This is a test of the mobile blogger system. This is only a test. *Cue terrible noises that sound like demon spawn*

I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Ok, I realize that I haven't posted since January. There is a very good reason for this - my life turned around completely, I was dealing with some depression issues and some things that I just couldn't talk about, but could think about nothing else.

However, I'm feeling the urge to write again, so here I am. Now, as it's kinda late, this is all I'll do right now. But I'll be back soon, with a vengeance. XOXO!

And when I get back from vacation...

I'm doing this:



Epsom Salt baths, here I come!

Plyometrics: my new best friend?

We shall see...

I'm taking all my new skills and my bender ball on vacation this week - hopefully there will be a noticeable difference by Valentine's Day!

finally found my thigh and butt routine!

A love note to section 301

I went to the Blazers/Jazz game last night with my husband, my best friend and her husband, who's like a big brother to me. And I've been to several Blazer games over the past couple of years - really since I've been with the man - but I've never experienced a game like that before. On the surface, it was supposed to be a really good game - at least the Trailblazers Corporation thought so. The Blazers were supposed to win against a good team, the Utah Jazz and the evening was a celebration of 40 years of TrailBlazer history. In celebration of 40 years, the company themed the evening "80's Night" and had all sorts of gimmicks to entertain the crowd. They had ex-Blazers and ex-management interviewed during half-time by legendary Blazers announcer Bill Schonley - whose banner we were seated under for the evening. They had heartwarming videos playing during different segments of the game. What they didn't count on was the Blazer fans being so outraged by a bad call that they booed the entire timeout and subsequent period transition. It was the loudest I've ever heard a sporting crowd. Ever. Including Autzen - they were that outraged.

You might think I'm exaggerating, but I have proof in the form of an excerpt from Blazer's Edge:

The already grumpy crowd (see also: scoreboard) went bonkers at the end of the first period when Nicolas Batum appeared to be fouled with a foul so foul-acious that it dwarfed many of the fouls that had been called in Utah's favor in the quarter. Batum converted the layup but no whistle blew. In short order Jerryd Bayless had earned a technical foul for protesting, which lit the fuse in the stands. In one of those "Only in Portland" moments a torrential flow of boos flooded the arena floor, reverberating so loudly that it hit the back walls of the building with force and redoubled. But these boos didn't stop after 10 seconds, or 30, or a minute. They sustained and grew through the long, long quarter break. It was like a weird, amoeba-like organism had formed out of 20,000 people which was now intent on sucking up the refs with a sticky, poisonous tongue of booing. About halfway through the break the arena staff put on film of Kiki Vandeweghe and Mychal Thompson talking about their Blazer experiences, this being 80's Remembrance Night and all. For a second the organism paused as if considering whether to take the bait and subside, lulled into submission by these fan-favorite players of yore. But the Boomoeba was angry and after that half-hesitating moment it doubled and tripled its efforts. Poor Mychal and Kiki couldn't be heard at all...and this is after the staff cranked the speaker volume way up. Anyone who's been anywhere near the Rose Garden knows those that sound system is LOUD. It was no more than a buzzing subtext rumbling impotently behind the Boomoeba's hunting call. It wanted blood and it would not be dissuaded from its target. The second quarter horn sounded and the booing was still as strong as ever. I have never heard anything like it.

I will go on record to say that a large part of that volume came from this man:



Sure he looks jolly, but he considers himself the designated heckler for whatever section he is seated in and I am positive they heard him all the way in the locker rooms, much less the floor. The man has some pipes and they just BOOM.

Oh, and look at how seriously my husband is watching a timeout...

Indian food in Monmouth

I spend a large portion of my week in Monmouth, so I decided to write a little bit about the new restaurant in town, A Taste of India.


Basically, this is the only picture you're getting, because the interior is very non-descript. I don't even know if they serve anything beyond the lunch buffet, even for dinner. But it must be very easy to ring everyone up - the only charge is $7.95. But there's good naan and rice and an orange colored chicken thing I enjoyed. I'm going again on Friday, so I'll post more then.

I heart reading... and I don't care who knows it.

