Hungry?

When Levi and I were first married, we stayed in two B&Bs over several days. I found the food to be delicious and a little different. Since then, I have tried to imitate a little of what we tasted. I have had some luck creating some delicious breakfast alternatives thanks to those inspiring meals at the B&Bs.

There is a cool web site that offers recipes supplied by different B&Bs throughout the nation. It's easy to navigate and offers some incredibly fun meal ideas. One that I am really excited to try out is The Breakfast Pizza. The recipe was presented by The Jefferson Inn of Ellicottville. Another one I'm excited to try is The Asparagus Egg Puff presented by Northwood Inn Bed & Breakfast in NJ.

Movie news at last

"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" upcoming movie has a new web site. You can explore Narnia and get some of the history, in case you forgot much of it from the books. There is even a quiz with a question from each book to test your knowledge. I got 4 our of 7 right.

Charlie and Chocolate Factory has recently put out a teaser. Johnny Depp's hair and teeth really creap me out in this teaser.

Who are the PIGs?

Here is an interesting article about PIGs in the school system.

I just finished reading "Deception Point" by Dan Brown. He also wrote "DaVinci Code", "Angels & Demons", and "Digital Fortress". The book is full of adventures, near escapes, problem solving, unknown bad guy and the usual thrills Dan Brown always excites us with. I also finished "Digital Fortress" about a month ago, and highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys such adventures.

I have recently become a self proclaimed "expert" on how to cure Jelly Fish stings. Anyone burdened with such a sting that would like some questionable advice, please let me know.

Time To Vote

It's finally time to vote. As of tomorrow we can say goodbye to all the ads in the mail, on TV, the phone calls, the flyers left at your doors and the constant talk of it all. But that's not until tomorrow. Today we are still stuck with all the annoying ads. If you would care for some funny political distractions, check this out.

Costumes

Once again it's that time of year when we get to dress up in a costume and run around asking strangers to give us candy. What a wonderful world we live in. Free candy!

This year Levi and I are going to dazzle our friends, neighbors and family with our costumes. Levi will be Van Helsing and I will be a Vampire Slayer. Late last night I finally finished Levi's costume. It must have been one of the most difficult costumes I've put together. Everything seemed to be working against us, as the needed items to finish the costume were very difficult to find. With some improv and a dash of humor, we were able to get both costumes ready to dazzle all those we dare to ask candy from.

I wish you all a very happy Halloween!

Oh sure it's spooky, but is it haunted?

There is something exciting about a place that reputed to be haunted. MSN has a list of their top 10. Some of the buildings actually look as though they should be haunted and some look like average normal buildings. Of course, spooky looking places look as though they should be haunted, so the surprise of finding it so is extra fun.

Perhaps my morbid curiosity of the haunted is due to the fact that I've never been truly spooked by a haunting. Here are my two experiences.

Year: 2003
In WA there is a soda shop that is suspected to be haunted. We went in for sodas and for the hopeful experience of having our hair stand on end at some point of the visit. When it became apparent that the supposed spooks wanted nothing to do with us, we asked a worker if she had any spook stories. The answer was very weak and disappointing.

Year: 1997
In New Orleans the French Quarter, almost every building you pass is reputed to be haunted and there are some impressive spook stories. Did we ever get spooked? NO.

So my question is, are these stories made up from someone's imagination or am I just unlucky?

100 Greatest Books

Last week I checked out "The World's 100 Greatest Books" audio tapes from the library. To see the list of books considered to be the world's greatest, click here. This is not a full reading of each book. They are broken into sections.
1- Information on the work and it Author.
2- It's theme and contents
3- Overview of main characters
4- 30 minute story overview (the part I like)
5- The qualities and values that give this work universal appeal.

I have to admit that I have really enjoyed listening to so many classics. I've previously read several of the books on this list, so it's going to be fun to explore some of these books I was always too afraid to pick up.

Fun News

I came across a fun web site today Science Daily. After reading several of the articles, I came across this hilarious article about a person who found boxes with dead people on her property.

