musings of Mother Hood

Thursday November 30, 2006

Jerry: Why don't you go out? It's nice out.
Kramer: Oh, no. There's nothing out there for me.
Jerry: There's weather.
Kramer: Weather? I don't need weather. Weather doesn't do it for me.

I really think there should be some sort of accountability with Weatherpeople. They can "forecast" whatever they want and if they're wrong -- what happens?

Those of us who have lived in NW Arkansas for any substantial period of time have come to realize that, especially in the cold-weather months, the weather forecast should be taken with a grain of salt and shouldn't be relied upon to be any closer than +/- 20 degrees or so.

Yesterday, I heard predictions of up to 10" of snow for the end of this week. This translated into my waking up this morning to cold rain. Not freezing rain. Cold rain. There was story after story on the local news last night about how they are "preparing" the roads, yada yada, gravel trucks, yada yada, school closing information...

For RAIN! And what happens to the weathermen?!? Nothing! I'm not proposing a public hanging here -- I would just like to know that the Weatherman has some sort of incentive to do his job correctly.

To be honest, I would really like to overhaul the entire Weather forecasting system. I think the forecast would be much more applicable to people if instead of showing temperatures and little clouds or smiling sunshines or lightning bolts-- they would show recommended pieces of clothing. For example-- today, I don't really care that "we've already hit our high for the day" blah blah. What looks like help to me is a picture of a coat/gloves/scarf and an umbrella. This tells me it's cold and raining-- which is all I really care about.

This really helps everyone at my house -- since, nearly every morning, immediately following the local weather forecast I ask, "So what do I need to wear?". The weather forecast jibberish has to be translated into something applicable and useful.

The "forecast" for the rest of the day calls for dropping temperatures and the rain is supposed to turn into "wintery mix" (one of my least favorite weather terms) and sleet and snow and continue on through tomorrow.

We will see.

Tuesday November 28, 2006

Please be kind enough to read the below request from our office in New Zealand and follow the instructions in order to help them fulfill their objective.

Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand have created a buzzword to launch a new vodka product called Stark. It is a derivative of the product name and encompasses everything the brand Stark stands for.

The word: Starkish

Definition: Starkish (adjective): Anything or anyone exhibiting a sense of good taste and proportion

The next step is to get the word into the Oxford Dictionary.

The New Zealand agency needs over two thousand signatures to be eligible for the dictionary. To make it official all they need you to do is go to the petition link below, enter your name and press submit. Then forward it on to all your friends and colleagues.

http://www.petitiononline.com/starkish/petition.html

Your kind help and co-operation with this request is, as always, much appreciated.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Emma

emma.bartholomew@saatchi.co.uk

+44 20 7462 7435

SAATCHI & SAATCHI - IDEAS COMPANY

2006 - Year of Sisomo: the future on screen

www.sisomo.com www.lovemarks.com www.saatchi.com

Tuesday November 28, 2006

**EDIT AT BOTTOM**

I know nobody cares about this but me...