Reading is awesome. I love it so much, I spent most of my childhood doing it instead of playing outside like a normal kid. Every weekend my dad had me, our first stop after he picked me up would always be to the local library of wherever he was living at the time to stock me up on books. It just worked out better to get me fresh material than to bring something and accidentally forget it. (I'm scatterbrained, remember.) I'd be rockin' the sexy librarian look today if I thought I could get away with it attractively. Unfortunately, I always look like I forgot to complete grooming myself when I try it.

Anyway, I've been stocking my Kindle up with reading material for that impending glorious day when I have my reading time back. I just read a review for Alison Weir's "The Lady in the Tower" and must add it to my kindle.

What are you currently reading?

P.F.M.P.

In what I think will be a continuing series, here is another picture from my phone:

My bodily work in progress.

UPDATE: As far as the arm workout goes, I like it time wise. I can do one circut of ten reps each in 18 minutes, including the time to walk to the computer and back to my workout space to watch each video. Not.Too.Shabby.

I'm going to try and do this video 3 times a week and something for my thighs the other days. Hope it's effective.

Could this be my thigh workout?


When I do workout, my favorite outfit is a pair of yoga capris and my Abita Beer Pubcrawl t-shirt. I love the shirt for it's irony and it's honesty. I was at my skinniest when I earned it, in one of the fattest cities in the world, doing something fattening and bad for me. And while it doesn't balloon around me the way a men's size small used to, it's still comfortable and reminds me of a great time in my life - a time during which, among other things, I was skinny enough not to worry about the effects of a four bar French Quarter pubcrawl on my weight. Man, I miss being 22...

Hangover = I didn't get jack done this weekend.

I sure am glad this was a 4-day weekend for me, because I felt terrible Saturday and didn't do a darn thing. I had ambitions of finishing a project - didn't. I could have used the time to work on the AFI list - didn't. Basically, if it involved me changing out of my pj's and/or sitting upright, it totally didn't get done. But that's okay.

I had good intentions...

Instead of watching "The Thief of Bagdad" I watched "Grey Gardens" last night. I know! But it's much easier multi-tasking to a movie you don't actually have to watch. And I'm hella busy.

But now I want to clean and sanitize everything in my house, so I may have created more to do than what I know to do with.

P.F.M.P. (Pictures from my phone)

And now one of my favorite pictures...


My friend Lisa (UO Duck fanatic) lost a bet to my husband (OSU Beaver Believer) and this was the payoff. The only thing bad about it is that it is too small of resolution to make anything really cool out of it, like a coffee mug, a trivet or an oven glove. But I love it just the same.

I'm a bad wife...

My husband Rike cut his hair last week and I didn't notice. It's not like it was a big cut - it went from an inch long to half an inch - but still, it bothered him. Is hunger a good excuse?

Two obsessions: movies and lists!

I'm a big movie buff - for a while in college I was a double major, history and communications with a focus on film, until the course load became too much and it was apparent that I was going to have to either drop a major or continue on for a fifth year. I was determined to finish in four years and what can you really do with a double major in history and film communications, besides teach? I didn't want to teach, so I dropped it. But I loved taking film courses and as a result have ended up with a very diverse film collection. But I'm always looking to broaden my film experience, so it seems imperative to me that I see everything on every top 100 list I can find. Here is the AFI (American Film Institute)'s 10 Top 10 (top ten of ten genres) with selections I need to see in RED:

ANIMATION

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. Pinocchio (1940)
3. Bambi (1942)
4. The Lion King (1994)
5. Fantasia (1942)
6. Toy Story (1995)
7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
8. Shrek (2001)
9. Cinderella (1950)
10. Finding Nemo (2003

I've seen all of these, even own several. Moving on...

FANTASY

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
2. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1947)
4. King Kong (1933)
5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
6. Field of Dreams (1989)
7. Harvey (1950)
8. Groundhog Day (1993)
9. Thief of Bagdad (1924)
10. Big (1988)

Okay, I've seen a King Kong and a Thief of Bagdad, just not these specifically. And I know what they're about... I still feel pretty good about how my movie experience is stacking up against the list.

GANGSTER - my viewing record is going to start slipping here...

