I should buy stock in Oakley

Am I a sad case or what? No, don't answer that.

Approximately four months ago, I lost my Oakley Minute sunglasses. I say approximately because I really don't know when I lost them. I really like those glasses.

On Mother's Day weekend, I got a new pair of sunglasses. They were Ray Bans. I'm not going to bother you with boring details about them because I returned them two days later to Sunglass Hut.

I got a new pair of Oakleys. Oakley Half Jackets ... black ... with polarized grey lenses.

I know ... "Maidink, who gives a crap?"

I do!

Now my oakley sunglass obsession is back.

I bought a pair of Oakley Minutes off of Ebay just because they had ruby iridium lenses which are the same type of lenses Cyclops wore in all the X-Men movies.

Yeah, Cyclops, my other obsession.

Now, here's the insanity (not like I'm mad enough as is).

Oakley is selling their X-Metal "Juliet" (which Cyclops wore in the first X-Men movie) and their X-Metal "Penny" (which Cyclops wore in II and III) style sunglasses with the ruby iridium lenses at their on-line store for $425. They are being offered for a limited time. Once that time ends, they'll show up on Ebay for some exorbitant amount of cash, I'm sure.

No, I'm not that crazy and I am not buying them.

The sad part is I actually know about it.

At least I don't download kitchen appliance playing music videos.

Tags: oakley, xmen, ruby iridium lenses, sunglasses, ray bans, cyclops

X-Men III - A Review

Okay, Jade, here's the review.

First, if you never saw X-Men or X2, please do so before seeing this movie. It makes following some of the plot a bit easier.

Now then, the movie was definitely a good movie. Not great. Nor was it awesome. And it wasn't horrible or lame.

It was ... good.

I refuse to give away anything, but I'll say this much:

Certain actors and actresses who look like they play a big role, don't. And a couple of them who were barely mentioned at all in the days before the movie really played big parts.

There are a few surprises which go against the comic genre unless there is an X-Men IV in the distant future.

Halle Berry kicks ass!

The directing could have been better. Seeing how great of an influence Bryan Singer had on the first two X-Men movies, that makes me really want to see the film for which he abandoned X3 - Superman Returns.

There was a lot of action sequences which were pretty good. The visual effects were not the best. The make-up was great. Kelsey Grammer did a fab job as the Beast. If awards were given based on make-up and the ability to really bring a super hero character to life, Kelsey gets it hands down.

So, there you have it without having it.

If I were to give it stars, I give it 2.5 out of 5. Like I said, it was good. Not great and not horrid. Just good.

Tags: xmen, movies, bryan singer, halle berry, movie review, kelsey grammer, marvel comics

My future movie itinerary

Superman Returns

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Ghost Rider

They will either be watched in the theater, or we'll buy a large screen plasma TV and buy the DVD's.

I, personally, like the latter of the two. It serves a dual purpose - makes for playing video games much better.

Tags: superman returns, ghost rider, movies, marvel comics, dc comics, plasma tv

I have a date tonight

Yes, my Geo and I are going on a date! A really, honest-to-goodness, dinner first and then a movie to follow DATE!!! And my rents are watching the Dinks!! Woo-hoo!

First, we will dine at this nice Italian restaurant near us, Moonstruck. Rumor has it it's really good. A good Italian restaurant in NE Philly? It could happen. We shall see.

After food comes ... oh my gosh, do I even have to say what movie we are going to see tonight?

Okay, I will ... X-Men III - The Last Stand!

I want my eye candy, dammit!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

UPDATE: Mom and Dad are keeping the Dinks overnight. Boo-ya!

Dinner was ex-cell-ent! *burp* Ooooo, it was good.

We saw the movie. I really liked it a lot (but don't look for any spoilers here). Geo liked it, too.

See y'all later (or type to you later or talk ... um ... comment ... uh ....... oh crumbs. You know what I mean).

Tags: xmen, restaurant, Philadelphia, movies, dating, Moonstruck Restaurant

X-Men III - It's finally here

I really hope I'm not disappointed. It is possible to kill a movie based on a cartoon. Take for example Daredevil and Elektra and The Punisher and Spawn ...

Great, now I'm depressed. I know, I'll think nice thoughts ...

James Marsden ...James Marsden ...James Marsden ...James Marsden ...

Tags: xmen, oakley, marvel comics, marvel, daredevil, elektra, the punisher, spawn, james marsden, movies, entertainment

Couples STILL waiting for Wedding Photos almost two years later

I just saw this story on the net and I truly feel for these people.

