Summer Solstice

So today is the 21st of June, and I am officially 31.25 years old. It's kind of weird; I have to keep reminding myself that I am not 30 any more. Not that it makes a big difference as half the time I act like I am 25 and fancy free.

MP is back from her travels in Ireland and London. She had left me a voicemail message for when I came in saying, "English chocolate in my office." I scurried down there about a half an hour after I got in and saw the square blue box on the counter. "MILK TRAY!" I shouted and immediately called the Turkish Delight, which I proceeded to inhale along with an Aero bar, etc, etc. (I am not owning up to how much I acutally ate.) All I need are a pack of Silk Cuts and my Pride and Prejudice dvd to complete the transformation into Bridget Jones. Tomorrow, she is bringing in my Harrod's tea. She is so good to us/me.

Note to self: just because you pay for something on your credit card doesn't mean that you aren't going to have to pay for it sometime. You think that I would know this by now, but when the bill comes in, it is all "WHOA!" ala Keanu Reeves. New plan for the rest of the month: pay for it in cash, or don't buy it at all. This isn't unreasonable.

So today is the summer solstice. Sauce is going to come over and eat dinner and watch The Grudge with me, because really can you think of a better way to spend the summer solistice than watching Sarah Michelle Gellar in horror movies? I didn't think you could. ;) I am going to make the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" Season 1 "Man Quiche", also know as the asparagus and pasta torta. I hope that it comes out yummy. If nothing else, it will be better than one the guy who dropped it on the floor made.

the reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

We simply are in the process of transferring me over from a desktop to a laptop with a docking station. Oh the fun times that have been had by me and the IS team over the past three days. NOT

The weather here in Boston has been NUTS!! But I am glad that the rain has finally decided to depart. Although jumping from early April to mid-July wouldn't be the route that I would have taken. But hey! It's finally summer!! And I am wearing flip flops to work!!!

I was under the wrong impression that THIS weekend was Father's Day. It isn't, sadly. It is next weekend. When I have plans. I don't suppose that Congress would be willing to change the date this year to accommodate me. Not when they are all Republicans, any how.

Tonight, WFNX Best Music Poll on Landsdowne. I don't know if I am going to be able to make it through the whole night. I need some Diet Coke...STAT. For some reason, I am ungodly tired today. Must have been the waking up twice last night to noise in the road. I really need to install the air conditioner soon, because the open window isn't working out so well.

I made a Weight Watchers "pie" last night with pudding and Jello and fresh strawberries. I used instant pudding instead of quick cook pudding; I am now slightly afraid to eat it. Thanks to Sister #2 for failing to include that important piece of information in the recipe. Who the hell buys the cookable kind of pudding anymore?

Have to remember to tape Queer Eye tonight: I can't WAIT to see how they make over Damon and Co. Too bad they couldn't get him to cut that Prince Valiant 'do he has been sporting.

Day 20 million of rain

It's really funny when Co-Worker Nina randomly lets out an "ooooooooooh, shiiiiiiiiiiiiit." I don't why it is funny, because clearly something is wrong. I guess it is just the rarity in comparison to what comes out of my mouth, usually after I have hung up the phone on someone.

Whoops.

Went home from work early yesterday with RSI difficulties. Watched Empire of the Sun and Finding Neverland. Empire of the Sun should be retitled Finding Paul McGann, because while he is one of the top billed actors in the film, I sure couldn't locate him. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was looking for someone yelling "BEAT TO QUARTERS" though. Trip to the chiropractor was a big help; one should not underestimate the good feeling derived from an adjustment and electroshock/ultrasound therapy.

I was home in time to see both the "Lost" and "Alias" season finales. While I was totally entertained by my three hours planted in front of the boob tube, I was hoping for a little bit more from "Lost". SPOILER ALERT!!! Arnst blowing up was totally unexpected, but I KNEW that "the others" (who looked straight out of Deliverance) were after Walt and his magical powers. I was waiting for the Jack/Locke Celebrity Smackdown, and it never happened. When it does, my money is on Locke. And HELLO!?! what kind of friend is Sayid for LEADING Charlie to the heroin? (granted, in retrospect,I think that only Locke and Jack know about his junkie ways...) Charlie, how are you going to be a good role model for Turnip, er, Aaron, with your Virgin Mary on the Crack Pipe? (BTW, Aaron means "enlightened", I looked it up...what was Claire DOING during those nine months anyhow?) So after everything, including Hurley finally noticing "the numbers", the hatch leads to a ladder? Yes, the ladder to HELLLLLLLLLLL.

With regards to "The Incredibles" also know as "Alias", I was glad that they brought Richard, er, Brodien, back for balance. The rest of the episode was kind of boring, except for Mr. Bristow deciding that he wanted more fun in his life. ;-) GO SPYDADDY! I was really happy that Irina got away. Although if Vaughn and Sydney elope, how can she see Syd on her wedding day? Have a heart, Sydney; your mom is on the lam. I must say that last scene was totally intense: when Syd and Vaughn got hit by the car, I jumped out of the chair. HOLY MOLY! I want to know who Vaughn is if he isn't Vaughn. And if he isn't Vaughn then why is he so upset that Irina killed Vaughn's dad?? I wonder if Vaughn's imaginary dad is related to my imaginary children?

