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.