Newlyweds Still Waiting For Wedding Photos

You spend goo-gobs of money on a gown (ladies, isn't it the truth? Gown = $220; Alterations = $1,800), tuxedo rentals, the place where you have the ceremony (i.e., church, synagogue, local park, pizza joint, etc.), the reception (that one's a killer), and a photographer. We are talking "second mortgage" here! This is a big friggin' deal, folks.

For the woman, YOU are Princess for the day. You are marrying the love of your life. This is YOUR moment. The world is looking at you! For the guys, well, I'm sure it's special for them, too. You obviously want photos professionally done to encapsule all those moments forever.

You trust people to be professional in their chosen profession. Professionalism not only means your talent, but common courtesy. It also means good customer service. It also means being a real person and owing up when there is a problem.

But I don't know the whole story.

Bob Morrill, the photographer in question, really didn't elaborate much when he hid behind a couch during his meda confrontation through a screen door to his home. Of course, that goes back to the "owing up when there is a problem" thing. Maybe there has been almost two years of legitimate excuses. One excuse was "the binding company moved to Mexico". Sounds like "the dog ate my homework". So, aren't there other binders somewhere else in the US, or all photographers now doomed because the ONLY binder in the country left? Sorry, I digress. I'm sure there is a legitimate, legal excuse for Bob not following through on his contractual agreement with these folks. I hope there is ... for Bob's sake.

photographer, west chester, news, wedding

X-Men III - Cinematic Eye Candy

Who can argue with me on this one? No one, I tell you, no one, dammit!

Seriously, this is not going to be a movie that's gonna "WOW" the world with sensitive acting. This is not a chick flick! If you want one of those, go rent one and leave the seat in the theater to me! We are talking mega-hot people in leather for heaven sake. Throw in some awesome visual effects and great action/fight scenes, and that's what X-Men III - The Last Stand will give us.

Just click on the name to get the promo photo. I would have put the photos on the post: however, that would have made for one huge post. Not only that, all those photos in one itty-bitty space would definitely send someone into sugar shock.

First, you have James "Cyclops" Marsden. He is MY man (the character, not the actor). I have loved this man since the original X-Men movie. And his Oakley X-Metal "Penny" style glasses with type A+ ruby iridium lenses only make him look sexier.

Then we have Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman. I can live without his pointy-hair boss like hairdo and his overgrown facial hair. But I'll take the rest of him anytime, anyday. If you want to see him in all his good looking glory, rent "Kate and Leopold".

Then there is Halle "Storm" Berry. Nothing says "sexy" better than her body in either a leather-clad suit or spandex. Heck, she could wear a friggin burlap sack an make it look like something that would go for $2,500 on Rodeo Drive. Halle was ranked #15 in Stuff Magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" [2002].

For those of a more mature taste, you have Patrick "Prof Xavier" Stewart. For an older guy, he definitely has some serious mojo going there. Him and Sean Connery. Purrrr.

Though she is one scary looking freak in her make-up, take it all off, and you have Rebecca "Mystique" Romijn. No words needed for this hottie. When she walks, she leaves a sizzling footprint behind her. She was ranked #82 in Stuff Magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" [2002]. And as for her last name, as quoted by her, "it's pronounced Romaine, like the lettuce".

For the true Marvel fan, you knew Dr. Jean "Marvel Girl" Grey would be back. Thank goodness for Famke "Phoenix" Janssen's sake. The women's measurements are 36-24-36. Nice combo! Just for the record, she was ranked #69 (nice number) in Stuff Magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" [2002].

One hottie that will be playing a bigger role in III than he did in II is Daniel "Colossus" Cudmore. Something about a guy being able to change his body into metal sends a bizarre chill up and down my spine.

For you Tony, my sweet, I will now talk about Ben "Angel" Foster. This guy is nibble-icious. I can't help but stare at the scene in the film's trailer where Angel spreads those huge white wings. It makes me wish I was a feather.

For those of you who like your men big, bald, and bad-ass, then you should have no prob falling for Vinnie "Juggernaut" Jones. Though he's not MY type, I'm sure there are those out there that have a thing for those hard-type football (soccer to us Yanks) players.

I would like to take note on Sir Ian "Magneto" McKellan. Though not exactly "eye candy", he does have that certain "je ne sais quoi" about him. In much the same manner that I will always refer to Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, I will always see Ian as Magneto.

