Apparently David Souter may retire. May I just suggest to our greatest recent president (and I'm sure there is a whole little tiny list of names already contemplated where she is nowhere near the top) he appoint Olympia Snowe of Maine to replace Souter. For a Republican, she's ok.
And then the Gov of Maine gets to replace her, so it's a pick-up for the non-evil party. Just saying.
p.s - Souter was one of the best (and no doubt unexpected) decisions of Bush the 1st, and he has made the rightwingers livid. So, you know, kudos on that.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
I take my travel advice from Joe Biden
Joe Biden got some grief today for speaking, no doubt inadvertently, the truth about this swine flu thing, and noting that if you can avoid mass transit you probably should.
I went into midtown today to pick up a delightful new black blazer at Jos. A. Bank ($395 - 60 percent off, ka-ching!) on Mad & 46th. Well, that's a trek, so normally I would have just hopped on the Lex to Grand Central and walked over - 15 minutes tops.
Today, ehh, I don't need to be with the riff-raff wondering if a cough from that guy over there is going to give me Limbaugh-flu.
It was also a really great NYC day for walking, and I haven't been doing enough of that lately anyway, so I went on foot the whole way.
Thank you, VP Biden.
I went into midtown today to pick up a delightful new black blazer at Jos. A. Bank ($395 - 60 percent off, ka-ching!) on Mad & 46th. Well, that's a trek, so normally I would have just hopped on the Lex to Grand Central and walked over - 15 minutes tops.
Today, ehh, I don't need to be with the riff-raff wondering if a cough from that guy over there is going to give me Limbaugh-flu.
It was also a really great NYC day for walking, and I haven't been doing enough of that lately anyway, so I went on foot the whole way.
Thank you, VP Biden.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Dirty girls
I have been mocked by friends about how I like to be "too clean," but, you know what, washing your hands 30 times a day suddenly doesn't seem so strange, does it?
Just saying.
Just saying.
Another one bites the dust
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter announced today he is switching parties, leaving the Republicans, immediately becoming a Democrat, and running to get the Dem nomination for the 2010 election.
Specter has always been a moderate Republican, pro-choice, for example, and was increasingly out of touch with the increasingly conservative, strident GOP which is rapidly becoming a regional party centered in the old slave states of the Confederacy.
When he made his announcement, Specter said, "I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."
Well, duh.
I wonder when the GOP will realize that their policies - on abortion rights, on gays, on health care, on the environment - are just not cutting it with the American people. I think part of their problem is they have a little echo chamber, on Fox, on hate radio, in the NY Post/Washington Times/Wall Street Journal editorial page, egging them on - but they are speaking to a shrinking base among the country at large.
We may well one day see the GOP in wikipedia as a link to the whigs - once a valid political party, then went out of business.
Haha.
Specter has always been a moderate Republican, pro-choice, for example, and was increasingly out of touch with the increasingly conservative, strident GOP which is rapidly becoming a regional party centered in the old slave states of the Confederacy.
When he made his announcement, Specter said, "I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."
Well, duh.
I wonder when the GOP will realize that their policies - on abortion rights, on gays, on health care, on the environment - are just not cutting it with the American people. I think part of their problem is they have a little echo chamber, on Fox, on hate radio, in the NY Post/Washington Times/Wall Street Journal editorial page, egging them on - but they are speaking to a shrinking base among the country at large.
We may well one day see the GOP in wikipedia as a link to the whigs - once a valid political party, then went out of business.
Haha.
They've got the headline thing down to a science
Ok, their journalism is closer to TMZ than The Times, but US Weekly sure knows how to write headlines, you have to give them that.
This popped into my mailbox today, and, of course, I had to click:
Megan Fox Shows Off 22-Inch Waist
You know what grinds my gears
Who is the evil bastard who came up with this latest trend on web sites to have an ad just come on and fill up the top third of the screen and you either have to wait for it to go away by itself or try to find the little x to click it off. I used to think pop-up ads were annoying, but they can be blocked pretty easily with software, but there doesn't seem to be any way to make these damn motion ads stop.
