Hammer Pants & Ice Show

We missed it everyone! The concert to end all concerts last night. Yep, I'll say it: I'm sure we would have been able to sing along with every song.

From the Rolling Stones website:

In the journalism game, yelling “Breaking News” is akin to shouting fire in a crowded theater — it better be warranted. But to heck with that: Breaking News! MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice are joining forces for a one-night-only joint show. “Hammer Pants and Ice” goes down Friday, February 27, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. at the McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah.

We can’t possibly answer the inevitable “why” question, but here’s how it will all go down: Hammer is bringing 24 dancers and a full choir; Ice is bringing … himself as far as we can tell. It is evidently the pair’s first show together since the early 1990s, when both were whole-scale radio stars.

When Ice, or Robert Matthew Van Winkle, released To the Extreme in 1990, he actually knocked Hammer (we know him as Stanley Kirk Burrell) out of Number One on the charts: MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, released the same year, was a blockbuster thanks to the hit single “U Can’t Touch This.” Both rappers relied on samples for their biggest tracks: Vanilla Ice’s ubiquitous “Ice, Ice Baby” borrowed from David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure,” while Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” was built on Rick James’ “Super Freak.”

The two former chart-toppers share something else too: a harsh critical and cultural backlash that drove them from the spotlight. Both put out follow-up albums in 1991, but dropped out of the spotlight. Hammer turned to the church, and Ice turned to reality television.

So what will happen later this month in Utah? Anyone willing to shell out $29.50 for general admission floor or $35.50 for reserved seating will find out.

April needs.... Doug needs....

I get tagged and then I forget I'm tagged and then I don't follow through with my tag, so this one I'm going to do before I forget:

Here’s how it works: Google “[your first name] needs” and share the first 10 results.That's it: it is that simple. But be honest! These are actual quotes from the top ten results.Tag the person who tagged you, and pass it on to tag three other people...

April needs…..harpstrings.
April needs…..a pancreas transplant.
April needs…..to post some of the results.
April needs…..$1million.
April needs…..to be IP banned.
April needs…..to learn how to dress properly.
April needs…..to stay!
April needs…..to be kissed.
April needs…..a ride to grandma’s.
April needs…..your vote!


Doug needs….. to cool down on insisting that he is always right and will for once finally admit that he is wrong.
Doug needs…..money.
Doug needs…..tp (toilet paper)
Doug needs…..to sell videos of his exploits.
Doug needs…..money.
Doug needs…..money.
Doug needs…..new pictures with pictures.
Doug needs…..your prayers.
Doug needs…..a wife.
Doug needs…..a good rebuking.

I tag: Beka, but I'm not sure why I tag the person that tagged me since they already did it. And Tammy, Becky, and .... Ashley. I hope I picked names that would turn up funny results! I want you all to do it though!!

I'm just having issues

Doug is sleeping already, so I may as well blog right?
I tell you these silly stories in hopes you'll laugh at me or with me, so here's another one. I found this picture on a gas station owner's website and thought it was great for my story.

Last night I stopped to get gas and was going through the routine of it all: slide payment card, enter pin, wait for approval, lift handle and press the button I want. All was going well until the lever clicked. You might have learned by now that I like things neat and tidy. Well, this trip was no different. When I get gas, I need to get it to the nearest dollar, but will stop at $0.50 too. In my RAV4 I could get almost $2 in after the lever clicked. My Accent, not so much, but I can still get another $1 in if needed. Okay, so the lever clicked and I needed another $0.25 until I got to the $0.50. I pressed and released the handle to get to my neat and tidy number. I thought, "hmmmm I can hear the gas pretty close to the top, that's weird." I pressed and released again, quickly. I moved the nozzle just a touch and gas started spraying out of 2 small holes on both sides of the rubber seal around the nozzle. I pressed the nozzle as hard as I could into my gas tank to stop it from running out. I couldn't just stand there, so I figured I would pull it like a band aide - fast! That way it won't spray out at me, it will just run down the car. I pulled the nozzle out quickly and sure enough gasoline ran down my little Smurf car. Oops. If I even tilted the nozzle, gasoline would run out of it. I carefully put the nozzle back and put my gas cap on. Getting in my car I started to think, "Holy cow I'm going to blow this place up!" I started my car with a small flinch. No explosion. Yippey! Well, now picture me turning green like a cartoon getting sick. The gasoline fumes were horrible. I called Doug when I was a few miles from home and asked him to put some clothes in the laundry room for me. He wondered if I was okay. I told him my story and by now I have a horrible headache from the fumes. I was worried about leaving my car in the garage over night being so close to the water heater. Really, the fumes were BAD. In the end all was fine. The garage was stinky for a few hours and so was the laundry room. I did wake up with a gasoline hangover though; my headache was still there. Note to self: when it clicks, stop pumping. Yeah right. I'm going to keep doing it HAHA. I already know it. I think I just didn't have the nozzle in very far so I had no room to make the dollar amount neat and tidy.