I think that I am going to see Dear Frankie after work tonight by myself. It will be the second time in my life that I have gone to the movies alone; I am thinking of this is terms of character development, as in MINE. (It is probably better this way, because I can't even watch Gerard Butler in the trailer without blushing, so so so cute.)

What happened to the Rhythm of Boston (93.7 FM)?

And more importantly, what the hell is MIKE FM??

I was very disappointed on my commute into work this morning to discover that my favourite morning radio show was gone. In fact, the whole STATION was gone, along with its lovely dance/disco format and in its place was DJ-less bland FM. Where were my catty DJs, Ralphie and Karen? Where was my horoscope?? WHERE WAS MY CELEBRITY GOSSIP???

I mentioned this to my colleague AB who went to the source (aka the Internet) and turned up the info that the station was sold and all the DJs FIRED!!! I was horrified! No warning to us listeners!

Therefore a strongly worded e-mail was composed:

Subject: wholly disappointed
To: "mikefeedback@937mikefm.com"
What happened to the great Star 93.7? The new format is terrible.
Karen Blake--bring her back! We want the Star Report! I hope you have other people listening--I'm not.

The reply came back from the station an hour later:

Subject: Re: wholly disappointed
Reply-To: mikefeeback@937mikefm.com

Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Please know that we
really value your opinion, and we appreciate your taking the time to
share it with us.

We loved Star 93.7 just as much as you did... and like you, we will
truly miss the talented group of on-air personalities who gave their all
to Star.

Our new format does not have live on-air personalities; right now we are
focusing on playing as much great music as possible, which means less
talk.

Star's listeners were loyal and passionate; unfortunately, there just
weren't enough of them to sustain the format.

We do hope you'll give Mike a chance. We think you'll like what you
hear (and we promise you'll hear EVERYTHING). We will always welcome
your comments.

Best,
Stacy Pollack
Director of Marketing
93.7 Mike FM

Needless to say, I will be taking Mike FM off my pre-programed stations on the drive home.

Fall down, go boom.

Joan Kennedy just got herself added to the growing number of people that I have heard about who have passed out on the sidewalks of Boston. Way to go, Joan, you little hussy.

Just you wait, soon EVERYONE is going to be doing it. That is, if they haven't done it already and just don't have the cahones to admit that it has happened to them.

Not buying concert tickets... a rant

So I wasn't able to get seats for this leg of the Tori Amos tour, and I am highly peeved. I missed the pre-sale because the date for the show that I wanted to attend (Boston) wasn't up at the pre-announced time on ToriAmos.com. It ended up showing up DAYS later, and, sorry, I can't be glued to the computer 24/7 to wait for the tickets. When I finally saw it, the pre-sale was sold out.

Saturday morning, right at noon when the tickets were supposed to go on sale, Ticketmaster.com was offering seats in the REAR BALCONY of the Orpheum. And that's IT. Needless to say, I was not happy, and after checking with the friends with whom I had planned on attending the show, we didn't end up buying them. This is absolutely ridiculous, and I am (in the immortal words on Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda) DISAPPOINTED. Much as I was with the U2 situation from three weeks ago, where we ended up not getting tickets either. Well, there go my concert plans for the spring.

Congress REALLY needs to reexamine the process of ticket sales and on-line ticket sales in particular. This is totally ridiculous. I don't even CARE about the extra fees; at this point, I just want the opportunity to BUY the stupid tickets. I don't know who is buying out all these tickets, but I find it hard to believe that each ticket being sold actually has an ass to go into the seat.

I don't like Mondays... tell me why

First, a big shout out to Boston Mayor Tommy Menino, who put the fear of God into all crazy Bostonians, who made barely a peep on the streets last night, despite the Patriots taking home their third Super Bowl trophy in four years. Go Pats, but for the love of God, keep down the racket. Especially when I am suffering from the fourth consecutive day of migraines.



Next, it is a bad idea to watch a miniseries about Nazi invasion of the Channel Islands before going to bed.



Third, has anyone else been following the story about Weyco Inc, the Michigan company that is firing employees who will not quit smoking, as they have implemented a no-smoking policy both in an outside the workplace as of 1 January? Under Michigan law, this guy is protected as he is a private employer. Next people on his list: the overweight. Now I get why this guy is doing this: one would like a healthy work force, and the rising costs of health care paid by the employer, and the amount of health care needed proportionally by smokers to non-smokers can be considerable, but this is just OUT OF CONTROL. What gives the right of an employer to regulate what his employees do, so long as it is legal, outside the workplace? If the health care costs are such a big problem, change the employer contribution so that the employee has to fit more of the bill. This company already made it a policy not to hire smokers.



Now as an ex-smoker, I can testify that smoking is not a very healthy habit. Hell, I could barely climb a flight of stairs without getting winded when I was at my worst, but STILL, I defend the right of those who choose to smoke to smoke. And I oppose the employer having ANY say about what a person does on their own time. What is this?? 1984?? DAMN THE MAN!