Monthly Archives: January 2010

Amy’s Pre-Grammy Day

In celebration of the Grammy’s, or perhaps because it was the last day of the exhibit and my sweet sister-in-law made sure that I would not miss something so wonderful before it was over, we went to the Brooklyn Musuem’s “Who Shot Rock & Roll” this afternoon.

I will tell you all that I am sorry the show closed today because anyone who is a true fan should be sorry that they missed this gem. (Dr. Jimmy, we missed you!) Along with some of the most memorable images of the past 50 years in rock and roll, the exhibit was peppered with treats such as a full wall of a lenticular Jimi Hendrix (this is the process like the old wink buttons where the image changes when you move around it) , Jerry Garcia and Mountain Girl, and a mosh pit shot that defied reality. Also, not to give Jimi too much weight, but there was a series of him burning his guitar at Monterey Pop that I really wanted to slip in my bag on the way out. Amongst the iconic shots like Bob Gruen’s John Lennon  in the NY T-shirt and images from rock photography greats like Danny Clinch and one of the world’s greatest photography talents, Richard Avedon, the show was more about the not so famous photographers. The men and women who never achieved great fame but shot those who did. I found their stories the most interesting.

As if this pre-Grammy day was not perfect enough, I drove home in time to hear Bob Dylan’s Theme Radio Show on XM and tonight’s theme was New York. Although I did not get to hear the whole show I did hear this: Duke Ellingtons, Take the A Train into Funky Broadway, not by Wilson Picket but Dyke & the Blazers, into a wonderful reading by Bob of Emma Lazurus’ The New Colossus (you know: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yadayadyada) into Lou Reed’s Dirty Blvd that parody’s that work. (Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on ’em
that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says. Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death and get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard.)
Not gonna lie, had that one cranked up to window rattling levels. Always been a sucker for Lou Reed.

All in all, I go to bed tonight a happy camper. Sometimes the week beats the crap out of us. If we can rejuice with what we love on the weekend we wake up Monday with a better attitude and the skill set to try again.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under art, carry a camera, museums, music, photography

Confession: I am a Costco Neophyte

Not kidding. I have lived in the suburbs for the past 20 years and have only been to Costco one time. Until today. Gary usually does the Costco run. He loves keeping inventory, as my friend Todd would call it. And the CD section is his little treat at the end of the spree.

Today, I needed paper towels, Swiffer supplies and light bulbs. So I figured I would go with him to avoid spending $300 in the quest to buy those few items.

We drove up and someone had a couch on a dolly, wheeling it out to their car. They sell furniture at Costco?! Honestly, can I actually be the last person on earth who does not know this? Or who does not shop at one of the big box stores for that matter. I really need to get out of the basement more.

Not gonna lie, I did get a kick out of the place. And Karen, you were right, the little snack stations are simply divine. But for the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would think it was good merchandising to sell area rugs directly next to fresh fish. That just seems wrong. “Honey, I love this new rug you bought for the living room but it smells oddly like crab legs.”

My favorite purchases? 18 pack of sponges! Love that. And the big thing of cinnamon for 4 bucks (I make my coffee with cinnamon every morning. Hey, it adds up).

So, in my quest to avoid having Gary spend $300 by himself, we spent…

$325 instead!

Agreed, impossible to get out of there for less. But hey, we needed it all, right?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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How to get 2,590,000 google hits for your name?

In less than 6 days. That is quite impressive don’t you think? So what do you think good ole Robert Jenkins did to deserve all that content out there on the world wild web?

Nobel peace prize? Nope.

Emerged from the rubble in Haiti after 11 days? uh uh.

Viral video? Amercian Idol contestant? Lost 150 lbs? No. No. And no.

Mr. (and I use that term loosely) Robert Jenkins became famous last week because he was arrested for…

get ready, this one is pretty amazing.

He was arrested for PEEING ON THE STEAKS IN WALMART.

Yes, you read that correctly. Good old Bobby-boy pulled out his Oscar Meyer Weiner (or as Elaine Benes would say He. Took. It. Out.) and gave $600 worth of meat in a Canton, Ohio Walmart a little golden shower. Why, you ask?

Gary thinks it was because he was pissed.

(A few little notes on this post. A big thank you to my dear blog/twitter friend Michelle Lamar who never disappoints me with content for absurd posting. She is the one who turned me onto tampon crafts. Also, a shout out to J. who was disappointed the the Bread Gloves was not absurd enough. And of course Dr. Jimmy who is not all that fond of mom blogging but loves a good MFTA anyday).

