Super Eco
I’ve recently discovered a new channel amongst the plethora of channels that is my cable lineup: Planet Green. Since none of my favorite summer shows have started yet (though I’m not sure why), I’ve been surfing around a lot more, and am now hooked on Living with Ed (a reality-based show following Ed Begley, Jr. and his ecofanaticism), Renovation Nation (think This Old House with a green twist), and Greensburg (which documents the eco-friendly rebuilding of the town Greensburg, KS after a tornado leveled it a year ago)…and they’ve only just started to launch several other shows that I’m excited about…including Adrian Grenier (yummy) in Alter Eco.
In the meantime, I’ve also been hooked on a blog called Eco-Geek, which just posted a design for a solar plane that won the top prize at the prestigious Lucky Strike Junior Designer Award, a German design school award. Granted, this is only a concept at the moment…nobody’s actually tried to build one yet, but the first thing that I thought when I saw the picture was, “Hey, look, it’s Wonder Woman’s invisible jet!” While not completely invisible, I definitely think Wonder Woman would go for something like this.
Can’t complete a…
One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much is that my mind has been too scattered for me to actually sit down and write out a full story. So in lieu of anything that actually makes sense, I’ll jot down a few amusing, but random, things that have happened over the last week or so.
I watched the season finales of Survivor, Amazing Race, Lost, Top Chef, and I’m saving the Alias finale on VCR for my viewing pleasure tonight. Now that all the good shows are done, what am I going to watch? That stupid dancing show?
A friend of mine cracked a wisdom tooth (ouch!), and had to have it pulled. What was he eating at the time? Smartfood. I’m not making this up.
I woke up this morning from a dream where I was explaining to a bunch of people in detail how cells undergo mitosis. Why can’t I dream about normal crap, like pickles or cigars? Oy.
Filed under Bizarre, Television | Comments (2)It is finished
Yes, ladies and gents, I have finished and sent in my taxes! And all before the midnight deadline! I did not have to file an extension, since Ray has kindly managed to Band-Aid my computer together enough so that it can limp with me to the finish line. I had to pay more money than I was hoping, but hey, that’s my own fault for not paying enough estimated taxes during the year, and I know it.
I decided to send in my taxes rather than e-file because TurboTax actually charges $30 for the service of e-filing for you, and frankly, I’m already paying too much to the government right now. Give me a stamp and let me go to the post office, I say.
This year was even trickier than last year: TurboTax asked me more questions, different questions, and I got all confused and had to start reading tax code, which, of course, got me even more confused. After a very long talk with Ray, I decided that next year I’m letting his accountant do my taxes for me. There’s only one more year of filing single before we get married anyway, and since we own a house together, figuring out who will claim what on whose return gets very complicated and frustrating. What with the amount of time I spent poring over my finances and the amount of money I spent buying TurboTax (plus the extra state of NY…I get NJ for free), paying some guy $150 and not having to worry about it isn’t too bad a deal.
But I don’t have to worry about that at least until next January. In the meantime, I’m off to my TiVo to catch up on all the crack TV I’ve missed for the past week.
Filed under Taxes, Television | Comment (0)Gung Hay Fat Choy
Okay, so I know I’m a few days late in wishing my Chinese relatives a happy new year, but I’ve been so busy this past week I would have forgotten my head if it wasn’t already attached.
Last week I spent almost every day in New York, getting headshots done (prepare for the unveiling of my new web site with spiffy new pics), rehearsing for two concerts at the same time, and coming home every night to pass out in exhaustion. I haven’t even watched my crack TV, which normally would be okay since I got a TiVo for Christmas (I love my TiVo), but these past couple of weeks, there have been hockey games on at the same time as Lost, and of course, Ray has to TiVo his hockey games and make them a priority over my crack TV (grrrrr). The idea is that I’ll program the VCR to tape Lost, and I normally do, except for when I’m so busy I can’t remember to go to the bathroom.
So I broke down and bought the episodes on iTunes. I have to watch them on my computer, but with the new flat screen monitor I got for Christmas, I’m all set to go. Ah, technology. What would I have done without you?
Not that I’ve had time to actually watch said episodes, and I will try to remember to set the VCR to record Lost tonight. It’s only $2 an episode, but I’m trying to save money this year, and every penny counts.
Filed under Chinese, Television | Comments (2)The Weekend
So I visited my stereotypical Italian relatives this weekend…my brother and I went to Long Island to visit our great-aunt and various and sundry cousins. It was fun, mostly because they LOVE to talk. Seriously stereotypical, but very fun.
Besides that, my great-aunt found out that I knit and she offered to take me “shopping” in her basement collection of yarns. It was amazing! All that yarn organized by color and type. I was very excited.
After my visit with the fam, I went to see Serenity. Wow, that was a great movie. I mean, I was a fan because I liked the TV show Firefly, but this was REALLY good. I encourage all of you to go see it now and then see it again. It was really, really good.
Filed under Family, Movies, Television | Comment (0)On A More Serious Note
So I’ve been hearing on the radio (I’m not watching TV these days, thank goodness) about all the horrible things going on in New Orleans, what with the riots and the looting and the completely unsanitary conditions. I won’t go into any details…if you’re not living under a rock, you know what’s been happening.
And I, like many Americans, am confused as to why, in such a wealthy nation as this, with an actual disaster response infrastructure, living conditions have degraded to such a point where police on the streets are outgunned and afraid for their lives. I know that these things take time…I have this picture in my mind of this behemoth government body that slowly strides halfway across the country, stopping a few times to catch its breath. But I suppose that’s how this country is. Have we as a country, like our selves, become so obese with our own greed and wealth that we don’t have the energy to help ourselves quickly?
I don’t have a whole lot of money, but I did send some to America’s Second Harvest. I also encourage anyone who is within 300 miles of the devastation to open your homes to some of the displaced families. You can find more information at www.hurricanehousing.org.
My dad is in Thailand doing relief work for the tsunami that hit back in December, and he tells me that there are still people living in tents, nine months after their homes were destroyed. One of the things he’s working on is a database that will help stop redundancy between different charitable organizations. Will the same problem happen here? I remember lots of people who weren’t eligible for money after 9/11, even though their jobs and workplaces were lost. I also remember that so many people gave money to the Red Cross for 9/11 that they couldn’t handle that much money and they ended up distributing it to other areas.
I guess I wish I could be more hopeful about this situation, but seeing the degradation of society and the emergence of the raw ugliness of human nature in such a short period of time upsets me. I’m just waiting for the hope at the bottom of Pandora’s Box to appear.
Filed under Charity, Politics, Television | Comment (0)Use the Farm, Cuke
Because I feel so guilty about using those chemicals on the poison ivy, I think it is my duty to urge everyone to join the Organic Rebellion. Seriously, check it out; it’s a really hilarious Star Wars parody with grocery store vegetables.
Other pop culture tidbits…I just ordered my Firefly DVD, which has the complete season on it, including some unaired episodes. I know it probably came out a while ago, but I’ve been busy and not with it. I’m very excited though, since I will now be able to see all episodes in order before Serenity comes out in September. There are actually some really cool fan t-shirts out there. Of course I bought one. I’m such a dork.
Filed under Movies, Star Wars, Television | Comment (1)