Aaron "Pyro" Stanford. I love his promo photo for X3. How he's looking back with that "I'm gonna light your ass up" stare. Ooooo, is it getting hot in here. Off the stage, he's got that whole unshaven grungy look going for him. Just looking at him reminds me of that Doors' song .... what is it again ... oh yeah, "Light My Fire".

Not that this guy is eye candy, but what a make-up job! Hands down, Kelsey "The Beast" Grammer was the best pick for the role. Though I don't know how well Dr. Frasier Crane will do in fight scenes, Kelsey definitely has the perfect voice to play Dr. Hank McCoy.

Of course, we do have the students that play an even larger role in III. There is the likes of Ellen "Kitty Pride" Page, Anna "Rogue" Paquin, Shawn "Iceman" Ashmore, and Dania "Callisto" Ramirez. Definitely a great way to round out such a knock-out gorgeous cast. I always thought Shawn and Anna were two cuties in the making. As for Dania and Ellen, too young for me to make an "eye candy" comment. Let's just say these two young actresses look like they are well on their way to being the next wave of Hollywood hotties.

Cinematic eye candy, folks!

xmen, movies, entertainment

The Mother's Day Finale

Leave me alone, I've been busy. And my memory is starting to slip so I better post now before I forget completely.

So far, it has been Geo's family came up in a putt-putt mobile on Saturday, putt-putt died, family stranded, stayed overnight, and now it's Mother's Day and we're driving them halfway home.

That's way it should be, right folks? That's only fair. If you are purportedly "meeting" someone half-way, that means half-way through the journey. A journey, in this case, takes two hours; ergo, you drive approximately one hour and meet.

Someone has to explain that math to Geo's sister and brother-in-law.

Geo's sister tells her husband to meet at a rest stop in Maryland. What?!?!? That was a "were you even thinking?" moment. Of course, SIL and BIL were fine with that arrangement. Honest to gosh, if I knew we were going to drive that far, I would have said, "Oh friggin well, might as well drive the whole way now!"

Common sense, people! Halfway would have been a rest stop in Delaware. Oh no, we are going to Maryland instead.

Brilliant.

We leave out around 10:30ish, maybe closer to 11:00AM. I told you my memory is fadin'. Around noon, the SIL calls the hubby. The BIL is already at the rest area. Geo and I are both thinking the same thing. "Oh goody, he can drive a little further so we don't have to drive as far."

Ha-ha-ha! That's funny. Ain't happenin'!

No, the SIL suggested to either get some food or rest up a bit. She must have forgot about option number three which would have been "drive a bit further so my brother doesn't have to drive practically to Baltimore".

And here's the funny part (not like the whole weekend wasn't one big barrel of laughs).

We were at a rest area that doesn't allow cross-overs. If you enter northbound, you stay northbound. And what does that mean exactly? It means the BIL would have to continue north anyway just to turn around.

The next rest stop further north allows cross-overs. That would have been a win-win situation all the way around. Completely ideal.

But not happenin'.

We get to the rest stop. Dinks is hungry and so is Geo. I had to admit I was a bit peckish myself. So the entire family sat at a rest area off of I-95 in Maryland and ate fast food. Now that's togetherness. I was a bit PO'ed but I wasn't going to say a word. I just wanted to go home to enjoy what was left of Mother's Day.

We didn't leave the damn rest area until 2-ish. First, mall torture. Then, rest area Hell. Was there no end to this insanity?

We, meaning Geo, Dinks, and me, got back in the truck and headed south to the next exit. I wanted to just go home so bad. Unfortunately, the Dinks was a bit rammy.

"I want to walk outside! I want to walk outside!"

Great.

So, where do you think I got to go on Mother's Day so my child could walk around in the fresh air? Go on guess. I'll give you a hint. We were close to Aberdeen MD and Geo is a militaria freak.

That's right! Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Home of a ballistics museum, lots of tanks, and Anzio Annie (aka Leopold), one of two surviving German railway guns from WWII. All of which we saw.

I admit I did always want to visit APG, but not on Mother's Day for crying out loud!

When the skies got a little unfriendly looking, we decided to head home. On the back roads. The entire way. And it took forever.

We didn't get home until close to 7:00PM.

It was Mother's Day. I never saw MY mother, I was starving, and I was pissed because another Mother's Day was shot to hell.

We quickly dashed to my rent's home so I can give my mum her gift. They weren't even there. They were at my brother's house having a relaxing time by the poolside while my brother BBQ'ed. Good for my mom.

My Mother's Day dinner was a chili-cheese burger at Nifty Fifties at 8:00PM. Yippie-ki-friggin-ay.

