Hiatus

For those of you that have been bugging me for an update on the blog, I am kind of on a blog hiatus for the month of October. Blogs will resume November 1st, and I will give an October update summary at that time.

Stay tuned.

Paul Potts

I just saw somethng about this guy a couple of days ago.....I have never been to an Opera in my life but I love listening to Josh Groban, and others sing it. It brings me to tears most of the time.

Anyway, below is a link to the AUDITION of the guy that won Britain's Got Talent reality TV show. Like I said, he ended up winning the entire competition but this audition video brings me to tears every time I watch it - you'll notice it has been viewed OVER 12 million times :

I'm crying just posting it.

I'm back......

So, school has been going on now for about a month and all is well....the classes I am taking are pretty low-maintenance so that is good. I am excited because the new fall schedule for TV is starting next week. I already saw the new KELSEY GRAMMAR show this week and I think it is going to be good.

Not much has been happening lately. We went to the No Frills Grill last night and of course you never know what you are going to see....last night it was two women arm-wrestling...alrighty. This picture was taken with my camera phone so not too great but I think you can see them.

Working today and then off tomorrow....looking forward to resting and doing a little fall cleaning/reorganizing.

Later.

I REMEMBER RAYMOND YORK

Last year, a coalition of bloggers came together to remember those we lost on September 11, 2001 and I was fortunate enough at that time to be given forty-five year old Raymond R. York who was a 20-year veteran of the New York Fire Department as my tributee.

Although, the coalition does not have as organized an effort this year, I have still been thinking about Ray as the date approached and I wanted to remember him again this year. Periodically, I check his Legacy Guest Book when I am notified that new entries have been made by those that also remember him throughout the year.

So - this entry is for Ray and all of the others that lost their lives that day. My blog will again be silent for one week in honor of his memory.

(picture courtesy of RaymondYork.i8.com)

A Fireman's Prayer

When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage;
Give me strength to save some life, whatever be its age.

Help me embrace a little child before it is too late
Or save an older person from the horror of that fate.

Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.

I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor and protect his property.

And if, according to my fate, I am to lose my life;
Please bless with your protecting hand, my children and my wife.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional Tributes to Raymond R York

http://raymondyork.i8.com/

http://www.legacy.com/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=93194
(great comments and thoughts by family and friends)

Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds, CSI : Miami.......

.....and more. I am ready for my shows to come back on. My two favorite shows are Ugly Betty and Criminal Minds....one premieres on September 26th and the other on the 27th. I can't wait, let the countdown begin. I don't really consider myself someone that watches a lot of TV, I think I have mentioned that before....but I do have favorite shows I watch pretty much weekly. They don't tether me to my apartment or anything, I tape them if there are more entertaining things to be done.

Returning shows I am planning to watch/tape in the Fall :

Ugly Betty
Criminal Minds
Law and Order : SVU
CSI : Miami
Boston Legal
Grey's Anatomy
Men In Trees
Numbers
Desperate Housewives
24

I don't do reality TV - I might flip over to Dancing with the Stars just to see one person dance or if my normal show is on a re-run but I don't usually stay on there for more that 5 minutes. I used to watch CSI and Heroes but I got behind on them and they kinda fell off my radar.

For the first time in a long time there are several new shows that look interesting. Here are some new shows I am going to try out this year :

Carpoolers - love Jerry O'Connell
Pushing Daisies - just looks interesting
Private Practice
Big Shots - love Michael Vaughn
Women's Murder Club - I've read the books

So we'll see if these survive the cut and stay programmed on my DVR as the season progresses. What are you looking forward to returning ? and new ?

P.S. The ONE show I am boycotting - Cavemen - oh, hell no.

The Greensheet.....brings you buyers

So, Friday night was the usual outing to the No Frills Grill.....it was Courtney, her mom and I when we first got there. Irritatingly, there was no booth available in our favorite waitresses section so we sat at a table to wait. Once we did get a booth, we moved over and settled in for the night. The previous residents of the booth left the 'Greensheets' behind. This is basically an independent classified ads paper. I decided to flip through and glance at the ads and lucky for me, there were a few worth blogging about....

100 8-TRACK TAPES, music from 1960-70s, $50 all.

2 SMALL STANDARD JENNY DONKEYS. 1 broken to ride.

COWBOYS 1994 SUPERBOWL. 17 Millers, 13 Cokes, $25. Unopen.

LARGE/EXTRA large adult diapers: Trade for vacuum cleaner.

This may become a regular feature of the blog, maybe once a month. Enjoy.

P.S. If you are interested in any of these items, click the link above for the Greensheet and search by one of the key words in the ad to get the phone number.

