Thursday, July 15, 2004

Eye exam went well, my prescription only changed a smidgen in my right eye, the left has no change. And because my eyes are still dilated, I opted not to hang at the mall to get my glasses updated. I’ll do that another time.

What cracked me up was when my new opthamalogist asked where I work and live. He lives in the same town and I could tell he was mulling over something. Then he finally asked me about the body inthe dumpster, which led to a discussion of crime in America and how our legal system is too soft. I was amazed that there was someone a little more hardcore than I am about punishing criminals.

As I was paying my co-pay, I asked the lady if she was from Boston (I knew she was from her heavy accent). She seemed pleased that I noticed and we chatted about New England for a bit. She just moved here a year ago - her first time living anywhere outside of Massachusetts. She made me laugh out loud when she said, “I didn’t believe that anywheah could have worse traffic than Bawston until I came heah.” No kidding, lady.

She handed me the little goofy sunshades to weah on the drive home. Let me tell you, that sun is blinding when your eyes won’t dilate properly. Ouch!

I’m leaving the office early for an eye appointment this afternoon. It’s been three years since my last eye exam, so I thought it was time to get it done. Plus, I can tell that my glasses aren’t quite doing the job they used to - there’s a little squinting happening.

Also, I think that I’m not too far from needing bifocals, which makes me feel old. I tell myself it’s the hours I spend squinting at a computer monitor everyday rather than my age.

Anyway, it’s tempting to get new frames for my glasses, but I’m going to be frugal and stick with the frames I have and just get new lenses. What stinks is that I forgot to bring an older, spare pair with me to get new lenses in as a backup and to wear while they get fixed, so I’ll either have to sit around for an hour blind-as-a-bat and bored or I’ll have to go back on another day to get the new lenses. I go to Lenscrafters, by the way.

So now the comments are being sent to my email. I haven’t done anything and neither has my host. Weird.

The scores have been corrected, after Mosto (our quizmaster) fixed the error to question #2.

chrissw—325
tygertyger—250
kdeweb—225
Jaynee—150
SteenShell—125
princessjami—125
denis—100
jenspeaks—75

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Item #1:  I can’t believe that no one has said anything about that yummy picture of Hugh. Come on! He’s GORGEOUS!

*men, take note that Item #2 is tres girly*

Item #2:  I just saw a commercial for Midol - three young women at the beach. One says to another, “I can’t believe you’re wearing a bikini while you’re having your period!” And then Bikini Girl breaks out the Midol box and waxes joyful about how her bloating, cramps, and fatigue were miraculously cured with The Product. I don’t know about the rest of you gals, I like Midol and it works pretty well, but I still won’t be quite that chipper or caught wearing a bikini at “that time of the month.” Actually, I won’t be caught wearing a bikini EVER - it’s way to scary for everyone.

Item #3:  I forget where I saw it, but some folks were protesting heavily that Martha Stewart just should not have to go to prison. They were glowing in praise of the Domestic Diva - how much she’s helped women and what she’s contributed to our society greatly and that it’s a travesty that she be facing such a harsh penalty for what is essentially a misdemeanor. Yadda, yadda, yadda…

*pushing up sleeves*

OK, I like Martha - I watch her show, I’ve bought her stuff. I agree that she’s helped women to have confidence in their domestic skills and to appreciate Good Things. However, she was found, by a jury of her peers, to have broken the law; a law that happens to be a federal felony offense. And so, she will spend a little bit of time in prison. That’s the way our justice system works.

I’d love to see those same folks making the same defense for other law breakers. If you want that kind of leniency for Martha, then let’s apply it to Ken Lay. How about the guy who robbed the bank down the road? He says he needed the money to pay his bills - he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. How about the gal who shoplifts some earrings? She didn’t hurt anyone.

Yes, they did. Ken Lay cost thousands of people their pensions. The shoplifter causes the retailer to raise prices to defray the cost of the stolen merchandise. Martha Stewart attempted to cheat the stock market - and then lied about it and tried to cover it up. I hope she learns to appreciate her cushy life after her 10-16 months in a federal pen.

And when she gets out, I’ll be the first to park myself on my sofa to watch her new TV show.

*/stepping off soapbox*

Item #4:  My office is set to be wallpapered next week. Woo! Except for being displaced out of my office for the time it takes them to do the work. At least I have a laptop and can roam easily.