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. The Godfather Part II (1974)
4. White Heat (1949)
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
6. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)*
8. The Public Enemy (1931)
9. Little Caesar (1931
10. Scarface (1983)

*I took my dad to see this for his birthday when I was 15. Not the best of decisions and we walked out of the theater, only to see it separately. I still haven't seen the "gimp" scene as my prom date deemed it too uncomfortable to watch together and my husband has seen no reason to rectify this situation...

SCIENCE FICTION - I redeem myself slightly with this category

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
3. E.T - The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
6. Blade Runner (1982)
7. Alien (1979)
8. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
10. Back to the Future (1985)

I was warned once by an authority I trust never to watch "A Clockwork Orange." So I may never finish this category. We'll see. I'm very impressionable...

WESTERN - my father would be so displeased. Let's not tell him!

1. The Searchers (1956)
2. High Noon (1952)
3. Shane (1953)
4. Unforgiven (1992)
5. Red River (1948)
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
8. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
9. Stagecoach (1939)
10. Cat Ballou (1965) - now that I think of it, I might have seen it. But it doesn't come off the list until I'm sure!

Ironically, I've seen a ton of Westerns. Just not the best ones, I guess.

SPORTS

1. Raging Bull (1980)
2. Rocky (1977)
3. The Pride of the Yankees (1943)
4. Hoosiers (1986)
5. Bull Durham (1988)
6. The Hustler (1961)
7. Caddyshack (1980)
8. Breaking Away (1979) - this is the bike movie, right?
9. National Velvet (1945)
10. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Somewhat better...I'm not surprised I haven't seen the ones I haven't seen...

MYSTERY

1. Vertigo (1958) viewed 1/12/2010
2. Chinatown (1974)
3. Rear Window (1954)
4. Laura (1944)
5. The Third Man (1950)
6. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
7. North By Northwest (1959) - my dvr erased it before I got to it... :(
8. Blue Velvet (1986)
9. Dial M for Murder (1954)
10. The Usual Suspects (1995)

ROMANTIC COMEDY

1. City Lights(1931)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
3. It Happened One Night (1934)
4. Roman Holiday (1953)
5. The Philadelphia Story (1941)
6. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
7. Adam's Rib (1949)
8. Moonstruck (1987)
9. Harold and Maude (1971)
10. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

I'm not sure about Adam's Rib... I might have seen it. And Harold and Maude? I didn't get it. I admit it.

COURTROOM DRAMA

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1963)
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
3. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
4. The Verdict (1982)
5. A Few Good Men (1992)
6. Witness for the Prosecution (1958)
7. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
8. In Cold Blood (1967)
9. A Cry in the Dark (1988)
10. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

It's like Westerns, all over again...

EPIC

1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. Ben-Hur (1959)
3. Schindler's List (1993)
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. Spartacus (1960)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
9. Reds (1981)
10. The Ten Commandments

All in all, I'd say I'm pretty well rounded. But I need to complete the list- all 45 movies, not counting "A Clockwork Orange" - hence the obsession tag. So I'll be working on it, starting - NOW!

Luckily for me, I have a Netflix subscription and just about all of the movies I'm missing are available - some instantly too. In fact, as I composed and completed this post, I watched Vertigo. I think I'll start with the ones available instantly as that would be the best use of my time. And as my husband is gone right now, I'm going to pick the one that would drive him the craziest - the silent "Thief of Bagdad".

Not the way to win back creditability as news authority.

Sarah Palin on Fox News? Seriously? If it turns out the way I think it will, it will be fantastically entertaining but light on any "facts" or anything we have come to expect of network news. Although it is Fox - I guess they let that go awhile ago.

I don't know all the specifics, mostly because I couldn't be bothered to investigate it too much (I'm relying on specific facebookers for that. It's called delegation, yo. ) so I don't know if she's commentating, working in the field or anchoring. But wouldn't she be a strange choice to work in the field? Wouldn't she get mobbed by other reporters for her take on events? And since she was a vice presidential candidate, is she still protected by secret service? I don't know how that works. And honestly, with the way the government and technology is these days, I don't want to try and find out.

I was bored, so I decided to blog..

Uh oh Lisa, I did it. I started a freakin' blog. As if I don't have enough to do. I better get myself a damn netbook and pronto or I'll never keep this up.

I'm relying on you to keep me accountable, btw.