And that was my Mother's Day weekend. It sucked. I had a headache. I fought with my husband and my child. If I heard one more friggin time the phrase "we hate to impose" or "we hope this doesn't mess things up for you", I was going to scream.

I never want to live that weekend again.

mothers day, in laws, family

Meet the Asses - A Modern Family

humor, funny, sticker

What does "et al" mean?

I think I'm Googled, Yahooed, and Blogger searched on this question at least four times a day. Yeah, I get boring searches on my blog. Nothing nifty like "corks for cramps" or "I want to pinch crab". What exactly that says about me, I don't care to guess. It's great for the hit count, though.

But I feel I'm letting these searchers down. So, here it is, straight from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website.

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

et al

One entry found for et al.

Main Entry: et al
Function: abbreviation
Etymology: Latin et alii (masc.), et aliae (fem.), or et alia (neut.)

and others

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


See, no need to do something silly like look it up yourself at Merriam-Webster or even something really daft like grabbing a dictionary. All done for you.

So, my site title literally means "life, family, and others".

Cheers!

definition, et al

It is now T minus 4 days until X-Men III - The Last Stand

That's right.

Never have I been so psyched over a movie. I even more psyched over X3 than I was over HP and TGOF.

Okay, I'll confess it here for everyone. I am a HUGE DC Comics and Marvel Comics fan.

I used to collect the non-sports cards, collectible figures, action figures, movie memorabilia, comic books, etc. I had a monsterous collection. I also collected certain 12" dolls. i had the entire 90210 cast. I had the "gay" Ken doll ( I had two of those). I love toys and comics!

Then I met husband one. I've talked about him before - the emotionally and mentally abusive jerk? He didn't share my enthusiasm. As he put it, "Aren't you a little old to have toys?" I GAVE away the majority of my collection (the dolls all went to his niece). Of course, he had me convinced I was "growing up". Manipulative bastard.

A house fire took the rest of my collection.

Now, I am starting all over again. Man, this stuff got more expensive.

Anyway, .... X-Men III in t - 4

xmen, movies, entertainment

Mother's Day debacle continued

You know how hard it is to blog with a three year old crawling under your feet (and I mean a three year old child)?

Anyway ...

So, the scene so far is the MIL, SIL, and niece drove up from Baltimore MD in a car that was not meant to go further than ten miles, the car dies jsut a mile from my home, and now the decision has been made that they are to spend the night and go home on Mother's Day a la Geo's truck.

I continue.

Since the decision of spending the night was cemented, the newest dilemma arose - they had no clean clothes. So it was to the mall we went.

For almost 5 hours. Five long boring excruciating hours.

I can tolerate a mall for up to approxiamtely 2 hours max, then I have to leave.

Folks, we didn't leave the mall until darn near 8:00PM. We had no dinner other than mall food snacking. The Dinks needed to get home and get her bath and bed. Everything was coming slowly undone.

And I was getting one of my infamous headaches.

Then came Geo and his bright idea of "Hey, let's go out to our fave Italian restaurant and get a bite to eat." I argued that it was late and we shouldn't go to a restaurant. He didn't acknowledge the fault in his plan until about twenty minutes later (the mall was over thirty minutes away from our home). He calls me via mobile (he took his truck and I drove my car due to the number of people in the group) to say we'll just get cheesesteaks at a local sub shop. "Okay", I say. "We'll order and take them home, right?" He replies, "Nah, I thought we'd eat there." I argued but again, he just didn't see the pending disaster.

He was tired. He had no sleep all day and was going on being awake for over 24 hours. Dinks was also tired. And she was rammy as hell.

Do you see where this is going?

The scene was in the sub shop. We had his niece with, "I hate subs. I'm not hungry. I want mashed potatoes." Dinks was being cranky 'cause she was exhausted. Geo was getting bitchier and bitchier from lack of sleep. My tolerance level was bottoming out. His sister was fretting over the possibility of having to buy a new car after 13 years. And his mom was ... well, she was fine.

The second storm hit.

The two opposing forces that created the storm were Geo and Dinks.

Dinks was running hither and yon, not listening to the barking commands of "sit down" from her daddy. Regular readers know the child never listens. With the swiftness of a ninja, Geo swatted the Dinks butt. Then, in the booth that we were in, where she was being extra rammy, he got right in her face and scared the daylights out of her with his low growl screaming and grabbing of her shoulders. Dinks was now tired and terrified. I was pissed off. Geo had blown his gasket. He left with the Dinks to head back to his truck. The SIL saw my concern and asked if she should go out there. Figuring either Dinks or Geo was going to kill the other, I said "yes". Five minutes late, Geo comes in with SIL and Dinks. All seemed okay until I aksed him to sit down. "NO! I might hurt someone if I do!" he yells and storms out.

