[ Scribbles ]

Learn to Yo-yo

2007-03-27

My brother got my son a yo-yo, a classic toy that teaches the laws of physics.
"For every action there is a reaction".
He is trying to learn tricks but I think he may be breaking something real soon.
Better weather means he can practice outside.

Cheap but dangerous fun -- better check my house insurance policy in case of a freak accident.

Learn Cool Yo-yo Tricks at Yomega

Beginner 1 Yo yo Tricks at Begin to Spin

Yo-yo history and links at Wikipedia

Yo-yoing.com fanatics video performances -- you can upload your own video to share -- lots of performances on all levels.

Congrats Max and Laura

2007-03-25

Max Crumm (Slacker Danny) and Laura Osnes (small town Sandy) will be playing the leads of Danny and Sandy, in their first broadway show, "Grease"!

They won the parts on NBC's Grease You're the One That I Want show.

It was fun watching and everyone was just so talented!

Congratulations to all of them making it as far as they did! I am sure many opportunities will come to the other contestants from their exposure on this show.

Austin Miller's My Space Red Zuko

Now I have to find something else to do during that hour since it is now over.

Mental Age Quiz

2007-03-25

A mental age quiz for those 30 and under.
Read each statement then write down the number of statements you agreed with on that section.
Add up each section to get your mental age.

I know how to make a pot of coffee.
I do my own laundry.
I can cook for myself.
I think politics are interesting.
My parents and grandparents have better things to say than my friends.

Total this section: ?/5

I show up for school/college/work every day.
I always carry a pen in my pocket/purse.
I've never gotten a detention.
I've watched talk shows.
I know what credibility means without looking it up.
I drink coffee at least once a week.

Total this section: ?/6

I know how to run the dish washer.
I can count to 10 in Italian/Spanish/French/German.
Normally When I say I'm going to do something I do it.
Both parents trust me.
I can mow the lawn.
I can make adults laugh without being stupid.
I remember to water my plants.
I study when I have to.
I pay attention at school/college.
I remembered to feed my pets.

Total this section: ??/10

I can spell experience without looking it up.
I clean up my own mess.
The first thing I do when I wake up is get Diet Coke.
I can go to the store without getting something I don't need.
I understand jokes the first time they are said.
I can type fast.

Total this section: ?/6

I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour.
I have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.
I can read a book and actually finish it.

Total this section: ?/3

Therefore your Mental Age is: total of statements agreed with/30

Mental Age Assessment Quiz for "oldsters" developed by The Harvard School of Psychiatry.

Comic Book Maker

2007-03-24

Create your own comic book online for free. Use their picks or upload your photos and star in your own comic!

Comic Book Creator

Getting Married: Important Questions

2007-03-24

There is nothing wrong with trying to prepare yourself for marriage. It gives you thoughts and ideas to work with.

Here are a few books that you may find interesting to look at and get some insights. Check them out of your library or get them on interlibrary loan (ask at the checkout desk about this service):

The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say "I Do" by Susan Piver
This one I found useful because there were many issues I did not even consider or asked about.

Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts: Seven Questions to ask Before (and after) You Marry by Les Parrott

Before You Say 'I Do' : Important Questions for Couples to Ask Before Marriage by Todd Outcalt

First and foremost, love and respect yourself first.

When you meet that someone special, you will know. Be best friends first before anything else. Friendship and trust are the important issues and foundations of a long term relationship.

Best of luck and love always happens when you least expect it. There is no timeline just go with the flow.

Knut the Polar Bear

2007-03-23

Knut, born in captivity at the Berlin Zoo, was rejected by his mother and now the Zoo has intervened and saved him. (Polar Bears on on the extinction list.)

Read about Knut and see some video when he made his first public appearance (3/23).
There is also a slide show.

Very cute and darling. May he have a great life.

Knut the Polar Bear

My favorite Polar Bear appears in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Letters from Father Christmas" as Santa's "helper". I love him! I highly recommend this delightfully enchanting book.

Polar the Titanic Bear by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden -- about a toy Polar Bear who was saved on the Titanic -- a true story.