Doug is snoring, I must be boring him :) He'll love reading that! HAHA

Holy smokes! Hell's Kitchen is on, why didn't you tell me! GOTTA GO! Oh, and ER is on tonight too... gotta stay awake! I always seem to fall asleep during the ER hour and then I'm awake for a couple hours after (I watched 4 hours of ER, online, over the weekend to catch up; I'm ready to go!). Stop bugging me, the show is on! HAHAHAHA a woman who can't cook, but charges people to teach them to cook just spelled V-C-I-T-O-R-Y because they won a challenge. DUH??! Wow. I'm leaving for real this time.

An answer to my own question

Remember the question? Where's a cop when you need one??
Well, BEHIND ME!! No, I didn't get pulled over. I was driving home and was excited for an opening on the freeway so I sped up. I was going about 72mph when a cop pulled in behind me from an on ramp. I thought, "oh geez!" I caught up to traffic and slowed back down to 40mph; cop still behind me. After the connector ramp to the next highway I thought, "Oh, heck with it, he would have pulled me over by now." I shifted lanes and got into the fast lane to not have him behind me anymore. Traffic was moving pretty slow, but as usual there was a driver doing 40mph in the fast lane and everyone was passing us in the slow lane. I thought it was pretty crappy, I should have just stayed in the slow lane to go faster. Well, the cop was still behind me on my right. Just as I was getting really irritated that this person was driving SO slow, the cop bolted by me and barely fit in front of the car in front of me and the SUV in front of him. I think he surprised the car in front of me, they slowed down fast. He turned his lights on and pulled the slow driver over!!!!!!!! I called Doug and then I called Becky. I couldn't believe it! I've NEVER seen anyone get pulled over for driving slow! I felt totally justified for getting so annoyed with these people that drive 40mph in the fast lane all the time; yeah hoo I'm not exaggerating! I guess no one I know was there to witness it, but I SWEAR it happened.

A food post for Doug

Doug was eating a Twix the other evening and was bummed about how small they were. He opened the package and ate the Twix and said, "This is our next post." So, here we go.

Have you all noticed HOW SMALL food is recently, well over the last year or so?? The candy bar Doug was talking about is only the tip of the iceberg. The so-called "Fun Size" candy bars are so much smaller than they used to be. I was looking online to find the size they used to be and someone called the new size the "suck out the Fun Size". I know a big stink started when people notice an ice cream company changed the size of their containers, but the price didn't change. Now there are SO many items that change and nothing is said; the company just hopes it goes unnoticed.

Here's a report from CBS News Oct 2008:

(CBS) Food companies are shrinking the size of packaging and of the amount of stuff in those packages, and sometimes charging more to boot, Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen points out.

As the cost of commodities rises, food companies have been "downsizing" products such as cereal, soap and mayonnaise -- and the amount of product in those packages. But, reports Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen, prices are being kept the same or even hiked, so consumers are, in many instances, getting less and paying more.

And, Koeppen notes, experts say the tough economy will mean more and more companies will turn to downsizing.

Yalanda Medina has noticed.

She loves a bowl of her favorite ice cream after a long day at work. But she doesn't love what's happened to the package it's coming in. It's been downsized and now, she says, there's "a premium" of Edy's ice cream in her house.]

"It makes me feel like I have been duped," Yadina says. "It makes me feel as if they don't think we aren't smart enough to notice that we're getting less and less for our money."

From ice cream, to mayonnaise, to peanut butter and many other items, Koeppen observes, products at the supermarket have been getting smaller, while their prices stay the same or even increase.

It is, says consumer advocate Ed Dworsky, "a sneaky way to pass on a price increase. ... Most people can't see the difference between the old and the new, except when they're side-by-side, and even sometimes when they're side-by-side, you can't tell the difference.

