Feeling Bluesy

I've participated in my fair share of "rename yourself" games which have been sent around chain-letter style over the years.  What's Your Porn Star Name?   What's Your Star Wars Name? What's Your Ninja Name? And the latest and greatest: What's Your Blues Name?   My answers are Ginger Woodland, Chrer Dabro Reghyundai of Ibuprofen, Mirikiarichina, and Sticky Liver Smith respectively just in case you are wondering.  My Porn Star name by far beats out all others as my favorite.

Crackle

Since one of my best friends is an Avon representative, I've decided to give Avon's Mosaic Effects (aka Crackle) nail polish a try.  Normally I don't paint anything but clear on my fingers, but it looked so cute on my toes that I had to give it a chance.  The verdict is in...  I like it.  It lasts surprisingly well paired with a UV top coat (a little trick I learned from Andy at Fancy Nails in East Greenbush).  UV top coats are what make your maincure last, whether you are working with acrylic or your natural nails.  I am going on my sixth day and there is minimal chipping going on which is a miracle considering that in those six days I've taped out a room to be spackled and I've done my share of dishes glove-free.  Now I know from looking at the pictures you're probably wondering wth I was thinking with the multi-color effect, however I was indecisive and wanted to try out all my new colors.  Going forward I will stick with one color beneath the crackle, but guaranteed I will be crack-a-lackin' my nails until the bottle is empty.  Well, either that or until I get bored with it.  Whichever comes first.

Nothing Presidential About It

Tell me if this makes any sense to you.  Assume the Presidential position is like any other job opening that's come available, for example a Shift Manager.  Normal employment procedure requires that the position description and responsibilities are shared with the public, applications come in, interviews are conducted and a selection is made based upon qualifications. In the search for a new Shift Manager it would never be considered acceptable for candidates a.) to know about the existence of one another, and b.) to bash their competition openly and still expect to get the job.  I understand that when running for President the interviewers are the American people thereby making it public knowledge who the applicants are, however I still don't understand how allowing candidates to bash one another became acceptable.  The end result leaves you with two applicants, reputations completely marred, whom you'd rather not hire knowing what you now know.  It's not a matter of making a discriminatory hiring decision either.  It's a matter of not wanting to hire someone who's ethics are misaligned with your company's values.  This company being the United States of America, and the "costs" so-to-speak of making a bad hiring decision can have devastating consequences.  Case in point:

• Barack Obama - Poor financial decisions have cost the U.S. considerably ($4 Trillion to be exact).
• Randall Terry - Homophobic.  Doesn't promote values of diversity and inclusion.
• Newt Gingrich - Adulterer.  Couldn't make good on his wedding vows, who's to say he'll make good on his vows to the American people?
• Mitt Romney - Concern surrounding his taxes and personal wealth. 
• Rick Santorum - Presumably embezzled money from Operation Good Neighbor Foundation.  
• Ron Paul - Disagrees with 1964 Civil Rights Act from a "property" perspective.  

With all these negatives flying around about each candidate, can we honestly say we want any of these gentleman representing our Country?  It's just sad that in the U.S. it comes down to voting for the lesser of two evils in November.

Furry Friday: Pity Party

There are very many days that I wake up and wonder what the hell I ever did to deserve the crappy state of affairs my life has somehow found itself in.  There are actually many days I ask myself "what else can go wrong?" knowing that very question is tempting fate to punish me some more.  This morning was no different.  

First and foremost, I'd forgotten to set the alarm.  Fortunately for me Riley has an impeccable internal clock.  However, when he woke me up this morning I was keenly aware that my face was cold.  So were my feet.  This is highly unusual seeing as how I am someone who normally sweats in my sleep (attractive, right?)  I listened for the heat to kick on as it normally does every morning right around the time I get up and.... nothing.  The thermostat in the hall is reading 50 degrees.  Outside it's windy and hovering around 8 degrees.  This is not good.

Lowes, Screws & a Mailbox

I never realized just how much can be squeezed into one tiny weekend.  Let's recap:

Saturday:

We got up early to finish gutting out the ceiling and ripping up the floor to our upstairs bathroom and then took all the debris to MOSA.  On the return trip to the house we witnessed the local snowplow take out our mailbox.  If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.  Calling to complain to the Department of Public Works really got me nowhere, so shoving the mailbox out of mind we then had a very expensive (but exciting!) shopping excursion at Lowes.  We purchased our tile, the vanity, faucet fixtures, the medicine cabinet and all the other building supplies.  The lighting fixture we wanted was busted and they only had one in stock so we forewent that purchase.  When we got home my dad came over and helped change out the piping in the bathroom as the current pipes were a.) 50+ years old, and b.) were installed with all too many "unions" in the floor of all places.

Furry Friday: Comics

Just to reiterate how much everyone loves Riley, my dad brought over a comic he cut out that he thought was fitting.  Because I couldn't find the comic online and didn't have access to a scanner, I recreated the comic with bits and pieces of other comics just so you could get the picture (no pun intended):

As many of you  know, Riley is a dachshund.  Dachshunds are notorious for having short legs and long bodies.  Well, when it snows Riley is not such a huge fan of taking his walks outside and I can't say I blame him.  He leaves behind four paw prints and a line, if you get my drift.  Which is why we've taken to putting coats on him when it's particularly cold out.  Fortunately he doesn't seem to mind so much.  Which reminds me of another comic my mother found and cut out for us (which was a Dog Eat Doug comic that I had to recreate):

Demo

Demo.  Short for Demolition.  Both a noun and an adjective which capture fully the state of my life right now.  Ever since we moved in to the new house we have had these elaborate plans to finish the upstairs so that we could expand our family, if you know what I mean.  

So in the first two years one we found out just how fun it was to remove layers (plural) of wallpaper, to spackle (less is more), and to prime/paint.  We mastered the art of changing out light fixtures, electrical outlets, light switches, thermostats and also how to create a textured ceiling. 

GTL Again

For those of you die hard Jersey Shore fans, last night was the long awaited premiere for Season Five.  As ridiculous as this show is, I cannot help but watch it.  Prior seasons were full of Ronnie/Sam drama which seemed to overtake the show in a negative way, but when those two decided to pop a prozac the show became quite enjoyable again.  This is not to be confused with saying it's become drama free because that is certainly not the case.

Already Mike "The Situation" and his friend "The Unit" are stirring the pot with Snooki about what apparently went down between them.  There has been some speculation that Mike has gay tendencies.  Vinny is severely depressed about extended time away from his family, and Pauly-D hooks up with Ryder which makes Deena jealous.  Surprisingly there's yet to be any drama involving Ronnie, Sam or J-Woww but this is just the first episode.

Big Surprise

Okay, so if you've perused MSN or any other news network's website lately you'd have read about a Catholic Bishop resigning because he led a double life and had fathered two children who are now teenagers.  Big surprise.  Is anyone really shocked by this?  I know I'm not.  It's embarrassing lately all the media hub-bub about sexual abuse, financial deceit, and non-celibate priests.  It's not as if there isn't an option in the Catholic church to be a man of God with a wife an kids.  It's called a Deacon or a Minister.  I do understand we're all human and the downfall to that is free will.  Not to mention men 70% of married men have admitted to cheating, so as a man married to the Church he apparently succumbed to statistics.  However, as a man of the cloth you'd think he'd be all that much more scared of the consequences of his actions based upon the preachings of the ten commandments and the fiery depths of hell.  But that's neither here nor there.  What I can say I'm surprised about is that the Catholic Diocese is reaching out to this woman and her kids offering "spiritual care as well as funding to assist the children with college costs."  What??  <<insert screeching record sound here>>