American Idol

2007-03-22

Check on how many votes are coming in when the lines are busy at Dial Idol.

See why some not so talented contestants have staying power with the Vote for the Worst (VFTW) site.

And this was on E's The Soup -- Melinda Dolittle's School of Humility - (language warning/YouTube).

I was shocked Stephanie was voted off. Best of luck to her.

Now that Sanjaya is in the top 10 -- he gets to go on tour! Hopefully, he will learn how to sing better than he does now by the time the tour starts.

I think they should have a fee to vote which goes to charity, especially Music in the Schools since this is how most of America is learning about types of music. Most music programs are first to be cut in school budgets.

If there were a fee, not so many calls would be made to keep the lesser talent on and it would no longer be a popular vote contest.

Take a peek at the Naughty Girls in action.

Wordless Wednesday: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

2007-03-21

Oh how so naughty naughty!

Francois Brunelle

2007-03-19

This is a most interesting and fascinating on going project.

Photographer Francois Brunelle photographs people who look like someone else (their "twin") but not related and photographs them in black and white. Check out his site for a few portrait samples.

Francois Brunelle

An Irish Blessing

2007-03-16

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the luck of the Irish be always with you.

Oprah: Windfall Show

2007-03-16

Oprah had people on today who talked about going from rags to riches then back to rags again and regaing their sanity back to normallacy, well almost.

First up was Nadine Purdy who by fortune events, ended up being successful with her own boutique.
However, she had no money sense and spent every dime that came in on material things, dinner parties for large crowds,
eating out all the time, and hanging out and keeping up with all the beautiful people.
Eventually, her lifestyle included a $600. a day cocaine habit, then heroine, she lost her 5000 square foot condo (bought with cash)
, her husband and her children.

She lived on the street until entering rehab and has been clean for 5 years.
She has picked herself up and has gone into business with her sister opening up a few more boutiques under the name "Purdy Girls".

Nadine has altered her life to live more simply citing that materialism does not make you happy but who you are on the inside is more valuable.

She says that she should have learned how to handle money differently back then but can apply her experience now so that she does not make the same mistakes
twice.

Another lady, with $10, went to the store to buy milk but decided to buy lottery tickets instead.
She called the number to find out what the winning numbers were and could not believe she had the winning ticket.
She was screaming so all her neighbors knew right away that she hit the $15.5 million jackpot.
She and her husband quit their jobs because for 20 years, they get $487 thousand dollars a year after taxes.
They bought everything and of course, friends and family came calling and begging.
She had a hard time saying NO and ended up with money headaches.

She wishes she had handled it differently. Her first mistake was telling everyone she won.
None of the people she handed money to are her friends today.
They ended up moving away where no one knew them to avoid similiar experiences.
Most of the money they got is gone. They saved some but she says, not enough.
The lottery checks stop in 4 1/2 years.

Mention was made of a guy named Bud who won millions, spent it all in a short time, and died broke.
Another broke bloke was MC Hammer who was worth millions but spent it all without a real plan.

Lynette Khalfani was the expert finacial advisor guest.
Another gal got a settlement of 1.3 million dollars from her late father's lawsuit.
She already squandered over a quarter of a million dollars, which is what she already received, more money is too come.
Lynette's advice to receiving a windfall from a raise or bonus, tax return, inheritance, or lottery winnings was the following:
1. Make firm decisions and establish boundaries -- decide who you are going to help and a plan. Learn how to say NO. STick to your plan. Do not let others financially abuse you.
2. Pay off debt.
3. If you receive more than $50 grand, get some financial help to plan investments, have a system for requests, give and plan responsibly.

This is my opinion -- if you get lots of money, don't spend it right away, put it in a CD for six months or a year THEN think about how you will eventually spend it OR if you wish to continue to
just save it.

Lynette also said that more than 70% of Americans have no financial education and can not make good decisions for themselves.

A budget is a plan of action -- don't be impulsive, make decisions on purchases/spending/charity carefully and thoughtfully.
A budget is a long term way of keeping more of your money rather than it disappearing fast before you know it.