School Update

So, school started on the 27th.....I decided to "cowboy up" and take three classes this semester. It's funny how people always remind you that you "aren't 25 any more" when they think you should do MORE and also when they think you should SLOW DOWN.

The classes I am taking are as follows [and they sound much more daunting than they are] :

ENGL 2350 : INTRODUCTION TO TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
MATH 1332 : FUNCTIONS, DATA, AND APPLICATIONS
GEOL 1426 : EARTH HISTORY

I have class and/or work Monday through Thursday from 8a - 830p and class on Friday from 8a - 12n. It's busy but even though I am not 25 anymore, I can still handle it and it is good exercise....plus, I am not 25 anymore, so I need to get on with it.

Oh, yes......folder colors :

ENGL 2350
MATH 1332
GEOL 1426

More later.

Vacation Update

So, I got back from vacation on the 19th and have been going non-stop since then. I had every intention of updating my blog while I was gone....but, amazingly, other than using my computer to help with the crossword puzzle every night, I didn't get on-line much at all.

The time was mainly spent at my parents house....doing nothing. Mom, Joey and I ran around a few days and had lunch out several times but mainly we just hung out together at home. No theatre movies, no card playing, no bingo.....just visiting and relaxing. We did watch a couple of DVDs while I was there; The DiVinci Code which mom and dad had not seen yet and Firehouse Dog which was cute.

Also, we did take a trip over to Disney World for 3 days to camp. I always enjoy going out in the trailer for a camping trip and Disney is certainly a fun place to do that. It was VERY HOT and humid and I am not in good shape for all day walking but it was great exercise and I loved every minute of it. As long as I stayed hydrated, I was fine. The trailer was very cool in the evenings and I slept good. Joey and Dina came along on the trip as well and it was fun having time to spend with them. Next time I will go in cooler weather and I'll work in being in better shape for walking.

I did take a few pictures at Disney :

[Dad, me, Joey and Mom]

[the above two pictures are the Jack Sparrow
additions to The Pirates of the Caribbean ride.]

[The hula girls on It's A Small World....
these were my Granddaddy's favorite.]

[Living with the land at Epcot - I love it.]

So, that's it for the vacation update. More later this week about school, etc.

Ciao.

Why ?

Why do people clap at the end of a movie ? Who are you clapping for ? The only people that can hear you are the people in the theatre that are trying to have a conversation with their friends about the movie but can't hear anything over your clapping. Stop clapping.

Sisters Weekend

So, my sister needed a vacation from her vacation....she came over last Thursday night and we had a sisters only weekend...no kids or anything. We met at one of her favorite places, Mama's Pizza for dinner Thursday night when she got here. It was yummy and we chatted about what to do the next two days.

Friday, we got up and went to Frisco, Texas where we shopped at Sam Moon and IKEA - it was a lot of fun and nice to get out and really do some walking - I was hot, tired and my back was a little achy but I sooo needed it so it was nice. We came back to Arlington in the afternoon and shopped a little more, even without the kids, we found ourselves at Toy R Us at one point. A quick stop at the scrapbooking store to sign up for the midnight crop Saturday night and then off the to the No Frills Grill for the usual Friday night hang out......I ended up winning the big trivia game that night but only because JoLynn's box FADED on the last question and she couldn't answer.

Saturday started out perfect....we were going to meet Charles for breakfast and I managed to leave my cell phone at home. The place we were going was a little more off the beaten path that we expected and while JoLynn and I made it there - Charles never did and I had no way to call him with no cell phone and I didn't have his cell number memorized - I do now. We headed back home disappointed an hour later. We went home and sorted family pictures for our big scrappbooking night.....it was ALL JOEY !! Germantown, Tennessee, 1979-1983...ugh !! Lot's off good bribery pics though.....let's just say....spiderman underoos and a corncob pipe and leave it at that. We ate a nice lunch at Pappadeaux's and then came home to finish the pictures. We shopped a little more and then went to the crop - it was very productive as usual - I think JoLynn said we got 28 pages done.....the two ladies sitting across from us got 4 pages done each .... in SIX hours ... pathetic.

Anyway, JoLynn wore me out and spoiled me all weekend and she got her vacation from vacation so it was all good. I am leaving for vacation tomorrow and I will try to post one more time tomorrow before then. Until then....ciao !

P.S. This time tomorrow, I will be on a plane.

My brother - the M & M

Nothing going on......

.....sorry, no blog this week so far. There really hasn't been anything going on. I've worked every day since Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were SUPER busy at work - I think I took close to 60 calls both days which is a lot. Today I work during the day and then my sister is driving in tonight, by herself, I think she needs a vacation from her vacation.

We don't really have any plans while she is here other than maybe going thru some family pictures and of course the usual Friday trip to the No Frills Grill. I will probably start packing for my vacation on Sunday which will really make it feel real. I can't wait.