USA Weekend Box-Office Summary

22 November 2006 Rank Title Weekend Gross 1. Happy Feet (2006) $37M $99.3M 2. Casino Royale (2006) $30.8M $94.1M 3. Deja Vu (2006) $20.6M $28.6M 4. Deck the Halls (2006) $12M $16.9M 5. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) $10.3M $109M 6. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006) $9.93M $67.1M 7. Flushed Away (2006) $5.76M $57.3M 8. Stranger Than Fiction (2006) $5.73M $32.5M 9. Bobby (2006) $4.86M $6.1M 10. The Fountain (2006) $3.77M $5.46M   Happy Feet is #1 over Casino Royale and Bobby is #9?! I don't know what to think about American movie-goers. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I am one of the people who contributed to the success of Happy Feet-- though I am pleased to give you this little nugget: I SNUCK IN! Shockingly enough, when Andrew, Jenni and I went to see Happy Feet at the new mall theater in Rogers, it was sold out! Jenni had been there a few minutes and already had her ticket and we were kinda set on seeing it (Andrew and I also saw March of the Penguins together last year!) so Andrew and I agreed we would buy tickets to The Departed and then sneak into Happy Feet. We get back to the ticket window and without flinching, Andrew says, "One for Flicka." I about guffawed right in the girl's face and almost blew our cover -- but I managed to maintain. We bought our Flicka tickets and joined Jenni on the other side of the ticket counter. Since we had insider information that there were more people than available seats in the theater... we headed straight for it. We find three seats together and proceed to look around sympathetically at the people filing in, searching for seats and not getting to sit together. Ha! This is actually not the first time Andrew and I have acted so irresponsibly at the theater. A few months ago we planned to see two movies on a Sunday. We had planned to see Ice Age and Aquamarine, but apparently we were the only ones who wanted to see Aquamarine because it was already out of theaters. So we, regrettably, saw American Dreamz. American Dreamz was first and then instead of going back out and buying tickets to Ice Age, we just snuck in the theater. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except that it was a Sunday afternoon and we were two of about eight people in the theater! This lady with a clipboard kept coming in and counting people in the theater. We just KNEW we were going to get caught stealing Ice Age!! Also, when we went to see Marie Antoinette -- we went to Hardees first. I emptied my purse in Andrew's car so that we could stuff it full of stupid, stupid Hardees. We didn't try to sneak in a bottle of pop or a bag of M&Ms -- no! We snuck in a purse full of Hardees which you could smell from a mile away! Again, being the big dorks we are, we were nervous about getting caught with Hardees and I kept trying to play out in my mind exactly how that would go down. We make it into the theater and it's one of those closet-sized things and it's FULL! We have to go down to the front row and squeeze between two other couples and try to discreetly eat our supper while laying down flat in our chairs so that we could see the screen. Never again! Happy Feet was 'Just Ok' and I don't recommend it. It was more or less a political documentary about environmental responsibility disguised as a kids' animated musical. Strange setup. The music was awesome, though. And it's dedicated to Steve Irwin. **Andrew! Hugo Weaving is 'Agent Smith' from The Matrix movies... and the voice of "Rex the Male Sheepdog" from Babe!**

Monday November 27, 2006

Movies I watched this weekend while laying as still as possible in bed after pulling a muscle in my back at the football game (that we lost):

• Titanic
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Annie
• Something to Talk About
• My Best Friend's Wedding
• How to Deal
• Moulin Rouge
• Bad Company
• Mona Lisa Smile
• When a Man Loves a Woman
• ..........that's all I can remember. I feel like that can't be more than half.

Also lots of Food Channel.

Friday November 17, 2006

I just spent the good part of an hour recounting a story for you and stupid stupid xanga had a malfunction and erased it. Damnit. I'll try and tell it again, with the same energy as the first time -- I'm not making any promises.

I came back from lunch today to find a rather large box sitting in the floor beside my desk. It was addressed to me like this:

C/O Sarah Hood, Sarah Martin, SAOTCHI & SAOTCHI, Lakeview, yadda yadda

SAOTCHI?

The return address on the box is "Dillard's Pecanland" in Monroe, LA so I know that it's another wedding gift for Jeff. I open the box so that I can call and tell him who it's from. There are two wrapped packages inside, no packing slip, no card. There is nothing inside the box with a name on it.

So I call the number on the return address. Cindy answers the phone in the Bridal Registry Department of the Monroe Dillard's and I explain to her what the problem is. She gets very excited and says she would love to help me, she just needs me to read to her the number off of the packing slip and she'll be able to look it up. Hmm. I feel like smarting off to her, but I don't. I politely remind her that the only thing in the box is two wrapped packages. She explains to me that, "usually there's a little slip of paper in there, we call it a packing slip, it gives you return information, and the name of the person who sent the gift". I don't respond. She doesn't deserve it. She takes my phone number and says she'll call me back. Fine.

In the meantime, someone walks by my desk and asks "what's in the box?". So I unwrap one of the packages to find a card, taped to the box, inside the wrapping paper. I give the names to Jeff, he knows them. Ok fine.

Cindy calls back 20 or so minutes later -- the names she gives me do NOT match the names on the card.... I'll let Jeff figure this one out.

Also going on this afternoon--- The boys who sit around me have recently discovered that Metamucil is a P&G brand and we do work for them. They've come across some Metamucil this week and have devised a "contest" of sorts. Should be interesting.