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Bread Gloves

This one had me laughing for quite awhile. I LOVE the unleavened option; nice sensitivity to the tribe.

Look at this guys face, he could almost be described as ecstatic. How many shots do you think they had to do before they got this one. Or wait, are those mits photoshopped in?

I can’t wait till they come out with the muffin slippers.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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iPad. Can I have one even if I had an ihysterectomy?

I am sorry, did that title make you feel uncomfortable? No worries, I had that surgery quite a few years ago and left my ovaries which would explain my raging insane menopausal behavior. My title is not as funny as my friend Jessica Gottlieb‘s but then again, she is a rock star and I am not. (and in all fairness, to my knowledge she still has a uterus).

But this post will NOT be about my girlie parts. This will be about the abnormal obsession that I, and hundreds of thousands of other Apple geeks have for all things Mac.

I have been a MacUser since before many of my readers were out of iDiapers, I am sure. I used to be in the minority but now I am just a semi-cool mom who gets all hot and bothered when that technostud in the black turtleneck, Steve Jobs, comes out on stage to unveil a new Apple product.

Today was no different. With 4 windows open on my extra large cinema display I watched a lousy ustream attempt at live streaming and followed the tech specs for the new tablet today as they were unveiled on engaget.com and twitter. After much speculation about the name it was announced to be the iPad. The photo at the top came across my twitterstream during the presentation. (thanks to Katmanalac). Photoshop users are not only funny, they are fast. You can see what the real one looks like here, and watch the dazzling video about all its features.

So here is the story in a nutshell. This is an iPhone on steriods. For those of us who like realtime email and blackberry messenger and hate AT&T we will not have to keep longing for the iPhone anymore. We can keep the blackberry and add this to the arsenol. Personally, I don’t care if I have one device that does it all and these 50-year-old eyes would way prefer to read off a 9.7″ screen than an iPhone any day. The typing looks easier and the ability to read books, listen to music, read newspapers and magazines, view pictures and videos, and surf the web all on one device that I don’t have to squint at is rather appealing. The Keyboard dock got a lot of wows from the audience as it was foreshadowing into what this baby will grow up to be. The fact that is missing a camera is a big negative.

If you are not excited by this, you will be by the third generation of this product. You can go bury your Kindle out back with your VCR because this baby blows that dinosaur away! The Apple cool factor is intoxicating as always.

I have a strict policy of never buying the first generation of anything tech item because there is always a level of disappointment by the next holiday season when they release the bigger, better, less buggy version of whatever it is. But at the $499 entry level it is hard to not want this toy. Do I think that there is anything revolutionary about this product? Not really as is, but I think that it will be very soon. Although the iBook store, Apples book version of iTunes, will surely blow Barnes and Noble/Amazon and the Kindle right out of the water. And the potential for developers is endless.

For those geeks hungry for tech specs, you have probably heard them already but here they are:

1/2″ thin, 1.5 lbs, 9.7 ips display, full multi-touch, 1Ghz apple A4 chip 16, 22 or 64GB flash storage, wifi 801.11n, 10 hr battery, iphone apps work out of the box, keyboard doc and a price point ranging from 16GB with no 3G at $499 to 64GB with 3G for $829 with the big news that although it is still on the dreaded AT&T network  there is NO contract. $14.99/month for 250mg data and $29.99 for unlimited.

To my parents and inlaws, sorry for this post, I am sure I lost you on ihysterectomy!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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A little dog food never hurt anyone

I am convinced that my dog and I are genetically linked. I think I wrote about this once before but I can’t find the post and quite honestly it has been a long day.

Mel and I both suffer from hypothyroidism. Not all that uncommon in women ‘of a certain age‘, this basically means that we have underactive thyroids that do not produce a certain hormone and can cause us to feel sluggish. There are other more miserable things that it can cause but luckily neither one of us gone that far.

As a result of this disorder, I find myself in the odd circumstance to be taking the same medication as my pup. There on the windowsill in the kitchen sit two (almost identical) bottles of pills. One sleepy morning this week I took a pill from my bottle and buried it neatly in a chunk of the wet dog food that I mix in with Mel’s kibble. As I was inserting the pill I noticed it was yellow and not lavender, indicating this was my pill not hers.