If that happened to me, I would move!

Dreams

Many of us have dreams that can be so vivid, it burns it's existence onto our memory so the next morning, not only do you remember the dream, but your a bit wigged out by it.

All week I've had dreams like this. Although only 2 have survived in the memory banks. I'd like to share one with you.

Dream: Bad guys are chasing a group of us through Manhattan, including my cat. We try to hail cabs, but for some reason they don't come even close to where we're
located. It's suddenly winter and we're climbing up a steep hill (in Manhattan?) and crawl through a barbed wire fence (which was surprisingly easy) and make it to a car. We're all safely buckled in although it was a bit tough to buckle in the cat. The bad guys are still after us and I yell, "Lets go!". To my utter shock and fright, the entire group all sit back staring at the horizon and say, "Na, lets just sit here and enjoy the moment."

I woke up with the following words at my lips, "Are you kidding me?"
All my dreams have been this exasperating. Shall I check myself in to a funny farm now, or later?

State Fair

It's State Fair time again. I don't know about you, but I love attending fairs. Food everywhere to be tasted, amusement rides, shows, dutch oven cook-offs, giant sized pumpkins on display, animals on display (and if you're lucky, you get to see how a sheep is sheered), and then there are always the stalls advertising things to sell. You can buy cleaning products, sewing machines, jewelry, dolls, art, get your back tested by a chiropractor (at every corner), hats, clothing, expensive cookery, gadgets, tools and many products that can only be found at fairs. Last year my dad and I were hypnotized by a paint and finishing stripper. It worked fast and completely dazzled our imaginations as we thought of all the projects we could work on with this product. Alas, it could only be purchased at the fair and was rather expensive. After long consideration, we decided to pass on it that time. Although I don't know if I can pass on it two years in a row.

Another of these fun "Only find at a fair" products is a water globe that you can put together yourself. You can use fresh flowers, silk flowers, statues, glitter or anything you can create. You carefully position the item and insert it into the water filled globe. As you can imagine, I couldn't pass up on such fun item. I bought two, and yes they work wonderfully.

Besides all the products to buy, there are the animals to be seen. You can pay 2.00 to see a huge horse (I'm not falling for this one) or simply enter the animal houses. About three years ago my dad and I entered the bull house to find a rather large impressive bull. We inched closer to it from the rear and instantly realized that what we were doing might be a mistake. The bull must have been laughing inside when he broke wind with a sneeze like action, complete with substance. It was like being hit by a machine gun filled with cow pucky. Little Brown globs splattered on our clothing, in our hair and on our skin. People all around us were laughing without reserve. As you can imagine, we were pink with humiliation.

For years we've made it a tradition to eat lunch by the miniature manufactured pioneer village. Freshly made Navajo tacos complete with a humorous man and horse show make this a thing to remember.

I don't know about you, but this year I hope the fair once again tickles my imagination and produces even more fun memories.

More Planets?

For the past several days, news of 4 new planets being discovered is being broadcasted. I anxiously watch and wait for some decent information to be announced, but news stations only provide you with a tickler of information that provides very basic infomation. "4 new planets have been discovered, isn't this great. Now onto other news..." What the... where's the rest of the infomation? Well, naturally I turn to our good and trusty NASA web site to get the information that the news won't to give. Maybe they made an agreement with aliens to keep the thing low key. Hmmm... Oh well.

Anyway, it turns out that one of the planets found is about the size of our Neptune. That sucker is HUGE! 10-20 times the size of earth. It's true that they don't know if it's made of rock or gas, but the idea of such a big planet circuling a star called "Gliese 436" is just exciting. (Levi, can we get a high power telescope?) Here are some sketches of what this new planet might look like.

NASA does a good job at tickling our imaginations on this site, as they even discuss the possibility of finding planets like ours that can sustain life. Oooo. possible aliens.