Needless to say, my food and Geo's food were both wrapped to go. His family seemed okay with everything and kept eating. I guess they didn't want to interfere.

We get home. Geo never apologises and neither did I. We just acted like nothing happened. I think we both needed to let off steam.

We also kicked a bottle of wine.

All this with the MIL, SIL, niece, and Dinks getting ready for sleep.

Before I went to bed, I thought, "Well, at least we'll just be dropping off his family at a Delaware rest area along I-95. I'm sure that's where SIL will tell her husband to get us. Tops on the road one hour and we'll be home in another hour. Two and half hours max. Not so bad."

Stupid Maidink.

Final chapter tomorrow. If I don't get this kid in the Barbie Princess outfit out from underneath my feet, I'm-a gonna keelhaul her.

mothers day, in laws, family

My doctor is branching out

Yet another "they said what?" post. This time, the major doofus is none other than your loveable hostess, me!

This was the conversation between my mother and I as I drove home from work tonight. Did I say drive? It was rush hour. Silly me.

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

Mom: I have an appointment next Tuesday with Dr DeFillip.

Me: Hey, I have an appointment this Thursday with him, too.

Mom: Really? You never mentioned it.

Me: That's cause I just made it last week. It's at 1:00PM.

Mom (sounding confused): You did? What are you going to do with Dinker?

Me (thinking she lost her mind): Umm, she's going to school. What else would I do with her?

Mom (now sounding concerned): So you're going to the doctor in the afternoon and then picking the baby up from school?

Me: Well, yeah! I'm only going for a fitting?

Mom (shocked): A fitting?

Now I think the old woman's senility is kicking into high gear.

Me: Yes, Mom. A fitting ... for my nightguard?! The insurance company just approved it.

Mom: You're going ... to Dr DeFillip ... for a nightguard fitting?

Me (rolling my eyes): Yes, mom! For my ...

Then I stopped.

Me (sounding pretty sheepish): Oh, your going to see ... Dr DeFillip, our OB/GYN. I was thinking you meant Dr Sax, the dentist.

Mom: *she's laughing too hard to even say anything*

I don't know about you folks, but I'd be leary of an OB/GYN that moonlighted as a dentist.

obgyn, dentist,humor, misunderstood,phone call

Oh yeah, the Mother's Day debacle

As I said before, I can't blame my "shot in the backside once again" Mother's Day on Geo.

I can, however, blame his kin on this one.

It was all quite accidental. His sister and his mother along with his niece had planned on a visit on Saturday. It was only to be a short visit with the prospect of taking MIL out to dinner. Fine and dandy. They asked over and over, "Are you sure we are not imposing?" I clearly answered no since they were coming up on a Saturday and Mother's Day is on Sunday. I had no plans for Sunday which was my Mother's Day plan - to do nothing.

A phone call at 1:00PM on Saturday changed all that.

I heard cars honking in the background and his sister saying, "We're stuck. We're at the blah blah corner we have to turn to get to your house."

Great.

I tell Geo, who was in the middle of getting ready to get a shower. The man had just worked 8 eight hours, came home, and started getting the house tidy. It takes a family visit for him to accomplish such a feat. Anyway (Pig's fave word), he got dressed as I called our mechanic to ask for a tow. Geo dashed out the door and I was left at home with the Dinks and an approaching storm (literally and figuratively).

Let me just give you, right now, a bit of background on my SIL's car. It was (yes, past tense) a 1993 Geo Prism with darn near 200K miles on it. This is a car that barely gets used during the week and it was being driven to Philly from Baltimore. To make matters more interesting, a couple of years ago, SIL was in a fender bender. She was ass-ended. Her insurance company wrote hte car off as a loss. She bought back the title.

So, we are talking a 13 year old 200K salvaged car. On a road trip.

One fast moving storm later, the real storm began. Geo came home with the MIL, the SIL, and the niece. It's now 2:30PM. The preliminary diagnosis for the car is a dead transmission. They aren't going anywhere.

Now, they all originally planned to come up, visit, go to a local mall to shop (that's MIL's thing - mall shopping), eat food, and leave. Dead car changed that. Now, there WAS a choice of either going home to Baltimore via Geo and I, or staying the night and going home the next day. It is 2:30PM almost 3:00PM so it's not like it was late at night. The choice was stay and leave Sunday - Mother's Day.