Until later....

Movie Review : No Reservations...and more

Since the last blog, worked a couple of days and was off a day. Thursday I worked my new 8a - 5p schedule which was nice. I met Charles to see Harry Potter, he had not seen it yet and I wanted to see it again. After the movie we went to some place called Flip's Grill in Grapevine for a lite dinner. Sadly, I saw two waiters from the No Frills Grill there and they looked at me like I was some kind of traitor eating somewhere else.

I was off on Friday and didn't do anything at all. I stayed around the apartment most of the day. Of course, we went to No Frills Grill that night but other than that nothing. Some times it is nice to just stay home especially when it is very hot out.

I worked Saturday so that I could be off today to go pick up my sister and her family from the airport. So when I got off work last night, I headed to the mall to buy my Disney Hopper pass for my trip that is coming up in a couple of weeks. It was a lot of money but it was worth it and I had worked 25 hours of overtime to pay for it so it was all good. I also managed to get the elusive Haagen Daz gift card while I was there.

After shopping, I met my friend Courtney at Mercado Juarez for dinner and then we headed for the chick flick, No Reservations with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Here is a recap :

No Reservations [4 out of 5 stars]

Brief Synopsis : A top notch female chef's life is turned upside-down when she must care of her niece after her sister is killed. She now has to adapt to a different lifestyle and uses food as a means to express her roller-coaster life.

My Review : I thought it was very cute. It was your typical romantic comedy with all the typical elements. If you saw the movie Raising Helen with Kate Hudson - this was VERY similar with just the chef twist. All of the actors were good and the storyline was good. Basically, it is no Oscar winner but to be honest I had been missing the romantic comedy movie lately and this one fit the bill.

Until next time.....ciao.

It's obvious, I need a vacation.....

.....because lately everything is getting on my last nerve.

• I went to Haagen Daz at the mall this weekend to get a giftcard for a friend's birthday. Of course, there is one person working who is barely 16 and doesn't speak English very well and they have no idea what I am talking about even though they had at least 10 signs advertising gift cards.
  


• I went to Steve and Barry's to buy a pair of tennis shoes, the only one in my size is the display shoe, I ask the sales person where the pair is and she says their display shoes are all singles.
  


• Monday I am working and at about 9:00a maintenance in pounding on my door wanting me to move my car because they are paving the parking lot. A note on my door the day before would have been nice.
  


• Today I came into work and all of our systems are up and down, I just wanted to toss my hands in the air and go back to bed.

14 more days.

Lindsay Lohan, just say NO !

So, my weekend was fairly uneventful - after my 12 days of working in a row, I was very glad to have two days off. I went to lunch Friday with my friend Chrissy and then got a haircut that afternoon. Of course I went to the No Frills Grill on Friday night. It was fun as usual.

Saturday morning I got up and headed to WalMart to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows....I ran a few more errands in the morning and then made it back home around 1:30p that afternoon. I sat down at 2:00p to read. After a couple of stretch breaks, I finished the book around 9:00p that night. I thought it was VERY good. She was able to wrap it all up, explain some things, etc. I'm not going to post any spoilers here but if you want to talk to me about it - please email me.

Sunday, I was back to work. JoLynn and family came in around 11:00a for me to run them to the airport for their vacation to Florida and I did laundry and cleaned my apartment all day. After 12 days of being at home, it was a mess.

Nothing else much going on - there is nothing decent on TV these days other than The Closer and Psych so I am wearing out my Season 1 CRIMINAL MINDS DVDs every night. I love that show.

Oh, and as far as the title for the blog.....I hope she gets some help.

P.S. Dad - I can't specifically change the color of the words in my countdown clock. I'll try some other colors for the overall clock later today to see if that helps. Sorry.

Chatting with Joey......

Joey says:
I was dieing laughing because I ordered something from newegg.com and I tried to use their online chat to ask a question about the order and the chat finally answered and said:
Joey says:
Thanks for contacting newegg.com. This is Jesus, How can I help you?
Tracy says:
lol
Tracy says:
you MUST blog that
Joey says:
I thought WOW talk about getting serious help.
Tracy says:
right
Tracy says:
way to go right to the top
Joey says:
lol
Joey says:
exactly, how did they get Him to and nobody else did
Tracy says:
lol

Yikes.......

I wasn't going to blog today but I just went out on the patio to refill all of my critter food and saw this across the parking lot.


So, I called down to the apartment office and they said, yes they knew about it and were the ones that actually put cones around it. They haven't talked to the resident yet to know if the tires were stolen, taken off on purpose or if it was a repo.

Yikes.

I am approaching zombie state.....