ULCER

This last weekend I participated in my first organized road bike trip called the ULCER It's a century bicycle ride around Utah Lake, although you can ride 24, 56, 74, or 105 miles. We took the 50 mile trail. We started bright and early at 7:30am and finished in the heat of the day at 12:30pm. Now don't be thinking, "Dang, you rode slow. It took you 5 hours to go 50 miles!". That statement is completely untrue and I'll explain why. We took a total of 2 long breaks where we were able to chat with other riders (over 1,000 people participated), and gorge ourselves on delicious foods such as cantaloupe, bananas, candy, watered down poweraid, bagels and cream cheese, oranges, Cliff bars and more candy. So clearly we weren't going only 10mph, we were in fact going almost 14mph. Now, before you say, "That's almost as bad as going 10mph! I bet people were speeding past you at 20mph leaving you in the dust". Unfortunately that thought would be accurate, but Levi is a good man and he stuck with his slow wife the entire way. This has been an incredible accomplishment for this out of shape girl. I started riding my first road bicycle only 5 weeks ago.

Imagine this, the year is 2003 and it's late in December. Levi has been day dreaming of warmer weather and imagining the ultimate bicycle ride with his sweetheart. He's shy at mentioning this, afraid that his sweetheart will laugh and refuse to consider bicycling 100 miles around Utah Lake. He was right in thinking this. So in the most charming voice he can muster, he says, "Mel, do you know what would be so fun?", I reply with, "Yeah, living on the beach somewhere warm and eating hotdogs and snorkeling shipwrecks". This comment catches him off guard and he hesitates for a moment. "Well, yes, but what about a bicycle ride together around Utah Lake, it's only 100 miles. We would have fun together". I look at him with terror written across my face and think to myself, is he kidding? I wonder what he thought of my hotdog idea?
This was my first introduction to the notion of riding such unseemly distances on a bicycle with a hard seat.

It's interesting how someone can talk about something so much that it actually begins to sound fun to you. This is what happened to me. My feelings of terror changed to excitement as we daydreamed of this adventure together. Several weeks after we were married I constantly reminded Levi that we were running low on time to get ready for the ULCER ride. At this he was thrilled and we picked out a beautiful blue road bike for me (they didn't have a pink one). It's a very light frame and I can lift it with one hand. Perfect for a beginner like me. We rode 10 miles that first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I quickly realized that my new expensive road bike is very different from riding a low quality, hybrid, $40. Walmart bicycle (which I had been riding for the last 10 years). The first shock was that my new tires are very slim, and rather intimidating at first. I was constantly afraid the tires would disappear completely as they're so thin. The new handle bars can be held in 20 different places (unlike the previous bikes where hands settle nicely next to the red tassels). If you get tired of one position, just move your hands anywhere. The handle is so accommodating. Of course, the seat isn't cushy or shaped like a banana. Despite all these new changes, I instantly fell in love with my new bike. Suddenly I could climb hills without stopping, zip down roads and hills at 20+mph, take long trips without being too sore to walk the next day. Ride 3 miles to work in only a few minutes (compared to 25 minutes on my old bike because of all the stops I made to catch my breath). The bicycling experience had changed completely.
Now as I look back at the 50 mile accomplishment, I grow excited to see if this lazy boned girl can actually build her muscle strength up to successfully ride 100 miles at the good ol' average speed of 20mph.
Wish me luck!

Mean Girls

Last night I saw the movie Mean Girls staring Lindsay Lohan. This movie was so fun. It was like reliving high school again. Although the movie exaggerated and dramatized the gossip and cruelty of high school girls, the tactics were quite fun to watch. There was the gossip, girls undermining their friends and enemies, girls stealing boyfriends, girls being submissive because their told, girls following the most ridiculous trends, girls eager to be accepted, girls allowing one person to direct and dictate them, and the list goes on. It's sad that during the high school years, this is such an expected standard for girls to behave. Do guys have to deal with this?
It wasn't just bad behavior that made this movie enjoyable, it was the fact that there were lessons to be learned. Everyone falls victim to the rumors and gossip. No matter how good you are, someone will talk bad about you.
It makes me think that even us adults have quite a bit to learn from these lessons.