I didn't forsee this as that big of a problem. I was wrong.

Wow, this post will be longer than I thought. I'll continue later.

mothers day, in laws, family

Today's post is being brought to you by the letter "D"

This is a meme post that could be cleverly disguised as a normal post. But it is a meme.

Anyway ...

You get assigned a letter under voluntary conditions. I was assigned "D" by the CrankyProf herself (she's so merciful). You must write ten words using your assigned letter in your blog post including an explanation of why you chose that word. No, there is no rhyme or reason. It's just a meme for crying out loud. There is no tagging (what a refreshing change). The trick is, if you want to do it, you have to tell me in the comments.

I love the letter "D", not as a grade but as a letter. It starts some great words like drama. I have a three year old who is a drama queen in training. There is drama in my workplace. Oh, it's a soap here. He's hitched to her, they're unhitched, she's with him again, he's banging another, she's pissed, legal papers, federal lawsuits, evictions, retaliations ... yikeys! I don't need Desperate Housewives to get my fill of insane life (though I do love the show).

Speaking of desperate, there is a word that drives me nuts. First, I can never spell it correctly. I use too many a's. Desperate goes together with drama so well. It means having lost hope or moved by despair. This word should only be used in dire situations. To drive to the mall in pouring rain so as to buy that certain shade foundation is not desperate. Asinine, yes; desperate, no.

Today's weather totally blows and I feel a migraine coming on; hence, my inevitable headache is dormant.

Domicile. I actually use this word quite often in my daily spoken language (not to be confused with blogging). I constantly refer to my home as the Maidink Domicile. The scary part is not that many people know what a domicile is. sad.

Another fave word that I use in daily speech is denizen. I usually reserve it for bar patrons, mall rats or mall models, or any other human that insists on visiting the same place over and over. I mean, don't these people have domiciles?

Derriere. The buttocks. Brings to mind "Baby Got Back". I don't like big butts personally, but I have been known to admire a few aesthetically pleasing backsides.

Thinking of Geo a word that pops up often is daft. I swear, I love my husband. But there are times I just want to take the proverbial frypan and crack him upside the head. He can be so dense at times. Sweetie, if I am folding laundry so I can clear the bed to get the Dinks ready for her bath so I can put her to sleep, don't ask if I am busy. Duh. Such a typical guy.

How about a snobby pretenious word like duvet? It's a comforter for crying out loud! Never have I agreed with a scene from a movie so much as I did with Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club when he mentioned this.

Lastly, I mention diversity. We are all different. We're of mixed colors and mixed religions. There are different ethnicities. Not everyone has the same sexual preferences. It would be BORING if we were all the same. So, to those who can't handle it, deal with it. As one person once said, "America is not a melting pot, it's a mixed salad. Though we are all different, we can all work well together." No, I can't remember who said it, but I love it.

Oh yeah, ... Dinks!

meme, d

Mother's Day weekend 2006

Quick post. I'll give the Reader's Digest version then I'll elaborate later.

Mother's Day weekend was shot in the ass. This time, I can not blame Geo, though it's my natural tendency to do so.

Yesterday, I skived off from work. I needed a "me" day since I never got it Sunday. Thankfully, my wise hubby realized that and treated me like a spoiled brat yesterday. Even the Dinks was merciful to me. Such a sweet like cherub.

That's it for right now.

I promise I'll update more later.

Seriously ...

mothers day, skiving

He swore to us he has a college degree

Another "Maidink and co-worker" post. Today's co-worker in the spotlight is Jim.

The scene is I am talking to Jim about when the Dinks goes to kindergarten in two years. Holy crap! Two years! *sniffle* My baby's a big girl.

Okay, mommy hysterics over.

Me: Yep, two more years and Dinks heads to grammar school.

Jim: It's not that far off.

Me: Tell me about it. I feel old. in two years, my baby will be in the Anne Frank Little School house.

Jim: Oh, is that a Catholic school?

Me: Ummm, Anne Frank was Jewish.

Jim: Oh yeah. That's right.

Oy vay!

Go on and shake that money maker, girlfriend!

All was quiet and serene in the Maidink household last night.

I gave the Dinks her bath. The little dirt merchant needed it, bless her heart.