"The average consumer may not have noticed the slight change to Apple Jacks, for instance, from 17 ounces to 15. Same with Fruit Loops, from 19.7 ounces to 17.

And Todd Marks of Consumer Reports tells Koeppen he thinks making packages smaller is going to get bigger than ever, with more and more products going that route as the cost of raw materials increases and as our economy continues to go South: "I go to the supermarket all the time paying attention to these things, and there is virtually no product that's off limits to downsizing."

A Hershey's chocolate bar that was eight ounces is now 6.8 -- AND its label reads "Giant bar."

"When they decided to shrink it," Marks points out, "they put the word 'giant' on the package to make you think the giant is really a giant. Well, it is giant, but it's smaller than the giant that used to exist."

Marks says consumers rarely notice things like the tapering of ice cream containers, cereal boxes that get thinner, or jars that now have concave bottoms.

"Another tactic," Marks says, "is to make things like plastic bags thinner. The mils of plastic will be a little bit thinner, so your garbage bag may not be as strong as it used to be. To make the sheets of your roll of paper towels a little bit smaller in dimension or to make them a little thinner in plies" are typical of other techniques being used.

Koeppen says CBS News contacted several of the companies that make the products she mentioned -- Hershey's, Hellman's, Breyers and Kellogg's -- and all said the rising cost of commodities has lead to a change in the way they make and package some of their products. But they pointed out that many of their other products haven't changed. But they admitted tough economic times have lead to some changes.

One small bright spot Koeppen remarked about: milk. "People are gonna notice if a gallon of milk is no longer a gallon!" she says.

If you are interested, there is a video that goes along with the report.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/23/earlyshow/contributors/susankoeppen/main4540627.shtml

The Cardboard Cutout of Fear!!

Okay, I’ll set the scene. It was a sunny afternoon. Everyone in the office was in a good mood despite being busy. Becky and I were singing silly songs and quoting funny movie lines, as Christina wished she had ear plugs. Becky left to go to the restroom. I was printing a note for my records. I got up to get my copy and on the way back to my desk I saw Becky come back into the office. I thought she saw me.
As a side note: In each office we have a cardboard cutout of the president of our company; it was a theme from the tradeshows from a year or so ago. The president of our company is short, but the cutout is about twice her size.
Well, on my way back to my desk I ducked behind the cutout – still thinking Becky saw me. As she walked by I said in a loud, deep voice, “What are you doing up!!?” Becky screamed and her eyes almost popped out of her head! Then we laughed REALLY hard for a long time. We were bright red and crying from laughing. Christina said it was a good thing she already went to the bathroom.


I think I took the prize for the biggest scare in the office. Melissa has held the title for some time. She has even held the door closed so Becky couldn’t get back into the office and pulled the handle off the door. Just about a week ago Becky was standing at her desk facing her computer when Melissa quietly sat in Becky’s chair. Without looking Becky put her hand back to feel for her chair and then when she felt something weird, she looked back and screamed. We laughed and laughed!! Becky said she felt hair and it freaked her out. Even this morning, Becky was walking out of the kitchen at work with a bowl of cereal and I was simply walking by and it startled her. As she let out a gasp mixed with a small scream I almost wore her cereal.

Do you notice a theme? Poor Becky!! I know paybacks are a you-know-what, but at least she loves me enough to leave spiders out of her revenge. I hope. Spiders make me cry, not laugh.

I forgot something else I broke

I almost forgot to add a glass to my previous post about breaking things. These are the glasses we got as a wedding gift. Well, it took me a year and 6 months to break one. I think Doug was glad I was the first to break one.

Just in case I can't remember what they are when I break more of them, here is the brand for my own knowledge: Anchor Hocking Flair 16-Piece Drinkware Set

You know, I get really clumsy the week before my period starts. I think it's my form of PMS. I don't really get mood swings - I do get more emotional though; like I cry at movies easier. But, sheesh do I get clumsy. I'll shoulder check walls, drop things, etc.

Mardi Gras

I just wanted to post a picture of beads. I don't know much about **edit for Beka^3**- the history of** - Mardi Gras, don't really care much either. I just like the beads **edit for Beka^3 again**- and the parties** - I just buy the beads for myself - no flashing ladies!!

One of those days

So, I'm sure you've been there.

You know, the day when everything you touch goes wrong or breaks?? That was me.

