Nothing for Nothing

Did I tell you recently that I'd done something cool/illegal and watched a bootleg movie online? After hearing some moms in the NICU tell me about this, I watched "Baby Mama" online. It was clearly a copy of the movie that had been filmed secretly in a theater. There are a MILLION sites online that do this...but the quality is quite variable.

The bad news? The movie was disappointing.

The WORSE news is that my computer is now infected with a very dangerous and stubborn trojan horse virus. I may have to pay to get it professionally disinfected. I spent 2 hours last night trying to figure out what was wrong...and finally found articles that described folks that had made the same mistake I'd made - downloaded a little viewer to watch a movie - and ended up having to re-format their entire system to get rid of the invasion. It was quite upsetting, actually. It started with pop ups - then my screen saver changed - and then my desktop picture changed to a warning. If I try to go to google? It hijacks my browser and says "why do you want to go to Google Amy"? Scary.

I've quarantined it for now...but I've learned a lesson. Ouch.

This is so very sappy but amazing

I know the whole world has seen this by now...but just in case...check this out.

For Amy L.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

The above is for Amy L. The view count on www.funnyordie.com is now 58 million for this video. Crazy!

Saving Lives

I know you think it's funny that I play scrabble online so much. (www.scrabulous.com)

But here's an article that explains that:

1. Scrabble is a sport
2 Scrabble (in Africa) is saving lives

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25858208/

I feel very rightous. (And determined to stretch before each game)

I wonder how long until I see an article that explains that eating lots of kettle corn fights wrinkles and will contribute to saving the penguins?

Smile

Project Shame-way

This blog is turning into a confessional to all my odd taste in tv & food with the odd mention of my health thrown in for good measure.

So TODAY's confession is about my double-secret guilty-pleasure tv show that I NEVER miss.

Project Runway on Bravo.
(Wed 9pm)


It's about clothing design - which I know nothing about. It's reality TV, which I hate. It's totally addictive and I've now roped my daughter into the habit.

What makes it WORSE is that I'm hooked on a blog ABOUT the show. It's Blogging Project RunGAY. It's two gay guys from Philadelphia that write the funniest recaps of the show.

projectrungay.blogspot.com

I know you've just lost respect for me. I'm just a human being...so please try and understand that I couldn't resist.

Sorry.

Ewww

I think mine's sick.

If/when removed - it will be on the market for the low low market-price of $0.15.

Wish us luck.

Ok

So here it starts. A blog with pictures of my girls. In my defense - they're very cute. The first is Abby - on Cape Cod (Brewster) with her dog Candy.

And here's giggle-girl Gracie at the mall. Very very very happy about being at the fountain - and contemplating a swim.


I can't help myself - sorry.

Hip Hip Hooray

I'm going for a final interview at Gift of Life on Monday...yey! I'm a little worried now - I was hoping to have a quiet August and take time off while the girls are gone in Massachusettes. Good sign, right? Already planning as if they are going to offer me a job.


Here's a cute picture of Abby's Lacrosse team:

Random Links Part I

A reccomendation from India brings me to these amusing and random sites that feature pictures of food. The first is http://www.airlinemeals.net/. It features pictures of the meals served on airplanes...through the ages. It's so very odd, but also kind of interesting. (only kind of) It shows what we all remember - that folks used to dress up to fly and passengers used to be treated less like cattle. Here's a picture from a European flight in 1990:

The next is http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/. It's by a woman in Australia that's an amateur photographer that likes to photograph food. Her meals, to be more specific. She talks about eating a great deal on this site, but doesn't actually cook. (her partner does) This is her lunch from today:

Gift Wrapped

Keep your fingers crossed....two interviews done so far.


http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=69372094


Yey.

The British Gear

I tried to sell David (my brother) on this. There's a very very cool show on BBC America called "Top Gear". It's been on the air for over 10 years and the entire universe has been watching and making it a mega-hit. Except America.

It's a car-related show (I know ! But don't turn away yet) that is hosted by three funny and slightly macho men. It's hilarious. I stumbled on this 3 weeks ago when they were having a marathon on BBC America and the kids were away. (I was doing my stare-into-space-or-my-tv routine)

Here's a clip:



I hope this embedding video trick works.