What is it with kids and dirt? She gets filthy everyday. It's not worth buying her decent clothes. I should just pull them out of the local clothes drop-off dumpster. Last summer, at her school, I witnessed her taking a plastic cup filled with loose powdery dirt and dumping it on her head so it cascaded down her itty-bitty self. She looked like a Tide commercial. With the warm weather here again, she is back to the dirtlot at school. Thank goodness she just plays in it now and doesn't give herself a dirt shower anymore.

Back to last night.

I always dry her off on our bedroom on our bed. It's a bigger space than her crib and makes it easier to get her jim-jams on. Once she gets her "big girl' bed, that ends.

As I was getting her PJs ready, she hops onto her feet and starts jumping up and down on my bed rather frantically. It wasn't that she was in pain 'cause she was laughing. She then starts to chant.

"I like to move it move it, I like to move it move it, I like to move it move it, I like to MOVE IT"

Holy chowder! My kid's dancing to techno!

She's having a good ole time jumping everywhere, giggling and singing.

I smile, rather uneasily, and cleared my throat.

"Sweetie, where did you hear that song?"

"SCHOOL!" she shouts out.

Head hurting, I ask, "Honey, when do they play that song?"

"DANCE TIME!" she shouts even louder. She's still singing and jumping and I believe she hears the music being played rather loud in her head.

"Sweetpea, who plays that music?"

"Miss LAUR-EN!"

Her teacher. Now, I'm thinking her under 25 years of age blond-haired teacher is playing a 90's techno-rave CD in the classroom and the kids are just going nuts. Just great.

All night, Dinks kept singing "I like to move it move it ..." and jumping everywhere. Thank goodness she settled down at bedtime.

Today, I Googled "I like to move it move it" and found out it's on the Madagascar Movie Soundtrack. Ah-HA! That explains everything.

Clever teacher. She get the kids together and gets their energy out via dancing (which is akin to exercising). Pretty smart for a blonde-haired kid. Well, in my eyes, she's a kid. Hell, she's a short kid, too. Wouldn't take much for her class to gang up and over take the room.

This may explain why last week, Dinks kept jumping up and down saying "jump, jump, jump, jump ..."

With a name like that, she'd make nothing

This is the conversation between Streats and me in work this morning.

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Streats: Have you heard of the new stripper?

Me (looking slightly confused): What?

Streats (not realizing I'm giving her a confused look): The new stripper for NY?

Me (more confused): What??

Streats (now realizing I am confused): For NY? The new stripper, InfoLab?

Me (more puzzled than ever): We hired a stripper in NY named InfoLab?

Streats (rolling her eyes): Dis-trib-u-tor, you nitwit. Get your hearing aid already!

How do my parents REALLY feel about the Dinks?

Mum and Dad were watching the baby this morning while I took care of some ... uh ... personal business. I then picked her up and took her to school.

This was the phone conversation later in the afternoon.

Mom: You made it into work okay?

Me: Yep, all in one piece.

Mom: And the baby?

Me: Yep, she's in one piece, too.

Mom: Well, we feel bad we couldn't keep the baby today.

Me: Don't. She loves going to school.

Mom: No, we feel bad for ourselves.

Me (while nodding head): Ahhh. Gotcha.

The new blog title

The bass blog is here. I'm copying the bass and music oriented posts from this blog into it.

It'll be simply called "Maidink's Bass".

Now, if someone can help me ... I want to put a picture of my MK bass in the title. Help

Maidink's World Update Weekend of 05/05 to 05/07

Let's see, let's see.

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Geo went to a cigar convention Saturday. More precisely, he went to "Cigar International's CigarFest 2006". It was deemed a mega-herf. For those not in the know, or for those wondering what the hell I am talking about, a "herf" is a cigar convention. See? You actually learn things reading this blog. I'm sure you're just thrilled.

The man came home smelling like a cigar. I warned him to enter through the back door, strip, and shower before he attempted to encounter anyone in the house. He obidiently walked through the front door, wrestled with the Dinks (who was suffering from Daddy withdrawl), looked at his cigar stash, filled his humidor, read a catalog, then took a shower. Damn glad he listened to me.

He bought a $75 ticket to gain entrance to this thing, and came home with a free humidor filled with cigars, all inside a small gymbag. Estimated retail value of his haul was $225.

Cigars are now in the Maidink household; however, they are smoked outside.

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Dinks and I had a Dinky/Mommy day Saturday since Geo was at his herf. It went relatively well. We did some errands, bought video games, and went food shopping. But Dinks still doesn't feel well, so we didn't go all day long. All in all, it was a nice day for her and I.

Though, I'm quite sure she wished her Daddy was with with us. Better yet, I went to the herf and Daddy stayed home with her.

