The Soap Box
A place for me to dump my brain and you to pick thru it

New Mexico
11:20am

Sometimes people ask me what it's like in New Mexico. Honestly, it's pretty laid back and I like it that way. There is never an instance where you have to dress up, but you can if you like and no one really cares one way or the other. Movies are made all the time here now, which is great for our economy. But honestly, the locals don't really care if stars are here or not. Apparently, J Lo filmed a movie here last year but no one tracked her down or even looked for her as far as I can tell. She only made news here when her demands for her own hairdresser to be flown on set was breaking the movie's budget. Another case in point as to the "whatever" attitude here is illustrated in a news story I've now seen in a couple of different places on the web. Jessica Simpson dined with Governor Bill Richardson on Thursday night at the Governor's mansion with her parents. Was this story covered in the local news? Nope. Instead we have stories of pedophilic priests, car wrecks and the ongoing drought.

Yup, the "Land of Mañana" wins again. We get Hollywood money without the Hollywood hype.

It's Almost Over Folks
6:18pm

Yep, the Olympics are almost over. After this weekend, I'll start posting more regularly. I'm sure my husband is VERY happy that soon he will not be subjected to sports 24/7. In the meantime:

Has anyone noticed that the US Men's Skip of the curling team looks like Edward Norton?

I wore my lucky Olympic Ice Skating socks today that I got that the SLC games, but I don't think it helped our women.    :(

If I see ONE MORE commercial for that new show by Dick Wolf, Conviction, I promise to NEVER EVER watch it. EVER.

Olympic Stuff
7:38pm

Yes, I'm alive. Been busy posting on the Olympic blog. Stupid work caused me from missing the Women's Hockey game the other day. Why can't we get work and school off to cheer on the US teams? If *I* were queen of the world, that's what I would do. Give everyone the time off to sit around and watch the sports with friends and family.

Here's my pet peeve of the day: Shandi Davis is NOT the first African American man to win a gold medal during the Winter Olympics, he is the first black man, or man of African descent, to win a gold medal. By referring to him as African American, while politically correct, minimizes his achievement. It implies that there was someone else of african descent, perhaps African Caribbean or African English who has also won a gold medal in the winter Olympics. So, in this case, being politically correct is not giving the man full credit. What's your opinion on the subject?

PS: Did Dick Button just say shizzle my twizzizzle?

Never Tell Time By a Plant
7:50pm

Here is my Christmas cactus:

WTF? Could someone tell it that it is a couple months too late?

Break Up With Google Today
7:45am

As Google begins a partnership with China this week, Students for a Free Tibet are asking for a one day boycott of Google. They provide alternative links and everything. Check it all out here.

My Little Helper
3:55pm

Dear Damien:

While I appreciate your desire to help me in the kitchen, sitting in the cupboard is really counterproductive. Perhaps you could wet your fur and scoot around the kitchen floor. That would work better I think.

Sincerely,

Your Mom

Possibly The Strangest Thing To Happen To Me
11:34pm

A long time ago, perhaps around 1992 or so, I used to hang out on something called Compuserve (CIS). It was like a pre-AOL. A non-GUI AOL. All text, no graphics. Like IRC, if you know what that is, but more expensive...a lot more expensive. So anyway, I used to hang out on something called CB Simulator aka chat rooms. In fact, that's where I met my husband. I also used to talk to someone named Techojock whose real name is Hans Frauenlob. He lived just outside of Toronto in Mississauga and was the IT Manager for the Blue Jays. I once went to TTO and hung out with him under the guise that I was interviewing for some job. We went to the planetarium and out to dinner. I got a tour of the Sky Dome. It was pretty cool. He also visited me when I lived in Burlington VT, as he was in Montreal visiting the Expos park for something, I can't remember what. Soon after that I lost track of him. I wonder where he went...

Fast forward around 14 years to tonight. I'm watching the Olympic Parade of Nations on TV and the New Zealand team is entering the stadium. The announcer is saying something about a member of the curling team having a World Series ring since he was the IT manager of the Blue Jays back in the early 90s! Nah, it can't be! It is! It's Hans, smiling and waving to the crowd. His name clearly displayed below him so it's not like I have him confused with someone else. Holy shit! You have GOT to be kidding me! Team New Zealand? How did he get there?

While I can't seem to get many details, it looks like he's been on the National Curling Team since 1997. I don't remember him ever mentioning curling when I used to chat with him. I'm still curious as to how he became a new Zealand citizen, and about a dozen other questions but they will probably go unanswered. Previous to this, my closest brush with Olympic greatness was that my mom was the middle school guidance counselor for Nancy Kerrigan. Luckily, the US curling men's team doesn't seem to have a prayer so I can cheer on the kiwis although I doubt they will have any televised curling matches in the next two weeks.

Hey Hans! If you just happen to stumble across this blog, send me an Olympic pin fron Turin!   ;)

For more info on the Olympics, check out my Olympic blog here.

Going Down in Flames
1:56pm

Fox-TV, in yet another moronic move, is burning off the last 4 episodes of "the season" of Arrested Development tonight. On a Friday night. Going against the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Yeah, someone's gonna be watching that. Everyone knows that Friday night is death to any show. In fact, that's how Fox killed Malcolm in the Middle. The put it on Friday nights where it languished and has now been cancelled. Fucking brilliant people at Fox. They spend millions on research and development of new shows and kill what good stuff they have...like Futurama, or Firefly, etc...

Nah, I'm not bitter.

Dichotomy Between Actions and Words
10:00pm

Transcript between George W. Bush and a young college student from 3 weeks ago:

Student: I was just wanting to get your comments about education. Recently 12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. I was just wondering how is that supposed to help our futures?