Do advertisers actually think we're going to be pre-disposed to their product after it just pissed us off.
Also, some sites have those drop down menus (Slate is one of the worst offenders) and if you just accidentally put your mouse over one of the tabs at the top, not clicking it or anything, just having the mouse anywhere in the vicinity, a menu drops down and covers most of the screen.
Why they go out of their way to try to annoy us?
Do advertisers actually think we're going to be pre-disposed to their product after it just pissed us off.
Also, some sites have those drop down menus (Slate is one of the worst offenders) and if you just accidentally put your mouse over one of the tabs at the top, not clicking it or anything, just having the mouse anywhere in the vicinity, a menu drops down and covers most of the screen.
Why they go out of their way to try to annoy us?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hmm
As global fears of swine flu rise, there has been one surprising beneficiary -- investors in Foster City-based Gilead Sciences Inc. and U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. Shares of both companies are trading up because they are behind flu treatments that are currently being used to combat the disease -- Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) is the co-developer of Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) controls Relenza. The U.S. government released a quarter of its stockpiles of the drugs after declaring a national health emergency with at least 20 cases of swine flu confirmed.
I'm not saying the pharmaceutical industry is behind this whole swine flu thing, I'm just wondering if they are the most trustworthy group of folk.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Speaking of swine
Oh great, now we have to worry about swine flu. But here's an interesting note. There have been some cases in the U.S. and I see today that, "Gov. Rick Perry of Texas asked the C.D.C. to send 37,430 doses of Tamiflu."
Rick Perry, Rick Perry? Why does that sound familiar?
Oh yeah, he's the right-wing nutjob who, a few weeks ago, said Texas may secede from the union because of that evil Barack Obama.
Now he wants help from the federal government?
I thought these right-wingers wanted to be left alone, and not have the feds involved in their lives.
A hypocritical Republican. What a shock.
Rick Perry, Rick Perry? Why does that sound familiar?
Oh yeah, he's the right-wing nutjob who, a few weeks ago, said Texas may secede from the union because of that evil Barack Obama.
Now he wants help from the federal government?
I thought these right-wingers wanted to be left alone, and not have the feds involved in their lives.
A hypocritical Republican. What a shock.
Tom Green doesn't Google himself
So I'm flipping around the channels and come across a documentary on Showtime called "Heckler" which actually turns out to be pretty interesting.
It's also filled with some self-deluded folks.
The funniest part is a clip of Tom Green, who pops up and says, "I've stopped Googling myself!"
Sure he has.
It's also filled with some self-deluded folks.
The funniest part is a clip of Tom Green, who pops up and says, "I've stopped Googling myself!"
Sure he has.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Too Saucy gets results
Ok, disregard my rant about Virgin America.
I got a very nice call today from a fellow there who helps run the call center. He read the post, went and pulled the tape of my unhappy interaction with one of their agents, and called me to apologize and say the way the agent handled it was not up their standards (and, just going by how nice the flight was, I totally believe that).
In fact, he said they may even use that call (with names bleeped out, of course) when training new operators as an example of what not to do.
And contrary to the "anonymous" commenter on that original post who theorized I was rude to the agent, he noted I was not, and said when they played it back to her she said, "I can't believe I acted like that."
Hey, we all have bad days at work, she may have got 5 nasty calls in a row before I got on, but mine was certainly not one of them.
Anyway, I just thought it was very decent of Virgin to actually take the time and respond to an unhappy customer.
It's a fairly new airline (I'm not quite sure what the connection is, but they are not actually the same Virgin Atlantic airline that has been around a while and people are probably more familiar with) and they definitely have the flying thing down right, so I'm glad to see they've got the customer response thing going too.
Cheers, Virgin America - you're officially back to being my Las Vegas airline (sorry Continental, you snooze, you lose and Virgin easily beats you for quality of flights).
I got a very nice call today from a fellow there who helps run the call center. He read the post, went and pulled the tape of my unhappy interaction with one of their agents, and called me to apologize and say the way the agent handled it was not up their standards (and, just going by how nice the flight was, I totally believe that).
In fact, he said they may even use that call (with names bleeped out, of course) when training new operators as an example of what not to do.