Camping Bug

I have been anxious to go camping all spring, and now that the weather is warm, there just doesn't seem to be any time for it.

Growing up, my parents used to load all of us kids in the car almost every weekend throughout the summer months. We'd head to the same lakes, Deer Creek, East Canyon, Pine View or Mantua (a very dirty lake). We didn't have a boat, or any big sport equipment, but we had fishing poles with tons of bait and sometimes enough hooks and bobbers. We had inflatable mattresses for the lake, rubber rafts, cooked using several Coleman stoves, homemade sleeping bags, enough firewood to keep a blazing inferno for 3 days, and each other. Camping was such fun, we'd eat what we caught. Perch and Bluegill were the catch of choice due to their delicious flavor. If we were stuck with Trout or Catfish, we'd all moan. We had tons of soda pop, usually the Shasta variety. We would stay up late at night to play games in the lamp light such as Skipbo, even if it was windy (hence, the small card deck). If you were dirty, you'd take a swim in the lake. Was it possible to get bored on these trips? No way. There was always so much to do. Nature walks, fishing, bicycling, swimming, chasing the neighboring campers kids, locking each other in the outhouse, catching frogs or other little creatures, running when we spotted a skunk, and snatching food from the cooler when mom wasn't looking.

It seems that this type of camping is near non existence. I recently overheard a conversation where one person was inviting another to go camping with them. It was like overhearing a sales pitch. "Oh, it will be so fun, we are taking the motorhome and the jetskis." It's as though the sure pleasure of being out in nature with friends was a bad thing. Toys had to be the big part of the equation. With the use of motorhomes and campers complete with TVs and bathrooms, fancy boats, jetskis, and 4 wheelers, I fear that my favorite style of camping will be long forgotten by the new generation.

June 30th 2004

I would like to take a moment and share some exciting news with all of you. As of 6/30/04 I will be married to an wonderful man named Levi Pearson. If you care to seem some pictures of us, please feel free to visit our wedding website.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Disney has decided to put this book to screen. It's scheduled to be released Christmas 2005. As of mid April, casting for the new movie "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe began. In one article, they asked for men and women under 5' and men men and women over 6'4". So far they have Tilda Swinton as the White Witch and James McAvoy as Tumnus the faun.

Filming is to begin late June. It will be interesting to see who gets to play the part of the 4 kids.

Fighting Back

Several times a week I'll enter the ladies room and find yet another person sitting in a stall chatting away with someone on their cell phone. It amazes me that people do this. How could the person be so rude to allow their phone conversations to be done where the constant sound of toilets flushing, and body fluids exiting the body exist. Didn't their mothers teach them appropriate behaviors? Oh wait, it's their mothers their talking to on the phone.

My conclusion is this. They don't realize how disgusting their behavior is. I say we remind them by exaggerating noises in the bathroom that will hopefully embarrass them and the person they are talking to. If nothing more, hopefully the person on the other end will insist that they refrain from calling when in such places. So if you find someone chatting away in the stall near you, make some really loud farting noises. We did these noises when we were kids, so reach down into your inner childish self and learn to do it again. If you need to carry around a woopie coushin, do it. Perhaps you could get rid of some extra flem using some exaggerated noisy techniques. As disgusting as this all sounds, at least all these behaviors are somewhat expected while visiting the WC.

Lets get even!

Discipline

I recently returned from a vacation. My parents were kind enough to let Atticus the cat stay with them. I was so terrified that he would tear their house apart and bite everyone. After all, that's what he does at my house. When I returned, I found the most adorable sweet tempered cat. If it hadn't been for all 5 kinks in his tail, I would have thought it was a different cat. Shortly after we got home, Atticus turned back to his old ways of biting, scratching and bulling everyone around. Where have I gone wrong with this cat?

