

This wall was covered in the white brick wallpaper and has a huge crack in the corner that's covered by the new paneling. The wall with the bulletin board also had a huge crack that I was able to patch pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Here's Grandma's brand new doorbell. I also replaced the outlet over the sink with a GFCI so it'll trip there in case something happens. Oh, and we replaced the switches on the wall with new ones that LIGHT UP, so she can find them in the dark. Going to Lowe's and Home Depot with Grandma is pretty funny. I put a new lock on her side door and she wouldn't let me get the one with the gold finish b/c she thought someone would steal it or think she had lots of money.

It was a pretty big project but I had help from Mom, Mary, Mariella, Kristen and Grandma picked up a brush a couple of times - so it wasn't TOO bad.

Ill-glitterate

Updated, sparkle-riffic self-portrait.

I live in Loudville

Went to the cavaliers game last nite w/ a whole bunch of peeps. I had bought tix in the rafters (AKA Loudville). And then my agency's (supremely better/awesome/eight-rows-off-the-floor) seats became available. So I had 10 tix total. Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for Mary, her "bf", Lisa & Christy (Mariella's friends)), I only had four agency seats. So, I sat in the nosebleeds with Mariella, Kev, Jill and Greg Bob. I figured Mary hadn't sat in them before and she's been a big help of late. Plus, Kev and Jill sat in those seats last year and would likely never go to a Cavs game if it weren't for me asking - so I didn't want to abandon them.

I couldn't find anyone to use the last cheap ticket, so I ended up with two Brad Daugherty Bobbleheads - which apparently no one wants.

The game was good. They won - despite their best efforts to lose. Coaching tip for Mike Brown: If you've got the lead with less than five minutes left, attack the hoop, get fouled and get to the line. You don't shoot threes. Fortunately, they hit their ill-advised 3s but failed to get to 100, so no chalupas. And despite the violent crosswinds at such a high altitude the seats weren't that bad except for the screaming banshee of a 9-year-old who shrieked through the whole game. Her parents thought it was cute. Mariella and myself did not.

Busy. busy. busy.

Hope to post soon.

Things have been hectic.

Stay beautiful, readers.

Gaaaaah!

More scary, scary holiday decorations in our lobby.