The machine you see below is a binder - it's a hand-me-down from our San Mateo office. We use it to bind quotes if brokers want them in a hard copy. Well, after about a year of complaining that it doesn't work very well; it doesn't work AT ALL now.

I get so sick of fighting with it that I want to throw it out the window! But it weighs 90 pounds; throwing it isn't going to happen! So, I decided to try and make it work better. I was taking the pedal apart to see how it worked. Then it was suggested that I use an air can to clean it. Sounded great to me. It's probably never been cleaned.

Can you see the small red-ish circle in the center of the pedal below? In the center of that used to be a tiny piece of some sort. Cleaning it with an can of air blew whatever it was away or inside the pedal. Now it doesn't work at all. You can still shove the end of a pen into that hole and get the clicking sound it used to make - but since the machine is crap, I don't know if it will work using a pen in the meantime. We can't have a new binding machine because this stupid thing is $4000!! We have to wait until it can be taken by a courier to Oakland to fix (which hasn't happened in the last year). I know it needs a new pedal at least! Try telling your boss you broke a $4000 machine! That sucked!!!


During the battle with the binding machine I was printing a TON of new information. After about 2+ reams of paper, we got a revision! I always know to wait at least a day or two before printing because something is going to get changed. I waited almost a week; it still ended up being changed. Becky laughed pretty hard at me and she got a big "Shut up!" in return. I wasn't being mean about it - I hate the phrase "shut up". She called me "Breaky Breakerton" for the rest of the day.

Kermit is in the big toilet bowl in the sky

He's swimming with Ernie now. You'll have to go to Becky's blog for his obituary. This picture is his last moments swimming (randomly) in circles - vertically.

Awww pretty

I have the hardest time zooming really close on images and getting them to focus. So I'm really excited about this picture! This flower has since turned brown. Poor flower.

Where's a cop when you need one??

How many times have you said that to yourself?? I know I've said it too many times to count. This morning on my way to work a guy looked over at me a couple times and I thought, "he's TOTALLY going to cut me off to get to the ramp to the next street." Sure enough! He floored it like we were red light racing and cut me off and got over one more lane to get to the ramp. The speed limit on the ramp is 20 and the street it runs to is 30. This guy must have been going 40 on the ramp and must have hit 45-50 on the street. I usually drive 25-30 on the ramp and 35 on the street, but this guy was movin'! Just as I was saying, "Geez, where's a cop when..."
Then I saw lights from a motorcycle cop and he pulled right behind that guy! Well, he was in a hurry and might have been on time driving like a jerk, but NOT TODAY!!
I'm not a very patient driver anymore. I get so sick of getting cut off that I stay so close to the person in front of me. I hate the freeway we live near. The speed limit is 65 and people will sit in the fast lane doing 40. I'm not even kidding. They drive me crazy!!!!!

I want a bumper sticker that says, "How DID you get a driver's license?!"

A few weeks ago I had some guy tailgating me flipping me off for a couple miles!! Uh?? Really? Yeah, people are crazy. I can only go as fast as the people in front of me.

Last night while on the phone with my mom some guy cut her off so badly that she was pushed into a ditch and had to stop to see if he hit her SUV.

Doug has been cut off so badly that he ended up on 2 wheels and then facing the wrong way on a freeway. And a couple weeks ago a guy cut him and another car off and that guy got pulled over.

I know we all have stories like this, but it just seems to be getting out of control - not to mention I'm completely losing my patience. I heard a statistic once that each person breaks 680 traffic laws before they get a ticket. I can't find anything to back that up, but I think I have about 450 to go ;) I'm not a perfect driver nor do I claim to be, but sheesh, at least I have my head on straight and good insurance!

Oh and another thing that drives me crazy - cigarettes being tossed or ashed out the window. Not only can I smell it driving behind you, but now you throw it at me??! I've actually debated starting a blog that people help me with postings by taking photos of people ashing or tossing cigarettes out their window. That's a rant for another day though.

Refinancing in the works

Well, we've been waiting for a little bit for the market to be back in our favor. It is now. We spoke to our mortgage broker just about 30 minutes ago and locked in our rate to get going on the paperwork. When it's all said and done we'll drop our percentage rate from 6.5% to 5.0%. Who knows, with this crazy economy the percentage rates could go even lower, but it's a great opportunity for us and we don't want to regret waiting for the rates to drop more and it might never happen. Our mortgage broker always tells us he "doesn't know what the market is going to do, but if he did he'd be a very wealthy man." It makes us laugh because he tells us that all the time. He even said it during the conversation a little while ago.