Now don’t get me wrong here but at the price I pay for meds these days I was not about to throw away a perfectly good pill just because it had a slight slime of dog food on it. Like any self-respecting dog owner would, I wiped it off and put it back in the bottle.

So if any of you notice me scratching myself behind my ear with my foot or barking uncontrollably this week you will understand why.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Time to Cry Tuesday – All grown up… almost

Friday morning at nine o’clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made…

– John Lennon & Paul McCartney

If you have been reading along you know that my daughter left for semester abroad last week. I cannot put into words how wonderful it was to have her home this last month. The teenager that went off to college is long gone and a lovely, grounded, charming young woman came home in her place. She is all grown up.

Well, almost.

The day she was leaving I came upstairs to check on her last minute packing. There I found her carry-on in the hallway. And tucked away in between the hair mousse and the laptop, strapped in tight, was Chetley. Her main man since birth. Yes we realize ‘he’ is dressed in pink, many shades and patterns of it as a matter of fact as I have reconstructed his body on more than one occasion in the past 20 years.

If you know Jana personally, you surely know the Chetmeister. He has been through it all with her, the good and the bad. He sat perched on her bed at camp, from the first day as a nine-year-old to the last day as Senior Group Leader. When she was  a frightened five-year-old going into the hospital for neurosurgery to ‘get her neck fixed’, good old Chet went with her and sported a bandage on the back of his neck till her stitches came out. He proudly went off to college with her… this bear is a Badger through and through. And if I am not mistaken, Jew that he is, I think he even followed along on Birthright to Israel last summer. All that considered I don’t know why I imagined he would stay behind while she embarked on the adventure of her lifetime.

I truly had this whole going abroad thing under control all along. Gary and I are both so happy that she is able to have this experience. Many parents asked me if I was sad or nervous about her going. I am surely neither. I love her wings and the fact that she loves to use them.

But standing there at the top of the stairs, hours before we left for the airport, the sight of that teddy bear with his arm around the laptop just about did me in. Jana then and now just flashed before my eyes. Right in front of the door she slammed so often as a preteen that the latch is loose, sat the evidence that she was all grown up; and not completely – all at one moment.

They call them comfort items. The stuffed animals or blankets that children form an attachment to and use to self-soothe when they are young. Why has no one invented a comfort item for the moms when they find themselves in a moment like this.

Oh, that’s right, they call that VODKA!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under camp, college, Jana, Time to Cry Tuesdays, travel

Psychic Dinner

I kid you not. This was a little promo that was sitting at the front desk of a place where we ate last night. Don’t you sort of want to go to the Psychic Dinner? When you sit down at the table do they already know what you want to eat?

We were told by our waitress that the readings were ‘public’ and that there was no guarantee that everyone would get a reading. Well that sounds inviting. “Mr. Jones, your wife is going to leave you for your best friend and you will lose your house in the next year. Oh yeh, and your dog will get hit by a car.” What the hell is poor Mr. Jones to do with that info in front of a $65 dollar a head fabulous buffet dinner crowd (with soda, coffee and dessert)?

Seems these dinners are rather popular as the waitress also told us that she thought is was sold out. On a Monday night!

I particularly like the fact that the psychic only has a first name.

Anyone interested in signing up for next month with me?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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ID Theft

Odd choice of license plates. Had to add this to my photo collection. A big thanks to Sue who took this since my camera battery died. Anyone in PW know whose this care belongs to?

Anyone have suggestions on what this person does for a living? How about a little poll?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Elvis Chihuahua?

Once again I signed on to facebook to be faced with an ad that left me dumbstruck. First, where did this image come from? Hey Bob, how ’bout we use that Elvis chihuahua image for the mortgage refi ad? Only in NY though. I am not sure of how the midwestern folks will relate. WTF?!

There is no way the images for these FB ads are chosen by human beings. There has to be some random flawed algorithm at play here. These are like the hairy guy ads I wrote about awhile back. I am also left wondering what would drive someone to do this illustration. You know, wake up one morning, stare at the blank sheet of paper and think, hey maybe I will put some elvis hair on a rat dog today. Sounds like something my old friend Ed W. would do. Wait! Ed, did you draw this? Or maybe this is your dog. I can see you having a dog like this.

You have to admit that these ads do get attention. And hey, I might refinance with a Bob Dylan pekinese if I could get 4.2%!

And don’t you just wonder why these ridiculous ads keep popping up on MY facebook page? Hmmm, could it be the MFTA tag?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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