The Social Experiment -- ShowTime's: "Reversal of Fortune"

A film maker went out and followed a homeless person about for a set time.
The homeless person was tested medically, psychologically, and for drugs before filming.

Ted had been in prison and released. He had lived on the streets for 20 years, no job, just collects bottles for cash. On a good day, he would make $20.00 He slept under a bridge on the ground, and had a cigarette and beer for breakfast.

On July 5, 2005, while going through a dumpster, he found an attache case filled with a hundred grand.
The experiment was, would this money help someone or would it solve or create more problems.

Ted's first thought was to get a Harley.
He stated he wanted an apartment and job.
He checked into a hotel and took a shower (last one was three months previously) and called a few people to tell them the news.
He bought a $35,000 truck and then bought a car for another guy he saw regularly at the recycle station.
Half his money is gone.
He gets a credit card.
He travels to visit family and upon request (or demand) he is generous and hands over money to them.
He now has more friends because they know he has money and are using him for it.
Ted thinks he has a bottomless pit of money.

The film maker says Ted was given therapy and financial advice and a job. It was Ted's free will that would determine his success or failure for this social experiment.
Ted also acquired a wife. When the money ran out, so did she although they are still married but not living together.

Today, he is still homeless and says he owes more than he did before he got the money.
He has no plan for his future.
He cannot erase the problems the money brought on, he says he feels worse now for being too generous. He also said, that none of those people he helped are around him since he has no money now yet they never helped him out when he was down and out.

The film maker said that habits may be hard to break and that there are other problems (drugs or alchohol, etc) some people may have that prevent them from living normally.

My synopsis:
In the case of the first and second women, the fact that they could not say NO and felt they had to please other people, keep up with the Jonese, before they took care of themselves, clearly shows
that they had low self-esteem, poor self-image and lack of self confidence.
Ted, on the other hand, his lifestyle was a habit complicated by other personal issues so he could not function normally.

Money is the root of all evil -- Money can create more problems than it can solve.
Yes, if not used wisely and used impulsively, or to influence others to thinking you are a nice and good person.
You can always be nice and good if you don't have money to flash around.
People first, money second, and things last as Suze Ormand always says.

Idol Chatter

2007-03-16

My top three are Melinda, LaKisha, and Jordan. I think it is a girls show.

It is a dull season.

Sanjaya?. He should have gone long ago (needs more singing lessons) but there are a few reasons I believe he is still in.

1. He is getting lots of ethnic votes -- that is nice they lend him their support but is it really offering him some false hope? Or is false hope better than no hope at all?

2. Teen girls think he is hot, cute (or handsome), has nice hair, and a nice smile, and a nice personality. They will give him their hearts and their votes.

3. There is an internet group that gets together and votes for the worst performer trying to keep them on the show for as long as possible. This is really very cruel. Sanjaya has talent but it needs to be developed with a few more lessons and some perseverance.

Simon did make a kind comment -- he is brave.

When the popular vote keeps bad talent on, you just have to wonder what this show is all about.
Oh -- it is about big business, their contribution to the show and free publicity, AND the millions of dollars made by voting EVERY WEEK. Talk about lining the pockets of some.

Congratulations to all those who made it as far as they did and got some visibility.
Best of luck to all of them.

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American Chop Suey

2007-03-15

My Mom made this a lot. It is quick and simple to make.

2 cans of Campbell's tomato soup (or the like)

1 lb of ground hamburger

1 16 oz box of elbow macaroni (or any shape) cooked and drained

frozen or fresh chopped green peppers and onions equal to a cup

Fry and drain the hamburger, onions and green peppers. Add the soup and mix and heat till warm.

Pour the soup/hamburg/green pepper and onion mix over the drained but hot macaroni and mix.

If you want, you can add a little grated cheese on the top.

Great potluck meal.

Verizon DSL Vent

2007-03-14

Well, we got it.

Had to sign up for a year, got a discounted package, because we have our phone with them but had no idea about the internet service.

The modem came the next day but we could not set up for 5 days and at that after 5 pm on a designated day.