And contrary to the "anonymous" commenter on that original post who theorized I was rude to the agent, he noted I was not, and said when they played it back to her she said, "I can't believe I acted like that."
Hey, we all have bad days at work, she may have got 5 nasty calls in a row before I got on, but mine was certainly not one of them.
Anyway, I just thought it was very decent of Virgin to actually take the time and respond to an unhappy customer.
It's a fairly new airline (I'm not quite sure what the connection is, but they are not actually the same Virgin Atlantic airline that has been around a while and people are probably more familiar with) and they definitely have the flying thing down right, so I'm glad to see they've got the customer response thing going too.
Cheers, Virgin America - you're officially back to being my Las Vegas airline (sorry Continental, you snooze, you lose and Virgin easily beats you for quality of flights).
Lifetime for Men
This is pretty funny. I noted a few months ago that Lifetime movies seem to love portraying men as dogs, and The Onion now imagines a production of a new made-for-TV movie, "A Just Killing," if there was a channel called Lifetime for Men.
The film chronicles the painful ordeal of Gary Mulkeen, a fun-loving mechanic who meets a seemingly perfect woman, but must soon fight for his very life after she reveals herself to be a clingy, manipulative shrew.
"It's about one man's perseverance against impossible odds," said director Tom Dunlop, whose previous credits include the Lifetime for Men original films Suffocated Independence and Not With My Hard-Earned Money You Won't. "Hopefully Gary's struggle will inspire other men out there to empower themselves and stand up to frigid women who attempt to micromanage every last minute of their lives.
Lifetime for Men debuted the original television movie as part of its spring schedule. Other programs in the new lineup include the weekly drama series A Life Unburdened, starring Treat Williams as a man who enjoys a series of meaningless sexual encounters and then dies rich and happy, and the hit Catching Up, in which two old college friends get together to drink cheap beer and eat sandwiches for 60 minutes.
"At Lifetime for Men, we strive to create programming that reflects the unique problems and issues confronting today's man," said Lifetime for Men president and CEO Fred Rasmussen. "We like to think of it as sort of an entertainment roundtable, wherein we can finally address some of the frustrations that have been holding men back and keeping them from realizing their desire to do absolutely anything they want."
Breakups are hell
Lindsay Lohan is appearing a little emaciated these days.
But at least it looks like she still has her upper assets.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
And they just awarded the Pulitzers yesterday!
“I know I’m a journalist, and I should be objective…but she is an ignorant disgrace and she makes me sick to my stomach.”
— E!’s Giuliana Rancic tweeting this morning about Miss California Carrie Prejean’s response about gay marriage that purportedly cost her the Miss USA crown.
- Fancast
Her sentiments are right, but, um, that may be stretching the definition of the word "journalist" just a tad much.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Preferably Stella
Kim Kardashian: I Want "a Six Pack by Summer"
I want one by tonight with a cheeseburger (medium well) and fries. Thank you!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Hey "Virgin America" - go eff yourself
I took a flight on "Virgin America" a few months ago and ended up gushing about it to friends, telling them it was one of the nicer flights I have had recently - and let's face it, flying isn't really fun any more - but, wow, I'm not so happy today; it's amazing how a lousy customer service experience can just totally sour you on a company.
When I looked at my info online last month, I saw there was some weird stuff going on with my "Elevate" account, as they call their frequent flyer program.
I had went round trip, JFK to Las Vegas, first class each way, and they credited me with 3150 points NY-LV, but only 555 LV-NY. Hmm.
So I sent two - count 'em, two - emails to their web address asking what the discrepancy was about.
Nothing.
No response.
Not even an auto bounceback email saying thanks for your email.
Lovely.
So Thursday (April 16, 2ish Eastern time) I finally call Virgin America and ask.
I get Sherry, who looks up my info (after asking for my account number, of course, after I had already punched it in - and why do they have you do that if it apparently doesn't even register?)
Then Sherry puts me on hold for 5 minutes.