My dad sent me this link to Dr Phil along with this quote that came from the site. "Your child does not have to love you every minute of every day. He'll get over the disappointment of having been told "no." But he won't get over the effects of being spoiled". Now if I was to substitute the word "child" with the words "dirty, rotten, scratching beast", the same principle applies.

So why is it so hard to discipline? It's got to be the sappy way they look at you.

Regarldess of all this, I thought the site gave some good food for thought for everyone.

Stressed

Are you a bubblewrap popper? When you come across some bubblewrap, do you fight the urge to pop all the bubbles between your fingers? Have you ever been so bold as to pop them under your feet? Or twist the wrap so tight that all the bubbles pop at once?

Yeah, I do all those things too. Which is why this is so exciting.

Eyeball jewelry

Move aside tattoos and body piercing. Eyeball jewlery may be the next biggest trend.

My views on this? Barf... gag. Oh I'm dizzy.

Fish

Every time I go to Jan's blog, the fish picture reminds me of a childhood experience. My brother had a fish bowl full of adorable little goldfish. Everyday the number of fish seemed to decrease, but we couldn't remember exactly how many were there the day before. It wasn't until the number went from 15 to 5 that the realization came that something out of the ordinary was causing the fish to vanish.

Using a little sneakiness, I decided to follow the cat Babs. She was known for her dastardly deeds, and I was not going to rest until I caught her in the act of pawfishing. This didn't take long. I tiptoed into the living room just in time to see her expertly dip her paws into the water and snatch a goldfish. It was in her mouth and down her throat in seconds. It was like magic. It was the cutest thing I'd seen in ages, although rather sad for the innocent goldfish. If you've witnessed such an act, you must admit that it's fascinating to watch.

I currently have a cat that is also known for his dastardly deeds. I'm so tempted to see if he can become a sneaky fishercat.

Getting Organized

Last Friday I acquired the coolest toy, It's a Dell Axium X3i. It has integrated wireless, plays MP3s, moves faster than any desk top I've played on, and has me once again addicted to solitaire.

If your thinking of becoming reclusive with a pocket pc, this toy will do it for you.

Expiration Dates

I'm a curious one when it comes to expiration dates on food. I wonder why some foods have the dates stamped nice and easy to read, and others have this annoying code that is mind aching to solve. 3 days ago my dad sent me the answer key to those impossible codes, such as E219W1. It's from this article from MSNBC. The quoted part is in italics.
LOOK FOR EXPIRATION DATES.

Canned foods will last up to two years from their date of manufacture — not the date you purchased them. Many cans still carry a manufacturing code (instead of a “use by” date). While there is no standard, most canned goods follow this system:

For example, let’s assume the code reads as E219W1. What does that mean?

E = The month the food was manufactured. Since the manufacturing year typically starts in June with “A” for June, in this case “E” stands for “October.”

2 = The last number of the year in which it was manufactured — 2002

19 = The day of the month the can was manufactured

W = The plant name or location

1 = The shift on which the product was manufactured — in this case, the first shift of the day.

If you don’t want to take the trouble to decipher all of this, just call the 800# on the package and the customer service representative will be happy to tell you when it was made.

Silly Laws

I received an email regarding funny laws. Their probably made up, but it's worth a good laugh anyway.

1.LAW: It is illegal to transport a skunk across state lines.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: Tennessee

2.
LAW: It is illegal to taunt someone for refusing to participate in a duel.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: West Virginia

3.
LAW: There is a one-dollar fine for every instance of public drunkenness and/or swearing.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: West Virginia

4.
LAW: It is illegal to require someone to purchase a horror comic book.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: California


5.
LAW: It is required by law that you make a loud noise when passing a car on the left.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: Rhode Island

6.
LAW: It is illegal for a bingo game to last longer than five hours, unless the bingo is being played at a fair.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: North Carolina

7.
LAW: A man may not seduce a woman by lying, and claiming he will marry her.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: Mississippi

8.
LAW: One must not collect seaweed.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: New Hampshire

9.
LAW: It is illegal to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a murder.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: New Jersey