I found this photo in a home equity website, but thought it was appropriate.

Colposcopy done

The test is over. I sure can't say it was fun. It wasn't very painful, but the cramps during and afterwards don't feel good. I'll go back on the 6th to get the results. The cryosurgery I had years ago made it difficult for her to get a biopsy inside my cervix, so that was the most difficult part. I'll keep you posted on the results when I get them.

I really didn't take a photo of the table I was on...but they all look the same anyways.

Fun photos...remembering great times.

Now a prison guard. & On the lookout.

The boys. & Shooting is awesome!

"I have made fire!" & Softball.

Mmmmm hotdogs. Oh, hi Ryan! & Chili's with friends.

Another great haircut. & An evening with friends.

New cookbook

I bought a crock pot cookbook a while ago and wasn't fond of it after trying a few recipes. So, I was on the hunt for another book. I cruised around amazon looking at the reviews on the various books and settled on this one; not to mention it has 1400 recipes - there's got to be a good one in it. I really like the recipes in this book!! I couldn't wait to get home and start cooking!! I HAD to make the Mexican Goulash in the picture below. It actually came out just like the picture (below). We weren't very hungry last night when it was done since church gets out so late and we ate a really late lunch, but it turned out pretty good! I'm looking forward to trying other recipes. I'm hoping the soup recipes are good too, we want to freeze them in individual portions so we can grab an easy lunch on our way out the door to work.

Plants and more plants

I bumped our pine tree that I got when we bought the movie Wall E and all the needles fell off! I'm going to take a good guess that its dead. I guess its good that I bumped it because I've been watering it and watering it, who knows how much longer I would have been watering it before I realized it.
LOOOOK!! The mandarin tree that Karla gave us for Christmas has buds on it!! FRUIT IS COMING!! WOO HOOOOOO. Our orange tree always has new growth, but never buds to make fruit. It's our second season of nothing, so I'm really excited about our mandarin tree.

I also tossed a bunch of other plants out on the 14th. My shamrocks never recovered after the move, the avocado trees died and the oak trees died. I decided to toss all the dirt into our filled in pond area and put the plant pots in the garage because a big storm was coming in for the weekend. I put the BBQ in the garage too; it was forecast there would be 30-40 mph winds. The couple things I didn't put in the garage ended up in a new area of the yard.

We've needed rain in California so badly, so the storm is great! Just sitting here posting we've had sprinkling rain, sun, pouring rain, high winds, and then sunshine again. Rain is on the way again, the clouds are getting dark.

Becky and I went shopping on Saturday after I finished my domestic duties. She bought some homemade sausages on her way to meet me and she got us some chicken apple sausage. I'm going to cook it tonight! She wasn't feeling good and I thought the storm was coming in a lot sooner than it did, so after trying and trying to find a Wii Fit we called it a day. I ended up going to the grocery store on my way home. $140 later, I had what I needed to make a recipe I wanted to try and a whole lot more.

Curtains!!!!

I'm sure we're going to miss the sheet!! YEAH RIGHT!! The lump in the curtain isn't Doug hiding, its our mandarin tree and pine tree.

OH SO MUCH BETTER!!! I know they are wrinkled still. It's 11pm, what do you want??!!

I had to take a photo of my flowers in front of the new curtains :) Yep,I'm silly.
Poor Doug. He crashed after we got the curtains put up. We went shopping as soon as we got home, put the curtains up and ate dinner. That was more than enough for Doug. Luckily the curtains went up easily. The only downfall was the curtain rod we chose. It's really nice, but it lifts the curtains up a couple inches, so they are a few inches off the floor now. Poo! Our window is 94", the curtains are 95" and the border around the window is a few inches we weren't counting on along with the bar lifting the curtains. Oh well, the bright side is they won't drag on the ground and Becky said, "At least they won't get sucked into the vacuum."

Valentine Flowers

These are the flowers that Doug brought home for me. I mentioned them a couple posts ago.

We ordered food to go and spent a quiet evening at home while reminiscing about the crappy dinner we had at TGIFriday's 2 years ago before Doug proposed (P.S. that TGIF's is now closed).

Valentine Work Day

We decided to make Valentine boxes like when we were kids. It's so exciting to see what's in the box when everyone is done passing out Valentine cards!! Here are the boxes we all made:
Here are our Valentine potluck photos too.