I think that’s it for now.

I scanned this from the Playbill because he’s too pretty not to share with ya’ll.

LATER: I changed the post title.

Well done, folks. We’re 3rd overall for the TAR5 Weekly Challenge! The tally for our league after last night’s episode:

chrissw—300
tygertyger—250
kdeweb—200
SteenShell—150
Jaynee—125
princessjami—100
jenspeaks—100
denis—100

Where are Ace and Anthony? Did you guys play this week?

Also, I don’t know who SteenShell is - that nickname isn’t familiar to me. Is this princess jami’s friend?

I’m confused!

UPDATE: Looking at the quiz, Jaynee and I both noted that our Quizmaster put $1-99 as the correct answer for the question about how much money the teams got. We both heard teams say they got $136. I posted a question for our quiz guy in the TAR5 forums - so the scores may change.

He based his answer on KamiKarli, who said they got $90.36, which is what I thought I heard too. Then two other teams said $136, which makes more sense since I doubt the producers would be handing out change to the teams.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

If you’re looking for something to do in the hours before The Amazing Race 5 starts tonight, then check out the recap of last week’s episode at TWoP. To start…

Previously on Ryan Seacrest May Have His Own Show, But Does He Have A Statue With Wings? No, I Didn’t THINK So: The drama. The comedy. The heartbreak. The schadenfreude. The flora. The fauna. The falling. (emphasis mine - heh) The locals. The music. The agony. The ecstasy. The Emmy.

A quote to tide you over until you get there yourself:

Phil next explains that adorable little “lifeguard transport vehicles,” evidently manufactured by Fisher-Price for its Li’l Beachcomber series, are taking the teams to the starting line at the Santa Monica Pier. Indeed, look, a pier! There’s even a Ferris wheel, and as you know, a Ferris wheel always says Good Family Fun, except when it says Meet Your Stomach Contents or Haven’t You Always Wanted To Learn About Joint and Several Liability?

To no one’s surprise, Phil explains that each team has “an existing relationship.” My brain fills in the inadvertently omitted words, “For now.”

OK, RUN now to read the rest.

I posted a question in the pMachine forums about my problem with the comments to email. They suggested it was a host problem.

I opened a trouble ticket with my host. They suggested it’s a pMachine problem.

Ah, technology.

The only thing I can think of is that when I added the comment timelock to discourage comment spammers, that it caused the problem. Although I was still receiving comments to email for a few days after adding that. In any case, I removed it to see if I start getting comments to email again.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Via email and verified as possible by Snopes.com:

>Subject: MASTERCARD/VISA ALERT

This information is worth reading.  By understanding how the VISA & Mastercard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you’ll be better prepared to protect yourself.  Those con artists get more creative every day.

My husband was called on Wednesday from “VISA” and I was called in Thursday from “MasterCard”. It worked like this: Person calling says, “This is Carl Patterson (any name) and I’m calling from the Security and Fraud department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card issued by 5/3 bank. Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a marketing company based in Arizona?”

When you say “No”. The caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?”

You say, “Yes”. The caller continues . . . “I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 800 number listed on your card 1-800-VISA and ask for Security. you will need to refer to this Control #”. Then gives you a 6 digit number. “Do you need me to read it again?” Caller then says he “needs to verify you are in possession of your card. Turn the card over. There are 7 numbers; first 4 are 1234 (whatever) the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are in possession of the card. These are the numbers you use to make internet purchases to prove you have the card. Read me the 3 numbers.” Then he says “That is correct. I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to call back if you do.”

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA security dept. told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of $497.99 WAS put on our card.

Long story made short . . . we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA card and they are reissuing as a new number. What the scam wants is the 3 digit number and that once the charge goes through, they keep charging every few days. By the time you get your statement, you think the credit is coming, and then its harder to actually file a fraud report. The real VISA reinforced that they will never ask for anything on the card (they already know).

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from “Jason Richardson of MasterCard” with a word for word repeat of the VISA Scam. This time I didn’t let him finish. I hung up.

We filed a police report (as instructed by VISA), and they said they are taking several of these reports daily and to tell friends, relatives and coworkers.

Please pass this on to all your friends.  By informing each other, we protect each other.  Thank-You.

I was all set to participate in the Blogathon this year, but alas, there won’t be one. Instead, I’ll have to wait one more year to blog for 24 hours to raise money for my favorite charity. (Thanks, Eric, for the reminder.)