10.
LAW: Unless a customer orders it specifically, it's against the law to serve margarine instead of butter at a restaurant.
COUNTRY: USA / STATE: Wisconsin

Eggs

When at a restaurant and asked, "how would you like your egg?" The pressure is now on and I must rack my brain to think of the different names associated with the cooked egg I crave at the moment. The words overeasy, poached, fried, or coddled never come to mind, only the description. How humiliating it would be to reply with "cooked on both sides with some butter, yolk not broken" or, "the broken and cooked in water type". No, they expect you to be eloquent enough to produce the words "fried" or "poached".

Due to this, I often end up repeating the same egg type that everyone else orders, "scrambled". Often times, the scrambled egg is nothing more than an egg substitute, so not only do I loose out on the egg of choice, I loose out on the egg experience completely. This is not a good way to start the day.

While doing an online search to learn and memorize egg definitions, I was reminded of my childhood. We had chickens all over our yard and everyday we would do an egg hunt. It was rather like Easter, except instead of finding pink, green and yellow eggs with pretty designs, we found brown eggs. Usually in the same places each day. When cooked, the color seemed more brilliant and had a richer flavor.

Ah, the bliss found in memories.

Salt Lake Dining Deals

My boss recently told us about this web site that offers 1/2 price dining deals. You must be quick with your mouse though and grab the internet deals when they first become available every Tue and Fri at 9am.

Happy Dining!

DeFord Music

2 weeks ago I joined an institute choir. Although I'm not a good singer, I love to be part of a mass group of singing individuals. The music we're singing is quite beautiful, and some is accessible on the web at Sally DeFord Music. You can download an MP3 or the sheet music.

This is definitely a page I'll be bookmarking.

Growling Stomach

I read an interesting, yet humorous article this morning that discusses the causes of the lovely noises our bodies make, such as the growling stomach, burps and of course flatulence.

I found it rather interesting that the growling stomach noise isn't caused by the stomach. It's caused by the intestines they contract and as air moves inside.

Are you like a Simpsons character?

Which character from The Simpsons are you most like?

I'm shocked to be Marge. But then, there aren't any characters I would care to be like.

Control Freak?

On MSN this morning, there is a Control Freak Quiz.

I scored 16!

Ops, he did it again.

Yesterday I walked into the ladies room to find a guy standing there with a mop in his hand. This is disturbing because one must enter the ladies room to discover that he's lurking in there.

After the shock of seeing him wore off (about 1 1/2 seconds), I looked away and quickly walked out, thinking that the new cleaning guy must have forgotten to put the "do not enter" sign in front of the door. Harmless mistake?

Perhaps not, as it happened again today.

I find this rather disturbing. If I was a facility cleaner, I can't imagine cleaning the mens room without alerting all the men that I would be in there. This is easily done with those orange/yellow "do not enter" signs.

Does this give anyone else the creeps? Is there a law about this?

My Map

I thought this was rather cool and had to join in on the rapidly growing trend. Here is my US travel map. I only included states that I visited. No airport only visits.



create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide


It makes me realize that I need to see more of the USA.

Meet the Fockers

A Sequel to "Meet the Parents" will be made. The title? "Meet the Fockers". Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman might play the parts of Mr and Mrs Focker.

This could be interesting.

Birthdays

What sort of cool stuff happened on your birthday? Ingrid Bergman, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and John Locke are some of the people that share my birthday. In 1831, Michael Faraday discovers electromagntic induction on this day and the beatles play their final live concert.

Aug 29th, what a cool day!

Classic Movie Quiz

I took the 18 & 27 question quizzes and got the same results on both.

What Classic Movie Are You?

