Getting Ready

It's getting close to go time. As in go to Brazil. I have to get up early tomorrow and do 5 million things, then finish my packing. I sense overpacking in it's early stages.

First time outside the US other than close-to-the-border-parts-of-Canada and the Caribbean, but they don't really count, because it's very easy to get in and everyone speaks English. Trip of a lifetime. I think I'm getting nervous.

Anyway, probably not a good idea to stay up until 4am tonight as I have for the past few nights. Must sleep.

Wonderful Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas. Last week, I got spoiled with great gifts from my friends and my Sis. This morning, after having breakfast and presents with Chuck's family, went to my Mom & Stepdad's. We watched The Grinch with Jim Carrey. I like the cartoon better. Mom was extremely generous (as usual), not only giving lots of good gifts, but lots of cashola to help fund our trip to Brazil. She also gave me money for a FBPOTM... Thank You Momma!!! ...hmm, wonder if there's a Sephora in Sao Paulo...

We brought Punky (my cat) over too. They'll be kittysitting for the next 2 weeks. Punky (recently nicknamed Pukey) will probably barf all over their house. Hopefully his furball-remedy food and treats will help, but he doesn't like his treats. Picky Punky.

I found myself very sad on the way home. Not sure why. I know I miss my Dad around the holidays and I'm going to miss my family while I'm away, but probably mostly just hormonal.

All Hail the King

I took the Lord of the Rings Test and apparently I'm Jenny's husband, Celeborn... Celeborn, Elf, King of Lothlorien, husband of Galadriel and grandfather of Arwen.

I don't know what that exactly means, since I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm just pretty sure I feel OLD if Arwen is the HOT! HOT! HOT! archer elf I keep hearing about from Sarah, Jenny, Trina...

Crack Cookies

Slowly I'm gathering proof that my Grandma puts crack in her cookies... they make me stay up VERY late and they are addictive. She gave me Pizzelles to bring to Brazil with me. I probably would've gotten attacked by drug sniffing dogs with those on my person. Good thing you can't import home baked goods... now I know why...

Merry Christmas

And a belated Happy Hannukah to many of my friends also... may you all be blessed with happiness, peace, health and love!

Congratulations Joel & Lara

Joel and Lara had their babies. Twin girls. Olivia and Leah. Congratulations and many wishes and blessings for health and happiness.

You Won $10,000! NOT!

My Mom always gives scratch-off lottery tickets as gifts, as she did this evening. Then she remembered the cruel joke she played on my brother a few years ago. He had just moved to LA, was totally broke, unemployed (waiting to get back surgery) and was living on a futon at a friend's house who had offered him a place to stay. My Mom sent him a fake lottery ticket. The kind that looks totally real except for some tiny print on the back. He scratched it off... then became ecstatic, thinking he'd won $10,000. He immediately called Mom, proclaiming his joy and excitement at getting a break in life. The only break he got was that of his heart as she told him, "check the back". He cried for two days straight.

Tonight she said, "what was I thinking, sending my poor, destitute son a fake lottery ticket?" Then we all laughed. It's funny now, years later, for US... not sure if he's recuperated.

So if you think I have a demented sense of humor, now you know where I get it from... my crazy Momma ;-)

FBOTM

My favorite beauty product of the moment is
Lip Venom.

It's a gloss that is supposed to make your lips look bigger (bee-stung... venom... get it?). I'm not sure it really accomplishes that, but it's still a cool product. It makes your lips feel tingly, makes them nice and glossy, and smells and tastes yummy.

The DuWop online store has a couple other goodies that I may have to purchase one of these days, including Shades of Venom lipstick.

Subtlety

Don't you just love it when you're trying to be discreet and get someone's attention with a look or a gesture and they yell out "WHAT? What's the look for? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" So much for subtlety!!

That's exactly what hubby did to me today in front of the in-laws. I was trying to motion to him to change the music and didn't want to just "say it" because I didn't know if they were enjoying it or not and I didn't want to be rude. It's always better to be offended by your son than your daughter-in-law.

So instead of being rude, I just looked like an ass.