Bush: Education budget was cut — say it again. What was cut?

Student: 12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. I’m wanting to know how is that supposed to help our futures?

Bush: At the federal level?

Student: Yes.

Bush: I don’t think we’ve actually — for higher education? Student loans?

Student: Yes, student loans.

Bush: Actually, I think what we did was reform the student loan program. We are not cutting money out of it.

Action taken today:

Bush signed a bill that cuts $39 billion in student loan subsidies, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies and other programs.

Didn't he just say 3 weeks ago that he would not cut money out of student loans?

Oh No He Di'nt!
8:40pm

When Alberto Gonzalez, Attorney General of these United States, was asked about the wire tapping in front of congress, he actually said, "President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale." OK, OK, once you stop laughing, let me know which is worse, that he has no idea that there were no electronics back in Washington's day, or that if they did it, it's OK for us to do it? Washington had slaves too. Does that make it all right for us to do it? Have we really not morally evolved since the 1700s? Or, on the other hand, were Washington's wooden teeth really new fangled electronic surveillance equipment? When you've figured it out, let me know.

A Bad Start To The Week
9:11am

I got home from an undisclosed location last night to my wonderful husband and kittens. Everything was hunky dorey until we went out for dinner. I had just showered and didn't bother drying my hair. I figured it would dry on it's own, as it has in the past. I was driving down I40 when we saw a car pulled onto the left shoulder with a bunch of crap on the ground by it and then BAM...I ran over...SOMTHING. I have NO idea what. The car felt a little funky but I thought maybe it was the draft off of the car ahead of me. A few miles down the road there was a pick-up that pulled onto the left shoulder right in front of us...not smart to go from the high speed lane onto the shoulder! And then there was a strange hum coming from our car.

We pulled over on a very narrow strip of road that was supposed to be a shoulder but really we were squeezed between Jersey knees and the exit lane for University Blvd. It was scary because 18 wheelers were whizzing past at 70 mph and could have easily picked one of us off if we were on the left side of the car. Yes, we had a flat. Nick was very handy changing it. Got it done in only a few minutes. In the meantime a police car did stop to see what was up and it was then that I realized I didn't have my license on me as I had to use it to get thru airport security earlier in the day. Oops! Turns out the cop had to go to an accident with casualties and left us as soon as he realized it was just a flat tire.

Back in the car, with the donut tire on, we discovered the battery was dead in the car! WTF? It wasn't that long that we had stopped! Seriously, we were baffled. And now it was really cold. And I hadn't been able to find my leather coat before we went out so I just went without it. And my hair was still wet.

I called AAA and talked to a woman who I swear was in India. OMG the dumb questions. "Do you know what city you're in?" I felt like answering, "No! I was hoping YOU could tell me!" She took all out information and told me that a local service person would call me RIGHT back and tell me when they would be there. I waited. And waited. And no call. I finally called a friend and asked her if she could give us a jump. Bless her heart, she came right over. Now the tricky part. To give us a jump, she had to turn her car 180 degrees ON THE HIGHWAY so that her hood was facing our hood. That girl has cojones of steel! I can't believe she did it.

Her pretty little Saab has this really fucked up hood that hinges from the front, blocking any view you might have of the battery AND the battery is placed low in the carriage so it was virtually impossible to even see it much less find the positive and negative connections. Neither of us had a flashlight. We were trying to find the connections with the light from a fucking cell phone. It was ridiculous. Right about then, around 8:10pm, an hour after our original call, AAA called to say they were on the way and would be right there. We told my friend to forget it and we'd wait for the AAA guy. She again had to turn her car 180 degrees on the highway and drove off. Now THAT is a good friend!

The AAA guy gave us a jump start and we were on our way to dinner, FINALLY! So, my big question is: what time did the superbowl end? I'm guessing around 8:10pm Mountain, and the fucking AAA guy waited until the end of the game to come help us. I'm pretty pissed by the service from AAA. We seriously were afraid some asshole would come and plow into the back of us as we waited for the jump. It totally sucked.

Dinner was good tho. Unfortunately, after dinner, I tried to make some updates to the UNM Psychology web site and toasted the whole thing! Then, I couldn't go to bed until it was fixed and that took a while just because the UNM servers are set up like pieces of shit and make NO sense. Ugh!

So now I'm off to get a new tire. Wish me luck!

On The Lighter Side
9:41pm

The following is from Billy West's (aka Fry) web site:

HERE'S GREAT NEWS!
Here's the official word on Futurama!! David X. phoned me about an hour ago and said that this Futurama project is a done deal! Here's the word from DX---
There are 4 DVD movies that we'll start recording at the end of July or August. Full feature length FUTURAMA movies. Everybody is excited to get back together--as I am!

Into the Future,
Billy

Even better news is that Fox TV is not denying it, so it must be true!   ;)

"Why did my son die if his mother can't even wear a T-shirt?"
8:18pm

So anyway, Cindy Sheehan's t-shirt read, ""2,245 Dead. How Many More?" I was thinking it must have said something like, "Bush needs a blow torch enema" or something considering she was arrested. What's even more stupid is that the wife of a REPUBLICAN rep was also arrested as a protester for wearing a shirt that read, "Support the Troops: Defending Our Freedom". Isn't that crazy? A protester? WTF is their definition of a protester?

Anyway, both women were given an apology but the purpose of the arrest worked. It got Sheehan out of the way so that Bush could make his ridiculous State of the Union address without worrying that Sheehan might actually stand up and say something that could possibly have been broadcast.

Blog Name: The Soap Box
Email: jenben[at]g-r-c.com
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