Sherry finally comes back and informs me that the reason for the discrepancy is that I booked the NY-LV leg as first class, but the LV-NY leg was originally booked main cabin but later upgraded - so they only give me millage on the original booking. Even though I paid First Class fare!!!
So I calmly - and I swear calmly, I am incredibly pleasant to the phone people, because I know they don't make the company rules - but Jeeeeezus they can be annoying - I tell her the only reason for that was that there was NO first class seat available for that LV-NY leg when I made the reservations, but one opened up while I was in Sin City and I did the upgrade the night before from my LV hotel room.
And isn't that a good thing for them, and why am I not getting first class mileage because I paid for first class no matter what the original reservation was.
You know - normal, common sense stuff.
Sherry could have fucking cared less. She said, and I quote: "Oh that happens that you can't always get it the first time you reserve," and then HUNG UP ON ME without even saying "Sorry."
Fuck you, Sherry (Thurs, 4/16 2ish ET).
But most of all, fuck you Virgin America Airlines.
In the past, I have always gone "Continental Airlines" to LV. I was almost ready to switch and make Virgin America my airline.
Ain't happening now.
When I looked at my info online last month, I saw there was some weird stuff going on with my "Elevate" account, as they call their frequent flyer program.
I had went round trip, JFK to Las Vegas, first class each way, and they credited me with 3150 points NY-LV, but only 555 LV-NY. Hmm.
So I sent two - count 'em, two - emails to their web address asking what the discrepancy was about.
Nothing.
No response.
Not even an auto bounceback email saying thanks for your email.
Lovely.
So Thursday (April 16, 2ish Eastern time) I finally call Virgin America and ask.
I get Sherry, who looks up my info (after asking for my account number, of course, after I had already punched it in - and why do they have you do that if it apparently doesn't even register?)
Then Sherry puts me on hold for 5 minutes.
Sherry finally comes back and informs me that the reason for the discrepancy is that I booked the NY-LV leg as first class, but the LV-NY leg was originally booked main cabin but later upgraded - so they only give me millage on the original booking. Even though I paid First Class fare!!!
So I calmly - and I swear calmly, I am incredibly pleasant to the phone people, because I know they don't make the company rules - but Jeeeeezus they can be annoying - I tell her the only reason for that was that there was NO first class seat available for that LV-NY leg when I made the reservations, but one opened up while I was in Sin City and I did the upgrade the night before from my LV hotel room.
And isn't that a good thing for them, and why am I not getting first class mileage because I paid for first class no matter what the original reservation was.
You know - normal, common sense stuff.
Sherry could have fucking cared less. She said, and I quote: "Oh that happens that you can't always get it the first time you reserve," and then HUNG UP ON ME without even saying "Sorry."
Fuck you, Sherry (Thurs, 4/16 2ish ET).
But most of all, fuck you Virgin America Airlines.
In the past, I have always gone "Continental Airlines" to LV. I was almost ready to switch and make Virgin America my airline.
Ain't happening now.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The whole Mars-Venus thing in a nutshell
I did happy hour Tuesday with my friend Jan Brady and, over an amusing little apple martini or two, she, once again, shocked me - this time asking what the big deal was about Blu-Ray and why is it even any better than a standard DVD.
But, even worse, proudly proclaimed she would rather watch the standard def version of a channel instead of the hi-def because the HD "is too sharp and hurts my eyes."
Ok, first I will allow every male in the universe to shudder.
And apparently this is a wide-spread problem. I like to read those online boards about HD programming, and it is stunning how many guys will post aggravated messages noting they come home and their gal is watching ch. 4 instead of ch. 704 on the $2,500 big screen HD set.
They just don't seem to care about HD.
And you can forget about the 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system being turned on.
Oy.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why not
Mel Torme and Nat Cole as back-up musicians.
I actually have a few June Christy CDs - who knew she was so cute.
(And, as I always like to note, today we get Carrie Underwood and Kayne West. Ugh.)
I actually have a few June Christy CDs - who knew she was so cute.
(And, as I always like to note, today we get Carrie Underwood and Kayne West. Ugh.)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Where's Captain Bunnypants?
A really good ending to the pirate story, with US Navy Seals rescuing that merchant mariner being held captive.