.....after 10 days straight of working. As I mentioned I picked up two overtime shifts last Friday and Saturday so I am non-stop working. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like to work, but I must admit, I have had a enough. I'm tired and I am burned out.

I've been wanting to go by and take pictures of the new Dallas Cowboy Football Stadium to put in my blog but I haven't made it over there yet. Hopefully, Friday when I am finally off again.

I have the movie RV in my DVD player but haven't watched it yet to give a review. I really have just been working, relaxing and trying to stay cool. Not very exciting.

Later.

Playing movie catch up

OK - so I have been trying to play movie catch-up. I don't subscribe to HBO, Showtime or any of those cable channels because to be quite honest I think it is a waste of my money. They end up playing the same old thing over and over again and then never when I want to watch it. Anyway, I know some people like those channels, so no offense intended, they're just not for me.

So, I belong to BLOCKBUSTER on-line. I have created a queue of movies and I can have 2 out at a time. This way I can catch up on all the stuff I feel like I haven't seen in the last 5 years...ha ha ! I'll start letting you know what I watch.

First, I have a gripe about the queue. I have a movie on my list that shall remain nameless, alright, it is Xanadu [I want my niece to see it], and it is NUMBER ONE on my list. So I returned a movie the other day fully expecting to get my number one movie next. But, no, they sent me my number two movie. Now, what's up with that ?? This is their official response :

BLOCKBUSTER Online® is committed to keeping your rental experience uninterrupted. Because our goal is to ship movies as quickly as possible in order to meet an estimated shipping time of 1-3 business days for delivery, the system reviews all "Available" titles in your Queue and determines which movies are ready for shipment from your nearest distribution center. If the estimated shipping times for your top selection(s) fall outside an acceptable shipping window, they may be skipped over for other DVDs further on your list.

Even though some of your selections may get skipped, continue prioritizing your movies in the order you would like for them to be shipped. We do our best to continuously distribute copies among our distribution centers based on demand.

Now, if I didn't want it next I wouldn't put it next, so I think they need to honor my list especially, since the movie's status was AVAILABLE and everything. I returned another movie yesterday so we will see what happens this time.

Next, a movie review. For those of you that know my daily insanities.....you know I tend to get obsessed, maybe that's too strong a word, how about attached, to certain actors when I see them in a role that I like and then I want to see EVERYTHING they have ever done. My current "attachment" is to Matthew Gray Gubler, currently playing Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds. He played a background character, INTERN #1, in the movie I am reviewing today. He had like two lines and an awful perm, but here's the review.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [ 3 out of 5 stars ]

Brief Synopsis : Steve Zissou, sea-film amateur a la Jacques Cousteau, has reason to be melancholy: his partner has been eaten, perhaps by a mythic jaguar shark, his wife may be taking up with her ex-husband, a young man appears claiming Steve is his father (Steve hates fathers), his most recent films have tanked, he's having trouble raising money for his venture to revenge his partner, and he's attracted to a pregnant reporter who prefers the pretender. At sea, in pursuit of the shark, will he escape pirates and mutiny, forge the bonds of fatherhood, place his arm around his wife, find the monster of the deep, re-establish box office hegemony, and discover a reason to smile?

My Review : Now, before watching this movie, everyone told me it was weird. Basically, that is the word everyone used......weird. I like weird. So, with that in mind, I watched the movie last night. I thought it was.......weird. But, in a good way. I was entertained. I don't really know how to describe it much better than the synopsis above and all I can say is if you enjoy the off the beaten path, take a chance, weird kind of movie, you might like it.

Later.

Eeekk....I don't want to fall behind again

So, here is an update.

I went and saw the Harry Potter movie and thought it was very good. An odd thing happened, as I was watching it, I felt like I had already seen it....kind of a deja vu moment. But, I think it was because I had recently [in the last nine months] re-read the book. So, I guess what that means is that the visuals I got in my head while reading the book were just how they made the movie. Pretty cool. Of course, there are things missing from the movie that were in the book and that is expected but I thought it was really good.

I picked up two overtime shifts this week, today I am working 1oa - 7p and tomorrow I am working from 8a - 5p so that will be nice extra $$ on my check before I go on vacation and I might now be able to get my ticket to Disney. Woo hoo ! But, the downfall is that I am working 12 days in a row.....ugh.

As you can see, I added a VACATION countdown to my blog above. This is my annual trip to Florida to hang out with my parents and brother. I haven't had a vacation since May 2006 so I am really looking forward to it. I will be gone for 11 days. My sister and her family are going before me....and they leave in 9 days and will be there for a week. When they get back it is just 10 days until I go.....so my parents and brother are going to be busy with visitors for almost a month.

No big plans for the next few days except work, but I am going to try and post a picture blog sometime this weekend. Stay tuned.