My husband was taken through set up for nearly 3 hours on morning.

It worked for a day then KAPUT. I was on the phone for 90 minutes setting and resetting the darn modum and router. Why? because they said we did not pay the bill when we got on. This is a new service we will be billed on the next bill not the current one. Oh yes, and the numbers were so darn small, I had to use a magnifying glass to read them off.

My husband and I would give the people a good grade that we talked to for the help.
However, my complaint is with the "speediness" we were promised.

We have been on for a week now.

We got the super speedy service however, I think NOT.

Yes, we connect faster BUT . . .

It takes forever, (longer than dial up) to get to a page.
Then it takes another eon to open the page.
And even if you go back to a page you were just at . . . forget it . . . the computer does not recall being there so it is another long wait to reload the page.
I am on the WWW (world wide wait) for 2-5 minutes per page.
That is a lot of slacker time!
Yes, we clear cookies, temp files, and history frequently.

Then, I manage to find some complaints about the service online -- worst and common complaints were about the billing overcharges. Hope that does not happen, yet.
Next were the customer service reps that spoke English but with accents. The guy I got, I could hardly understand. I kept on asking him to repeat what he said, he must of thought I was hard of hearing.
Then there were people who were moving but had signed up and committed to a year and their headaches.

So we shall see how the next year of my life goes with this service.
I think compared to this, the dial up was much better, faster than this.

Verizon needs to work on simplifying the process though.

What should I post this under? Business? Computers and Internet?
Entertainment (watching the little connection thingy/icon spin)?
Family and Home (is everyone happy with this in my house? Kids love YouTube)
Games (like internet peek-a-boo, there is the page, then it is gone, no connect)?
Health and Medicine (I need my daily internet fix!)?
Hobbies (slacking)?
Relationships (with the Verizon people)?
Religion and Beliefs (Verizon, Internet Gods)?
Education (found out what a router and modem were, and the on/off buttons)?
Science and Nature (the laws of electricity and bad weather power outages)?
Society and Culture (got to check the local calendars and online news)?
Sports and Recreation (yes, internet surfing is a new sport and typing is exercise)?
News (bad)?
Humor (can I laugh at this?)
Travel (on the internet, you can go anywhere but no where if you don't have a good connection!)
Recipes (for disaster, or finding a dinner dish to whip up with the few ingredients in the house, no connection, no recipe, no dinner, I am lost.)?
Politics (of course, business and money), you get the idea.

This post has taken me one hour between getting the pages, and typing.
Time for bed.

NBC Medium: Music

2007-03-14

I like this show. Family life is portrayed realistically and Joe is a super husband.

Tonight's episode (3.14.07) was the one with Allison and her daughter having the same dreams about the mother/daughter murders in the backroom of the bridal shop by a distraught and jilted fiance.

Allison's dream at the beginning of the show shows her daughter at the prom and a Carry-esque
scene.

Arial's dream is the same but rose petals are falling on her.

Allison sees the mother's version while Arial sees the daughter's version of what happened. They work together as a team to find out the murderer.

I thought this was odd -- Arial sees the guy coming to the door at closing. He gets mad and touches the door handle and the glass. No one mentions getting any fingerprints.
I am sure glad his fiance ran away from him. Creepy possessive guy.

During the first dream sequence and at the end of the show, they play Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten". Lyrics are here.

When Allison and her daughter go to the shop they are playing KT Tunsell's "Suddenly I See" (lyrics here) which I posted the other day.

Gee, am I psychic or what?

Wordless Wednesday: Regis Philbin

2007-03-14

Regis Philbin (aka "The King") is having triple bypass surgery this week.

Best of luck to him from so many of his fans.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Live with Regis and Kelly
(click on his page and send your regards)

Suddenly I See

2007-03-13

Just another earworm (spins in your head constantly) -- this is the song they played whenever a female was leaving the group on So You Think You Can Dance in 2006. I am putting the words here so when I visit my blog, I can sing along, maybe you can too.