Favorite Beauty Product of the Moment

As you may or may not know, I am a beauty product junkie. I love anything that smells good, smooths on, scrubs away, exfoliates, moisturizes, prevents zits, diminishes wrinkles, makes my hair shiny, makes my hair curly, makes my hair straight, goes on my eyelids, nails or lips and so on. This does not mean that I wear so much makeup I look like a hooker, nor does it mean that I am high maintenance, it just means I have a well stocked bathroom.

On that note, I'm going to try to do a "Favorite Beauty Product of the Moment" every so often. I love to read about stuff people have tried and like, so now I'll do the same.

My FBPOTM for today is Terax Crema. It's a rather rich hair conditioner. Makes my hair feel lovely. I highly recommend it. If you live in Rochester, you can't buy it in town, I got mine in Toronto... but you can buy it online from Heaven and Earth for $16 (thank God for online shopping, but can someone PLEEEAAASE open a Sephora in Rochester?!).

Hey, Wanna Touch my Keypad?

In doing some research on kiosks today for work, I came across this little number, available through www.thekioskfactory.com...

I know I have a perverted mind, but doesn't this jackal/pharoah kiosk look a little off to you?



Joel said, "at least it's a keypad and not a joystick."
Baaa haaa haaa.

We're Legal

Chunk and I FINALLY got our visas to go to Brazil. I never would have imagined it would be such a pain in the ass, mainly because of where we live. The closest consulates are in NYC, Boston, DC, and Toronto - a minimum of a 6 hour RT drive.

NYC (our jurisdiction) doesn't take applications by mail - they suggested using a service, which tacks about $150 PER VISA onto the regular fee of $45. Basically I could fly down to NYC and get it myself cheaper. And I contemplated that... if only Jetblue hadn't sold out of their $29 each way fares.

Sooo, we decided to get them in Toronto, the closest Consulate. We left at 6am this morning after about 2 good hours of sleep, luckily Chucky let me nap... saintly considering he was dead tired too. The good news, they turned them around in one day for us (they list 3 days). I rewarded them with chocolates. They were very nice and helpful.

On top of that, got to have lunch with Squib. I really enjoy her company! She has a fabulous new hair cut and is getting thinner by the second. Her self control is envious - she even resisted chocolate! She is determined and thus successful... I wish I could be so good... moreso about exercise, just to firm up the jigglies. No one believes I have jigglies because I'm small, but believe me, my thights have more dimples than the Backstreet Boys. Those in Brazil will have the rare opportunity to see. And NO, I will not be wearing a thong bikini... the nightmares abound just thinking about it.

Why You So Ugly?

The feature on Mohammed Ali is up in our eMagazine... I helped a little bit on the usability... It's very cool, check it out, let me know what you think...



My Mom also told me that when we met Mohammed Ali in Vegas in 1980, he said to my brothers, "How come you so ugly and your sister so pretty?" Pretty cool considering I was a very chubby 12 year old with a unibrow.

As Matt pointed out, that encounter (and flattery) probably started my affinity for celebrities (OK, Matt used the word "stalking").

Veruca Salt

I took the new emode test, What Flavor are You?, that Squib pointed to and apparently I'm a blueberry. Here's their explanation:

Mmm ... blueberry! Tangy and sweet, you're as fresh as a mountain sunrise and as natural as homemade jam. If you were a Broadway musical, you'd be The Sound of music — we can just picture you twirling for joy in an Alpine meadow. Best with breakfast cereal and pancakes, you're simple and refreshing, with just a touch of tartness to give you an edge. Always a favorite, people can't get enough of your spontaneous nature and easy-going approach to life. Who wouldn't be attracted to your sporty, summery flavor? Fun-loving and genuine, you're a truly tasty treat.

Sound right?

Spidey

Sony sent me a link to the very cool new Spiderman web site today. Not only cool Spidey stuff, but a very cool Flash interface for the sight.

Vroom Vroom

A bunch of us went out tonight for Sarah's birthday (Happy Birthday Sarah!). I made the mistake of having Chai at 8pm and now, at 12:19am, am WIDE awake. If it's not sugar (which kept me up Monday until 2:30am), it's caffeine. Then again, I think I'm just genetically programmed to be a night owl and I should quit my day job (so to speak) and work the late shift at Krispy Kreme. Then I'd be sleepy AND fat.