But why do I get the feeling that if Boy George had been in charge, he would have been strutting around with a Mission Accomplished banner behind him?
It also would be nice if we got beyond the somewhat comical "pirate" stuff and look at the absolute catastrophe that is Somalia and realize that the real issue is there and take out those problems.
Procrastination 101
I should be finishing up my taxes today, instead I just killed 2 hours on the PS3 with Dead Space. Curse you Electronic Arts (and Sony).
Friday, April 10, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
And the roller coaster starts again
Two days after tearfully opening up to Us Weekly, Lindsay Lohan was spotted getting a new tattoo.
The actress -- who told Us her life was "absolute hell" after getting dumped by Samantha Ronson -- was all smiles at midnight Wednesday as she arrived at the Shamrock Social Club tattoo parlor (the same spot where she and Lily Allen got matching "Shhhh" tattoos on their fingers). She patiently waited in line with her 15-year-old sister Ali before she got her wrist inked. She left around 3 a.m.
First of all, what the fuck is her 15-year-old sister doing out in a tattoo parlor at 3 am? Dina Lohan vying for mother-of-the-year award again, I guess.
But did you ever notice these girls all seem to take turns with their public meltdowns? Britney does it for a while, then Lindsay. Sometimes Paris or Nicole do something weird when it's quiet. Just a coinkydink, I'm sure.
Can't they all just get together and simultaneously self-destruct so we can get it out of the way in one fell swoop.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Strange news item of the day (I guess)
I just saw the strangest headline on the CNN ticker, but have no clue what they are talking about - very helpful, CNN.
"Moldovia: Romania to blame for Twitter riots"
Huh?
"Moldovia: Romania to blame for Twitter riots"
Huh?
Stay classy, Fox
Coming to Fox: a reality series in which actual companies that are struggling to stay afloat in this lousy economy agree -- presumably in exchange for money -- to let their staffs decide which among them is going to get pink-slipped to save money.
In each case, the company's boss or owner will call all the employees together and tell them someone's going to get laid off. But rather than the boss/owner making the decision, he or she will instead give the employees all the available information about one another -- salaries, job evaluations, etc. -- and let the employees decide who will get pink-slipped.
- Washington Post
Real nice, capitalizing on someone's misery and humiliating them on national TV. They must be proud.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Chatty and pee-ey
I had a Verizon tech up today as one of my movie channels disappeared and they couldn't fix it over the phone (they are very good, by the way, I called at 1 and she said she could have a tech there by 4) but, wow, was he chatty.
Very nice guy, but he had to have a conversation as he worked. He felt the need to comment on my kitchen cabinets (he liked them), on my TV (he loved it) - of course it is a gorgeous 52' 1080p HD Sammy, how could you not love it?
And then he invoked my biggest phobia and asked if he could use the bathroom. Ugh. What can you do, you can't say no, but I hate when these techs don't take care of their business before they get here.
Very nice guy, but he had to have a conversation as he worked. He felt the need to comment on my kitchen cabinets (he liked them), on my TV (he loved it) - of course it is a gorgeous 52' 1080p HD Sammy, how could you not love it?
And then he invoked my biggest phobia and asked if he could use the bathroom. Ugh. What can you do, you can't say no, but I hate when these techs don't take care of their business before they get here.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Stunning news
A new Gallup poll reports that George Bush and Dick Cheney "are each viewed unfavorably by 63% of Americans, very similar to where they stood with the public in their final White House years...the 35% of Americans viewing Bush favorably today is close to his all-time low of 32% in April 2008, and matches a favorable rating from August of that year."
The stunning news, of course, is that 35 percent of Americans actually view this chucklehead favorably. Who are these people? I hope they are not allowed to procreate.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
It's election time again?
Oy, I just got a robocall from Mike Bloomberg assuring me he supports Pres. Obama's stimulus plan. Yes, Mike the Democrat turned Republican turned Independent (but really always a Dem) is running for a third term.
Now if only the GOP bozo in Minnesota would just admit the reality that he lost and gracefully step aside for new Senator Al Franken.
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