"Suddenly I See"
KT Tunstall

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
You can hear she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

And she's taller than most
And she's looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower
A big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

You Tube Deletions: Delutube

2007-03-12

My daughter made a bunch of stick figure animations with Paint Shop Pro based on a TV show, creative fan fiction. She drew hundreds of pictures and put them together in frames to create action. She added voice, music and sounds. She uploaded them at You Tube and they were very popular.

Without any warning or notification, You Tube took them off just because they used a word that is the same word as in a popular TV show, yet they had no copyright images or image similarity (just stick drawings) but she did use names of characters.

This is pretty sad because our computer crashed and we lost everything -- all her work gone.
We sat around one Saturday afternoon reminiscing what was lost in our files.

While out surfing I found a site that supposedly caches those vids that have disappeared.
Maybe this can be of help to someone else who was just as shocked to find their vids tossed out to cyberspace.

Delutube -- like You Tube's "other side". Type in the user name to find old deleted vids, links are at the bottom.

Always something to do.
I wish the scanner worked. So does she. She got some high quality Prismacolor pencils for Christmas and started to draw out the frames and then scan them verses doing all the drawings on the computer.

Other You Tube News: Viacom Sues Google Over You Tube Clips

Chocolate Humor

2007-03-12

Problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in hot car.
Solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less.

A nice box of chocolates provide your total daily intake of calories in one place.
Isn't that handy?

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer.
But if you can't eat all your chocolate, it may be a sign of a deeper problem.

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge.
Calories are afraid of heights and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.

Equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate is a balanced diet.

Two phrases: Money talks. Chocolate sings.

The preservatives in chocolate make you look younger.

Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous?
A. Because no one wants to quit.

If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today.
That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

(unknown author)

Helen Mirren's Oscar Dress Knockoff

2007-03-12

You can own it yourself -- special orders. priced $325.00 and shipping begins in mid-April.

See it here at edressme.com. (As mentioned on The Today Show)

They have quite an assortment there including Prom, white dresses, little black dresses.
Some of their sale prices are really rock bottom if they have a few left in a few select sizes.

Look great, feel great.

Procrastinator's Creed

2007-03-11

1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.

3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.

4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.

6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

7. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesmally small, is not exactly zero.

8. If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.

9. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.

10. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.

11. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.

12. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.

13. I will never put off until tomorrow, what I can forget about forever.

14. I will become a member of the ancient Order of Two-Headed Turtles (the Procrastinator's Society) if they ever get it organized.

LEGO Thriller

2007-03-10

This is amazing. How much time did it take to create this?

LegoBeth from TLC's While You Were Out (no longer on the air) would like this.
(Check out LegoBeth's creations and room before/room makeover results )

Lego Thriller at YouTube

Leggo my LEGO.

Other LEGO sites:

LEGO.com -- buy all things LEGO, games, building ideas, message boards, etc.

The Lego Church (Amy Hughes site)

If We Are the Body LEGO Video using Amy's Church (music)

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster   |  LEGO Themed Wedding Ideas (for real)

LEGOLand  -- great vacation spots. I like the one in the UK.

Bill Wards Brickpile -- LEGO train layouts, LEGO ideas, great gallery PLUS links to other LEGO fanatics for MORE ideas!

Paul's LEGO Page -- items he has built, and some great links and resources.

LEGO Brick Birthday Cake -- You will need two box mixes the same brand and flavor
Bake a 9 X 13 sheet cake. Bake a dozen cupcakes.
Using white frosting, color with food coloring yellow, red, green, blue (choose one color)
Take 6 or 8 (depends on size) plain cupcakes and place topside down on the cake. Frost over the sides and bottoms of the cupcakes. (You can frost the cupcakes first then place down also). If you need to make the cupcakes sturdy, use a skewer to hold it in place on the top of the cake.

LEGO Brick Halloween Costume -- create a sandwich board. Spray paint. Glue on matching Solo plastic cups. Use a sturdy glue for grip and wear and tea.
You can also put the whole thing together then spray paint one color.
Wear matching sweats.
Great for a family or group of kids costumes.
For a trick or treat bag -- use a colored bag and put colored circles on it to make a brick.