David got embarassed when I told him I was going to put his picture on the internet. I just watched him dump a heap of Metamucil into a glass of water, drink it (though it was so thick he could have eaten it with a fork) and THEN ask me to read him the dosage instructions. Boys...

Wednesday November 15, 2006

On my daily trip to the Johnson Sonic this morning -- I was given this:

Tuesday November 14, 2006

So with the advent of things like Facebook and MySpace, it's getting easier and easier for people whom you thought you'd never see or hear from again to find you and become your "friend". That notion, combined with the fact that Northwest Arkansas seems to attract people I went to high school with, and I have been running into a lot of old familiar faces lately -- it's really weird.

I can't put my finger on exactly what has been causing these waves of nostalgia, but last night at Jazzercise (of all places) I got a big one. One of the songs was "The Ketchup Song" by Las Ketchup. This may not conjure up fuzzy memories -- or any memories, for that matter -- for most people. But it's one of those for me. 

"The Ketchup Song" is kinda like the European version of the Macarena. It came out in 2002. I usually don't remember (or care) what year songs were released, but I know that one. It came out the year I was in Italy and it was HUGE in Europe. I remember the few times we stayed in hostels that had TVs and we would watch TV at night-- European MTV. There were several "American" songs that came out that year that were played over and over and over and over on European MTV-- "Jenny from the Block" and "Sk8er Boi" to name a few. And The Ketchup Song was played more than anything. It gets stuck in your head like nothing else.

So, needless to say, after The Ketchup Song last night -- I was very distracted thinking about Italy. Here are some pictures I found in an old file last night -- they are kinda random as that was back in the days before I had the digital camera. Enjoy.

 

Ponte Vecchio in Florence  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Jenni at the Cinque Terre 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sleeping on the train from Venice to Monaco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Jenni at a statue of Christopher Columbus in Genoa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting a candle at Notre Dame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atop a castle in Slovenia 

 

Monday November 13, 2006

As the holidays approach, I have been struggling with one of the great mysteries of life. What is the difference between dressing and stuffing? I have my own opinion (of course), but I have an inquiring mind and would like to gather as many sentiments as possible in order to make a very informed decision.

Note: I am fairly certain I don't like either dressing OR stuffing -- and would rather have anything drenched in cheese sauce -- but after gathering all relevant (and irrelevant, as the case may be) information on the subject, I am planning to re-evaluate my dressing/stuffing distaste and "Try it Again, For the First Time".

I have reason to believe this may be a regional issue, may be a logistical issue (in relation to the turkey), or it may just be semantics -- you say pants, I say britches...

Stand up and be heard.

P.S. I hardly believe this, but I forgot to mention the absolute yumminess that I ate at the football game Saturday night. Hog Wild Pork BBQ Nachos.  It's what you think it is. Round corn tortilla chips literally covered in pork BBQ, BBQ sauce and what can only loosely be described as cheese. It was amazing -- Jeff and I are trying to find out where we can get some more of them.

Sunday November 12, 2006

Comin' to your City! ESPN kicked off Saturday morning with their first-ever telecast from Fayetteville, Arkansas. We were not among the 5000ish people who were in attendance for what could best be described as a "chilly" morning.

We did some good old-fashioned tailgating with some friends. Among those in the group were Crazy Jennifer, Luke, Angela (who works with me at SSX), "The Big Cat" and family from Smackover, and Debra who came to stay with us for the weekend.

We had GREAT SEATS! South Endzone, 4th row -- right between the R and the A. It got colder as the night went on, and we didn't really dress accordingly... Jennifer saved the day by bringing me an extra pair of gloves and socks.

The game was pretty exciting-- it's always more fun when you're winning-- but pretty anticlimactic as we had them beat at the half.

 The game wasn't as close as the score indicated-- but a W is a W. We opted not to go out after the game and take part in any craziness, but we DID come home and watch the highlights over and over and over and over. :)

GO HOGS!

Friday November 10, 2006

I am doing the The-Bell-Money-Is-Back-In-My-Bank-Account Dance!! I have more to write today-- but I have to run to a meeting...