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I had a wicked sinus headache / migraine yesterday. It hurt like hell. If yesterady were actually a weekday, I would have stayed home. Figures I feel great today.

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Still haven't figured a new blog title for the Bass Blog. But I did create a MySpace account. Hey, I don't want anyone taking my online moniker. To avoid identity theft, I signed up. To say MySpace is confusing is an understatement. I'll figure it out later.

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Dinker got three pairs of shoes yesterday. She needed sport sandals, dress sandals, and water shoes for her water play at school this summer. Yes, my little Imelda marcos got all three pair. And insisted on wearing the the sport sandals home.

Bless her little consumer heart.

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At the Cigar herf, there was a Playboy playmate, Stephanie Heinrich. From her promo photo, she looks like a serious hottie. Geo said he and his buddy, Blade (who got Geo the ticket - thanks, Blade), upon seeing her in person, looked at her and thought, "Ummm, she was a playmate?" He said she posedwith guys with a look on her face that screamed "Oh, Christ, not another one of these dumbass things. I hate these shows." As Geo was standing there looking at her, he had his camera ready. He had all intentions of taking her photo until he realized not only was she a bitch, but she didn't have a "brickhouse" body like one would imagine a Playmate would sport. She saw Geo with his camera and struck her best fake pose. Geo looked at her, looked at his camera, shook his head, and walked away.

Instead, he got some great shots of the other pieces of eye candy that trapsed through the convention. I'd post pics but they are still in his camera.

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Got me mum her Mommy Day's (US version) gift. She loves Romance by Ralph Lauren. So I bought her a lorryload of it. She deserves more; however, with finances being limited, this is it for now.

I'll probably get the same thing this year as last year. And that, my friend's, was zilch.

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And I did nothing for Cinco de Mayo. So my Friday was borrrrrring with six r's.

The 1970/1971 Starfire III Special guitar I'm selling

Thought I'd show you a picture of it.

It plays well; alas, it's finish is cracking. A skilled Guild repair person should be able to fix it. Also, it is suffering from mild buckle rash. Add on top of that a few marks on the neck and a repair spot at the joint where the neck connects to the body, and you have a well-used guitar.

The other buyer fell through. Why me?

So this baby is E-bay bound. I get what I can get and that's it.

How to tell that spring has truly sprung

Driving home yesterday. Dinks is in the backseat eating her obligatory bag of cheese puffs. Todays puff of choice is Cheetos Crunchy.

Dinks: *cough* *cough*

Me (looking back in the safety mirror): You okay there, Dinks?

Dinks (looking at me with a smile): I okay, mommy. I just need my medicine.

Uh-oh.

Me: Medicine, sweetpea? You mean breathing machine?

Dinks (with a big ole grin): Yeeaaaaaaahhhhh.

More coughing. It sounds gurgley and raspy. Great.

Dinks (in a non-panicy sing-song voice): Mommy! I need my breathing machine. I need the green medicine and the oval*.

Me: Okay, Dinkerdooes. We'll do that tonight.

Needless to say, I have been heavily reliant on my Zyrtec-D and Nasonex. Geo is Claritin-D bound. And Dinks is Zyrtec, Sudafed, Just Cough, and her breathing machine.

I hate allergies.

* - Breathing machine is her nebulizer. Green medicine is her Pulmacort .25 strength. Green is the color of the font on the box. And the oval is a reference to the mouthpiece to her nebulizer.

Anybody want a guitar?

No, not my bass. Good heavens, no.

No, I mean my Guild Starfire III.

I had a buyer. It was our neighbor's friend. Our neighbor is a tightwad - really nice guy but cheap. Not Scrooge cheap - he buys his kids whatever they want. No, he's dumb cheap. He's the guy that'll sit in traffic for 2 hours instead of using a toll road to save a $1.50 in tolls. Yet, he wastes $9.00 in gas sitting in traffic. Geo figured if it was one of his friends, the friend was dumb cheap also.

Geo was right.

I got the guitar appraised at two locations. One said $1000. The other, $750. I figure sell at a $1000 OBO.

The guy backed out. He didn't even bother haggling. I would have sold at $500 or $600. Oh well.

Cheapo.

Now I either try with a couple other possible buyers, or it's Ebay bound.

I'm already giving away the classical guitar. Yeah, have one of those, too. But my co-worker's kid is going to a university to study classical guitar. If I know my co-worker, he'll try to pay me something. If he does, I'll take it.

Hey, I'm not stupid. Well, not all the time.