Sadly, I read someplace that they're planning a US version of Top Gear. It will probably stink.

The Real Problem

The kettle corn isn't the real problem. Online scrabble is.

(http://www.scrabulous.com/)

I started playing about 7 months ago, and can't get enough. I was lousy when I started and am now good-to-great at it. I don't feel comfortable admitting how many games I've played or how much time I spend playing daily.

I'll be reaching out to friends and family to host an intervention when I'm ready to get help and quit playing. I don't see that happening any time soon, rest assured.

Crunch crunch

Did you hear? I'm addicted to something. It's this kettle corn. They had it at the supermarket last month - and I couldn't get enough. Except now they don't carry it anymore. And I'm too ashamed to go to other markets in the area to find it. I did order a box from the maker last month. Yes, that's right. I went ONLINE and found out who made it. My mouth started watering when the UPS man brought it to the door. But I can't order it any more. I have a problem.

Day 2 Addendum

So I have just read a book for my book club that I loved. It's total "chick-lit" light-as-air book called "The Next Thing on my List" by Jill Smolinski.

(I tried to upload a pic of the book here)

I liked this book a lot - mostly because it was a quick read AND that it made me think about my life-goals a bit. (I never do that - actually - I actively avoid doing that most of the time) I related to the main character and liked how tidy the story was. I highly recommend it for beach or train reading.

My next book club book is "March" by I-don't-remember-whom. It's Pulitzer prize winning. I bet it doesn't have as much talk about dating and running a 5k like the last book....

Day 2

Hello again,

I wonder how often I should write posts? Is anyone reading? Probably not. So I'll post every few hours...

Here's a few web sites I visit each and every day:

• www.perezhilton.com. I'm a little ashamed of this. It's a cross between People magazine, Star magazine and MTV. Totally immature, lowest-common-denominator and sometimes very funny. I visit it MORE than once a day. Yup.
• www.tmz.com. Just like the link above - but a little meaner. But they have lots of scoops about celebrities I barely know. Or have never heard of.
• www.nytimes.com. for obvious reasons. But I'm ashamed to admit that I go to the "most often viewed/emailed" items first. I follow the crowd. (mooo)

Off to hit submit and file this post. I see it as something of a time-capsule. The next person to read this will be me....5 years from now...trying to figure out if I need to save it. Cringing with embarrassment while I read.

The Why and a Beginning

Hello everyone!

Why on earth create a blog?

Last week, I found myself drafting yet another email to my brother listing a few website links he had to check out....when I had an idea. Why not do what the entire rest of the world does and create a blog? I'll list the stuff I like and encourage folks to email me their favorite things as well. What will we end up with? Lists of things to check out. Cool things.

By the way - I would have put BLOGS on my list of un-cool things up until, well, 10 minutes ago. But I promise I won't allow this to become self-indulgent and ego-driven. (cross my heart and on the girl scout's honor and all that)

So here's where I'm going to start. Here are two web sites that are cool that casual users may not know about:

• http://www.digg.com/ This should become a stop for anyone hooked on the internet but tired of their routine of websites. It is a compilation of links to stories/items/pictures/videos that folks have listed as worth seeing and as people view it and vote - it moves up the ranks. When you first get to the site, you will see the most popular items up to the minute in all categories. You can then focus by looking at the most popular for the day, week, month or all-time. There's also a way to see posts in your particular area of interest - science - entertainment - news, etc.
• http://www.hulu.com/ - More people may know about this. I don't watch/like much tv. But this site serves up episodes of all the most popular tv shows . "The Office" and "The Simpsons" as examples. They have about 4-5 episodes of each show rotating at any one time - and they show with only 2 or 3 commercials for the whole episode. I love it - because I've now gotten hooked on "House" which I'd never seen before. The site emails me when a new episode is added weekly. There are movies on this site, as well.

Well, that's it for my first post. Wish me luck with the blogging! Hey - when I pass away someday long from now - may I ask to have "blogger" listed in the tag line? Something like: Amy Craig Martiner, Beloved mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, blogger, passed away at her Manhattan penthouse today. Thoughts?