Thanks Jan

Geology, fun stuff

For years I would listen to my dad tell me stories about the canyons, rocks, lakes, rivers, minerals and such in our state. As a child I was interested, but it wasn't until I took a geology course in college that this stuff really became exciting. In the class, the professor had an earthquake map that shows the scientifically calculated earthquake liquefaction amount for each area in the Salt Lake Valley. I loved this map. I would study it after class trying to figure out where I wanted to be when the big earthquake we've all been waiting for hit. After completing the class, I promised myself that I would somehow get my very own liquefaction potential map. Today I found the website of my dreams. It has the coolest information. Here is the liquefaction potential map, although it's not as detailed as the one from the class, it works quite well. According to this information, I should move to a much safer area.

There are other maps that are quite interesting. Although I'm in trouble on the first map, according to the ground-shaking map for a magnitude 7.0, I'm in a rather safe zone. So when the big one hits, I have the following options. 1- be where the ground will shake me up and turn my insides to pudding. Or 2- be where the ground will swallow me up (basically, stay where I am). Hmm.. tough decision.

Levi often talks about his bike rides along paths that follow the Bonneville shoreline. If I could talk Levi into installing a second seat on his bike (one that doesn't require pedals) I'd really enjoy seeing the shoreline up close. Apparently there are 3 different shorelines to see. So what do you say Levi? Can you install an extra seat?

Hot stars

According to MNS Entertainment stars like Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Hugh Jackman are going to score big time this year.

I like how they describe Hugh Jackman as having, "the easygoing charm of Cary Grant, the song-and-dance moves of Fred Astaire, and the graciousness of Jimmy Stewart". I hope this isn't an exaggerated compliment. And although two of the LOTR stars are making it big, the article says Elijah Wood isn't going to join in this A-list popular party. What a shame.

Those who are to have a decline in popularity are Britney Spears (duh, like we couldn't see this coming) and Tom Cruise (right, like I'm going to believe he could possibly loose some of the starlight).

I personally hope to see a few new faces pop up this year and make it big. Even though I just adore seeing Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson in movies, a fresh face is a breath of fresh air.

Sunburn- now what

I was a complete dummy and found myself with a painful sunburn. There are several remedies I have used throughout my life, aloe, vinegar bath, drink lots of water, etc. but those never seem to help enough. My boss told me about a time he was in Jamaica with a bad burn and a local guy applied a homemade ointment of aloe and marij_uana. He said there was instant relief and it lasted all day. I have a feeling that 99% of his relief came from the drug. Since that isn't an option for me, I turned to the good ol' trusty web for new ideas. What do you know, I found some. Tonight I'll be trying the Witch hazel and oatmeal suggestions.

Here is a scary looking remedy.

Lavender Essential Oil is suspected to relieve pain quite nicely. But who on earth can afford such luxuries?

UFO Attack. A nice distraction

For those who can barely keep their eyes open at work, try this distraction

Ban dirty words from TV

There are 7 dirty words Rep. Doug Ose of Sacramento would like to get banned from TV. He's upset that such language is freely broadcasted on the airwaves. The FCC hasn't taken much action, so Ose plans to stir things up a bit.

I'm with him on this. When I was a kid, these words were never heard on TV. They were only whispered among small friends on the playground. Naturally, no one even knew what these words meant, just that they were bad words.
These days, kids may not even recognize the vulgarity of such language.

I applaud Ose for taking a stand. I'm ashamed that we allowed this TV language issue to accelerate to such a degree. Why didn't more Americans take a stand earlier?

Death by a low sodium diet

About a month ago I started a low sodium diet. I suppose this wouldn't have been such a difficult thing had I not the ability to down an entire jar of pickles in one sitting. But as things are, I'm forced to change my eating practices.

After several failed attempts to keep this diet, I decided to turn to the web for help in my endeavor. It was interesting to learn that the body only really needs 500 mg/day, though many tend to eat as much as 4-6 grams/day (or 16-18 grams/day depending on which website you believe). Regardless, universally it's recommended that a low sodium diet is about 2,400/day (this is about the same as eating 2 McDonald kids meals).

Although I have tried to find some good low sodium recipes, today I came across a site that appears to have mastered the low sodium recipe- taste good competition.

Tonight I'll be eating Cjoclem Caccoatpre