That said, I see that Project Blog is on July 24, so maybe I’ll try to raise a few bucks after all. Here are the Project Blog FAQs.

If I do this I would be trying to raise money for urban kids to go to camp. Young Life owns and operates several camp properties around the US. They run outreach camps all summer, with programs geared toward urban kids on a few specific weeks. While YL tries to keep the cost of camp low, when transportation is factored in, it can cost from $400-600 per kid for the week.

It’s not too late to send in some money to help scholarship (we call it campership) a kid or two who want to go to camp this summer. If I commit to do this, will you sponsor me?

Hey, my TAR5 League peeps!

Consider this your friendly reminder that you need to take the quiz today if you haven’t already. Also, remember that the show is on at 10pm ET instead of 9pm ET tonight.

Who will be Philiminated this week?

Monday, July 12, 2004

I think I’ve finally seen an arty kind of movie before Jared because I’m not finding a review at his blog for In America. I’m kinda bummed about that since I like to link to his better movie reviews. I guess this means I have to be a little more detailed than usual in my critique.

The story is based on the real life of director Jim Sheridan. His daughters also co-wrote the screenplay for which I believe they were nominated for a writing Oscar award. I can’t remember if they won, I’m too lazy to hunt down the info. In a nutshell, it’s about an Irish family that comes to America where the Dad (Johnny) is an aspiring, struggling actor, Mom (Sarah) is a former school teacher, and their daughters (Christy and Ariel) live a challenging, exciting life in a poor neighborhood of New York City. It’s a sweet little movie that showcases this loving but troubled family. The girls are amazing and adapt well to their new home and make fast friends with Mateo (played by Djimon Hounsou, whom I’ll watch in anything), the quiet artist who lives in their building.

I really liked the movie. I liked the look of it and how I got a quick glimpse of who the family is, but then slowly the layers start to peel away to the deeper characters, their pain, their hopes, their lives. The girls are luminescent - they’re bright lights in a dark and dingy part of New York, and they bring that light to the people they encounter. From watching the bonus features, I learned that they are played by a pair of sisters (Sarah and Emma Bolger) that are actually from Ireland. Watching them in the “Making of...” segment, I saw that who they played is very much who they are naturally. Emma (the younger one) is very precocious.

It’s not a perfect movie, but overall it is a good one, I think. I do recommend it to anyone who likes a smaller, quieter, more character-driven story. If you’re prone to tears when watching movies, then you’ll want to have some Kleenex™ nearby.

(Mom, I’m holding it for you.)

I had a really fun weekend with the Cootie family. So I left off early yesterday morning…

Church was good and my song went pretty well considering the last minute nature of it and only two practices with Jaynee. After church we basically chilled out at the house - Jaynee and I dozed through Mystic River. Denis slaved away in the kitchen to make us a fabulous dinner of ribs and baked potatoes (it was super-duper yummy). In the evening their house was used for childcare for a meeting at their next door neighbor’s house. Just before they all left, Jaynee and CootieGirl suited up and we headed to the other neighbor’s house to use the pool. That kid loves the pool. Once back home CootieGirl went down for the night and we played a little poker.

I love poker. We played Texas Hold ‘Em and I was the big winner for the few hands we played. We talked about playing a little poker when we go up before CootieBoy is born and Jaynee goes in to the hospital for her scheduled c-section. So A&A, take note!

The drive home was a little hairy at times. It rained pretty much the whole way, but there were some parts of Pennsylvaia that it was coming down like a monsoon. There were some sections of road that were so water logged that my tires couldn’t get traction. It was a little scary, but I managed not to kill myself or anyone else. It’s nice to be home.

Sunday, July 11, 2004

Oh, this would be too good, if true.

Rumours are circulating at The One Ring.net that, at least in the UK and, er, Denmark, the extended version of The Return of the King will be coming to cinemas this October… along with Fellowship and The Two Towers. Yes, that’s the extended cut, pre-DVD release.

Now you just have to ask yourself one question.

Can you possibly handle potentially 12 or so hours in a cinema - possibly over several days or weeks - devouring all three extended versions of the biggest (and longest) trilogy to grace our lifetimes? Hmmm? Are you man/elf/dwarf/hobbit/Uruk-Hai enough, that’s the question?

[via ith]