On summer vacation from school, I'd stay up until at least 2am (yes, Joel, watching late night cable), and sleep until General Hospital came on at 3pm. So, not only do I like to go to sleep very late, I like to sleep for MANY MANY hours. My Mom is the same way. On Christmas morning, my brother would pop up at 6am and beg Mom for about 5 hours to get up so he could open presents (does that sound about right Mom?). I fear my kids will have to do the same for me... either that, or they'll inherit the "sleepy gene" and I'll have to wake them up. I can only PRAY for that!

Squibnocket & Toronto

Jenny and I drove up to Toronto yesterday to have lunch with and go shopping with Squibnocket. It was so much fun.

We met Squib's bunny and hubby (in that order =) and got spoiled with really cool presents. Squib made Jenny and I each a VERY cool hat. We look exceptionally cute in them.

We were going to go the annual Umbra warehouse sale, but the wait was 3 hours out in the cold. Good thing, because I was starting to get hungry and might have had to gnaw someone's arm off. So Squib treated us to lunch, then we caught some cool shops on Queen. The finale came when went to a Japanese/Chinese mall with numerous stores with Hello Kitty, MashiMaro, Tare Panda, ... and all those other EXTREMELY cool Japanese characters like you can find at dreamkitty.com.



I thought Jenny and I were going to pass out. I also, FINALLY, got my lucky bamboo.



I wish Rochester had good shopping. Other than Firehouse 15 and Parkleigh, we just can't get much of the funky stuff or the really cool cosmetics like MAC, Urban Decay, Tony & Tina... thank goodness for online shopping!

Oops

Those of you who looked at my blog yesterday (The "How YOU doin?" blog where I proclaimed "this guy is HOT! HOT! HOT!!"), may have seen this picture:



I have not gone mad. I do NOT have the hots for a 102 year old Jewish man (not that there's anything wrong with that). I just used the relative url (which calls a different picture daily, duh) instead of the absolute url of the picture. Squibnocket pointed it out in the car in Toronto yesterday. I almost passed out! I *think* I have now safely linked to the archived version of the EXACT picture I was talking about. I will reference my links more carefully in the future. Meanwhile, look below for the picture I was really talking about.

How YOU doin?

This is the KODAK Picture of the day for today:



I don't know if you'll all think I'm wierd, but I think this guy is HOT! HOT! HOT!! The photographer writes, "I asked him to strip and took a photo with his tattoos in the foreground." I think I'm going to become a photographer...

Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee

I had breakfast this morning with Howard Bingham today (me and about 10 others). He is the photographer who has been taking pictures of Mohammed Ali since 1962. They've become great friends.



Howard was wonderful. He is so witty, a bit of a (as Matt so eloquently put it) ball buster. I love that in a person. He's not only funny and charming, he has alot of very interesting stories to tell and he takes incredible pictures.

We are doing a feature story next month on Kodak e-magazine about Howard's pictures of Ali in real life and his pictures from the movie set of Ali, with Will Smith. I helped with the usability. It's going to be a great piece, I'll post a link when it's up.

Catch up

Ok, what's been going on? Last friday night, after shopping for door prizes for our office holiday party (I LOVE shopping with someone else's $$), Chuck, Jenny, Aaron and I went and saw Shallow Hal.



It's about a guy (Jack Black) who has a curse put on him so that he only sees the inner beauty in people. So though he's dating a rather LARGE woman, he thinks she looks like skinny little Gwyneth Paltrow. It was mostly good, but I could've done without (STOP reading if you don't want to know part of the plot) seeing a human with a tail. UGH. That image is burned in my mind... GROSS. Especially the wagging. Ugh.

Saturday was our office holiday party. It was alot of fun. The DJ sucked at first, playing songs such as "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf and "Keep your Hands to Yourself" by the Georgia Sattelites. I mean, COME ON! (Note, I do like Meatloaf, I just don't want to hear 'the longest song every recorded that you can't dance to' at a holiday party). You would think that after he repeatedly cleared the dance floor, he'd get a clue that he SUCKS. Anyway, after demanding that he stick to our request list, the dancing commenced.

Post for MOM

Ok, MOM, here you go... the links to the pictures I promised I'd post for you.

Remember, to get in to Ofoto, use your email barbara_a_hic... (you know the rest) and the password is the name of your street.

Tina turns twenty-nine, again

Mikey goes to Vegas